A Fish Called Wanda

This movie selection was partially inspired by the all of the news coverage in England surrounding the royal wedding. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) takes place in London, but is far from magnificence of a royal wedding.

My first inclination when researching recipes for this movie was to go with fish and chips, but when I came across this recipe for Fish Pie, I was too intrigued to pass it up. Although fish and chips is directly referenced in this movie and would be a great alternate, the fish pie (also sometimes referred to as fisherman's pie) was AMAZING! We both gave the dinner a rating of 5/5 stars!

The movie, A Fish Called Wanda, has made it to the top of many "Best Comedies" lists. Sadly, it will not make it to the top of our list, in fact, it is much nearer to the bottom with a ranking of 1.25/5 stars. In case you are still interested... here is the plot: 4 ridiculous people get together to rob a bank and then try to double-cross each other for the goods. Two 'Monty Python' comedians John Cleese and Michael Palin star along side Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis. In case you are wondering about the title, there is another star of the movie, a little angel fish that for a time guards the location of the loot, but gets eaten alive by Kevin Kline-gross!

This is our adapted recipe from the link above. 
INGREDIENTS
1.5 lbs cod
.5 lbs. fresh, shelled, uncooked shrimp
2 carrots, grated
2 celery stalks, minced
a small bunch of parsley, minced
1 small chili (we used about 1 T of minced jalepeno)
salt/pepper
250 ml cream
1 cup grated mature cheddar cheese
2 TB of flour for fish
1 lemon
2.25 lbs potoato
.5 lb yams
2 TB butter
milk for mashed potatoes

DIRECTIONS
Peel the potatoes and yams, boil until tender. Mash along with butter and milk until it reaches desired consistency and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the fish in small chunks (making sure all bones and skin have been removed). Toss the fish and shrimp in the flour. Season the fish and shrimp with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Place the fish on the bottom of a large baking dish and top with the cream followed by the carrot, celery, parsley, chili, and cheese.

Place mashed potatoes on top of fish mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Chinatown/Noir Pork Chops & Cali-Cauliflower

Ever since I saw this entry on the Design*Sponge blog, I've wanted to see Chinatown (1974). Jack Nicholas is one of my favorites, and I loved the idea of a dinner inspired by the neo-noir film style. Roman Polanski did a wonderfully artistic job directing and Faye Dunaway is stunning. She made me want to give ruby red lips a try this spring!

Of course, we had to start with a snack and beverage... And I managed to find pretzel sticks noir, Snyder's Pumpernickel and Onion Pretzel Twists. My new favorite pretzel! The unbeatable rye and onion flavor is even better with a dollop of veggie cream cheese. I plan to keep these in my pantry at all times, though this might be a real challenge. We sipped Pinot Noir which was also a key player in our entrée.

After searching through all kinds of recipes with Pinot Noir sauce (check out these for salmon, filet mignon, and duck), I landed on these pork chops. Now that we've seen the movie, roasted fish (served with the head) would have been an apropos main dish as well. Pork hasn't made an appearance on a movie night menu in a long time and the chops were gentle on my wallet. They turned out really tasty to boot!

Neo-Noir Porkchops with Cranberries

INGREDIENTS

4 (1 1/2" thick) boneless pork loin chops

salt and pepper

3 TB extra virgin olive oil

2 leeks, split lengthwise and sliced in 1/2" half moons

1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

1 cup Pinot Noir

1 cup chicken stock

2 TB butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chops with salt and pepper. Add 2 TB extra virgin olive oil to the hot skillet and add the chops. Cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side and remove chops to a plate (they should be nicely browned). While the chops cook, wash the chopped leeks vigorously under running water in a colander. Shake to dry.

To skillet, add another tablespoon of olive oil and the leeks. Cook until leeks are tender, about 5 minutes. Add cranberries and Pinot Noir to the pan. Scrap up the browned bits in the pan and stir in chicken stock. Bring to a boil, add the chops back to the pan and reduce heat to simmer. Finish cooking chops through, 10 minutes.

When chops are done, remove to serving plates. Raise heat to bring sauce back to a bubble and add 2 TB butter to the sauce to give it gloss and weight. Turn off heat. Pour sauce over chops and enjoy!

