A late August Sunday night on the prairies meant you could already feel the seasons changing as we drove about a half hour west to Farm One Forty in Vanscoy, SK. As a result of the pandemic, my wife and I had not had a meal in a restaurant in over five months and we were looking forward to an outdoor farm dinner prepared by a favourite restaurant in Saskatoon, Odla.

We had subscribed to a couple of programs Farm One Forty had launched and run through the spring and summer – a weekly vegetable “basket” and a side of pork doled out in monthly increments – that let us experiment in our kitchen. As subscribers, we had an early window to reserve a table at what is becoming a great Saskatoon tradition of summer Sunday dinners at their farm.

While the temperatures were taking an early dip to mid-fall levels, we were lucky to have a clear and dry evening for our experience.

We were welcomed to arrive early to roam around the farm and we jumped at that opportunity. A cocktail in hand, I wandered over to the farm boundary where the dog next door was looking to say hi.

We continued to explore the farm including one of the vegetable plots that was helping to supply our summer’s vegetables. We got a bit of a preview of some upcoming lettuces and carrots that would be showing up in the weeks ahead.

One of my favourite parts of the evening (aside from the food, more on that below…) was just the simple pleasure of being out on the prairies, the breeze in my face, and looking out to the horizon in all directions. Four plus years after moving out here, I’ve come to understand why prairie folk love our skies.

The informal part of the meal kicked off around the fire with a selection of canapés – pork terrine with haskap mustard, a devilled egg with candied jalepeno and smoked trout with creme fraiche. All delicious!

Normally these farm dinners are served family style at communal tables, but with the pandemic rules, we all had separate tables and individually plated courses. This green salad with a buttermilk dressing, crispy chickpeas and pickles was an outstanding start to the meal.

The second course was my favourite – herbed gnocchi, carrot puree, blue cheese, zucchini and pickled mushrooms. I would have been happy to just have course after course of this dish.

This dinner introduced me to what has become a new “house wine” for me – a red wine from the Vragnac grape from Montenegro. Best part – it’s less than $15 a bottle and pairs really well with richly flavoured meats like the braised pork shank that was the main course for the meal.

And to conclude the meal was a basil creme brulee and some outstanding locally roasted coffee which nicely doubled as a hand warmer.

This was a wonderful evening, start to finish… almost unending vistas out over the farmland, a dramatic prairie sunset, delicious food and great company. It was a treat to eat a meal away from our home and a great short escape back to normalcy in these unusual times.