I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge, so I decided to roast it as our accompaniment to the pork. Serendipity played a role here--I happened to choose a recipe that used orange zest, not knowing until we were into the movie that there's a scene in an orange grove! This was an excellent way to serve roasted cauliflower, very fresh and fruity and appropriate for a film set in Los Angeles.

Cali-Cauliflower

INGREDIENTS

1 head cauliflower, cut into uniform size florets

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

2 TB green onion, finely chopped

zest of 1 medium orange

juice of 1/2 lemon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cauliflower florets in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a baking sheet (spread out into a single layer) and roast 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes or so.

When cauliflower is tender and browned, remove from oven and place back in large bowl. Add green onion, parsley, orange zest and lemon juice and toss to coat.

Notes:

- The Beef Bourguignon from this previous post would work just as well paired here

- An alternate beverage accompaniment would have been Tom Collins cocktails with lime, not lemon

- The "Albacore Club" plays a role in the film, so any recipes with albacore tuna would be fitting

- Not for the faint of heart (or stomach), anyone adventurous enough to try it could do a "sliced snout" which would embody one of the most memorable moments from the film!

Empire of the Sun

Thursday, April 14, 2011 Barb and I watched Empire of the Sun (1987) and made Steamed Scallion Ginger Fish Fillets with Bok Choy. We had a lot of fun exploring some cooking techniques we have never used on movie night-or any other night for that matter. We steamed the fish on a dinner plate in a covered pan (who knew fish could be cooked this way?) and we used spring rolls for our dessert (super fun to roll up, although odd in texture...). This dinner was one of those that we just didn't want to stop eating.

Although it was not my intention to watch two prison camp movies in a row, as my first movie choice for this week (Giant starring the late Liz Taylor) was in too great of demand on Netflix, I thought watching a film starring Japan might be appropriate. The young Christian Bale really was the star of this film. The story completely revolves around this young boy's journey as a prisoner of war during the Japanese occupation of China. Heart-wrenching at times, I personally found the drama to become a little overly theatrical and dubious. Let's put it this way, I am often a cryer and this time my eyes were dry. Needless to say, I am glad I saw it and was impressed by the pre-Newsies Christian Bale.

Lets get back to the fish which was the highlight of my night. Here is how we made the Steamed Fish:

First, as per weekly ritual, we cracked open a couple of beers and snacked on some deliciously soft and salty pretzel buns from Whole Foods - a movie night snack favorite.

Then we gathered the INGREDIENTS for the fish:
1/2 cup light soy sauce
2 T sugar
1/2 cup rice wine (we substituted with Sherry, you could also use dry white wine)
1/2 tsp. five-spice powder (a new spice for my spice rack-delicious!)
2 lbs. sole fillet (we used 1 lb. of flounder, any flaky white fish will do)
1 (1-inch) piece of fresh ginger, finely julienned
6 T vegetable oil
8 scallions (white and green parts), cut crosswise in 2-in. lengths, then thinly julienned (we used half as much and would recommend dicing, not julienning)

and INGREDIENTS for the bok choy stir-fry:
1 1/2 lbs baby bok choy
2 T peanut oil
1 (1/4 inch) piece of fresh ginger, minced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp ground white pepper

Fish DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, and five-spice powder.
Transfer fish to 2 rimmed plates (we only needed one). Drizzle each piece with 1 T soy sauce mixture and scatter with julienned ginger. (set aside remaining sauce for finishing dish.) Cover and refridgerate 15 minutes.
Fit a large saucepan with a steamer basket, fill with 1-inch water, bring to a boil over high heat. WE used a large saucepan, filled it with the 1-inch of water and places a ramekin in the middle to prop up the plate. Reduce the heat to low and transfer one plate to the steamer. Cover and steam 4 minutes. Without lifting the lid, turn off flame and allow residual heat to finish cooking until fish is cooked through, about 1 minute more. Carefully remove plate. Return steamer to boil and steam second plate of fish in the same manner.

While fish is steaming, prepare the bok choy:
Trim 1/4-inch from the bottom of each head of bok choy. Slice bok choy crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Wash bok-choy in several changes of cold water and dry in colander until dry to touch.
In wok or large sauté pan over moderately-high heat, heat oil until hot, but not smoking. Add ginger, scallions, and garlic and stir-fry 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon water, cover, and cook until wilted, about 30 seconds. Uncover, stir-fry 5 seconds, then cover again and turn off flame, let steam in residual heat until just tender, about 30 seconds more. Serve bok choy and fish.

YUM!

We also made these crazy little Banana and Mango Spring Rolls with Coconut-Chocolate Ganache:

Look at these baby bananas we used! Awe, so cute.

INGREDIENTS
Ganache:
1 (14-oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 c. palm sugar or 1/3 cup, packed, light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (we used chips)

Spring rolls:
8, 8-inch, square frozen spring roll pastry wrappers, thawed (we used round, not frozen ones)
4 small ripe Chinese bananas, peeled, halved lengthwise, or 2 regular bananas, peeled, halved lengthwise, then halved lengthwise
2 champagne mangoes or 1 regular mango, peeled, pitted, cut lengthwise into 3-inch-long, 1/2 inch-wide strips
1 egg, beaten to blend
vegetable oil (preferrably grapeseed for frying)

DIRECTIONS:
For ganache:
Combine coconut milk, palm sugar, and ginger in heavy medium saucepan. Bring mixture to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until mixture is melted and smooth.

For Spring Rolls:
Line baking sheet with parchment paper (we used good ol' Silpat). Place 1 spring roll wrapper on work surface. (We followed the dry package instructions and wet the wrappers in warm water to soften)

Place 1 banana piece across center of wrapper, then 2 mango strips. Fold bottom up, then sides in over fruit. Brush unfolded top with beaten egg. Roll up wrapper, enclosing fruit completely. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wrapper, fruit, and egg. (Can be made 4 hours ahead, covered in plastic and refrigerated)

Pour enough vegetable oil into a heavy deep skillet and heat oil to between 360 degrees and 375. Working in batches, add spring rolls to hot oil and cook until golden crisp, turning often, about 3 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer spring rolls to paper towels to drain.

Place spring roll (or 2!) on each plate, garnish with mint and drizzle with chocolate-coconut ganache.

Voila! I am not sure how i felt about the mango-chocolate combo. I might just leave out the mango next time...

MicMacs

Archive Post: February 2, 2011

MicMacs is a French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, probably best known for Amélie. I had high hopes of amazing cinematography and it didn't let me down artistically. Quirky, weird, funny and often touching, the storyline follows a drifting man and his motley crew as they try to take down two major weapons manufacturers. I would have to agree with Rotten Tomatoes on this one and give it about a 3.5 out of 5 stars and I am on the fence as far as recommending it to watch, but if you liked Amélie you will probably enjoy MicMacs as well. However, I am pretty confident in recommending this recipe for at-home Big Macs to anyone who likes burgers as much as I do.

Big Macs

INGREDIENTS

(recipe for 1 serving)

1 hamburger bun with sesame seeds

1/2 additional hamburger bun

1/4 lb ground beef

a dash of salt

1 TB thousand island dressing

1 tsp finely diced onion

1/2 cup chopped lettuce

1 slice American cheese

2-3 pickle slices

DIRECTIONS

Toast the three buns.

Divide the ground beef into two thin patties and grill 2 minutes on each side.

Build the burger in the following order, from the bottom up:

bottom bun

half of the dressing

half of the onion

half of the lettuce

american cheese

beef patty

middle bun

remainder of the dressing

remainder of the onion,

remainder of the lettuce

beef patty

top bun

French Fries

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel 4 large potatoes and cut them into equal sized sticks, about 1/2 inch wide.

Rinse the potatoes and place them in a large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Strain the potatoes and rinse them in cold water until they cool. Place potatoes on paper towels to dry them off.

Once dried, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Dribble 1 tsp vegetable oil on top and toss the potatoes with your hands until the oil is evenly distributed. Spread the potatoes out evenly on the sheet to make sure they are not touching each other.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes, turning after about 15 minutes so they get even color.

Mangez!