The Ninth Gate

Well, I finally caved in and we watched one of Ben's picks for movie night this past week. The Ninth Gate, (directed by Roman Polanski and starring Johnny Depp) follows Dean Corso as the stony-hearted rare book dealer paid to seek and compare three copies of demonic texts thought to be co-authored by Lucifer himself. This movie, albeit strange and fairly predictable, was still very entertaining. I just wish Roman had spent just a smidgen of time researching how archivists would handle such documents. Ashing on them-really? To accompany this demonic film, we made Deviled Egg sammies (found via TasteSpotting.

Movie Still found here.

Movie Rating: 

Plot: 3.5 stars

Cinematography: 3 stars

Acting: 2.5 stars 

Average: 3 stars

DEVILed Egg Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS:

6 hard-cooked eggs

1/2 cup mayonaisse

1 tablespoon jalepeno mustard

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon mustard powder

2 tablespoons hot/sweet peppadews, minced

parsley

nutty wheat bread

lettuce

pickled onions (recipe below)

salt and pepper 

DIRECTIONS: 

Halve each hard-boiled egg lengthwise, scoop out yolks, and place in a bowl. Add mayo, jalepeno mustard, paprika, curry powder, salt and pepper, mustard powder, parsley, and peppadews. Mix until creamy. Chop the egg whites then stir into the mayonnaise mixture. Serve atop the toasted bread with pickled onion rings and lettuce.

Pickled Onions

INGREDIENTS: 

2 red onions, sliced

1 cup cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Blanch 2 sliced red onions in a small saucepan of boiling water, cover for one minute, drain in a colander. Return them to the pan, add the vinegar and salt plus just enough cold water to cover the onions. Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer for one minute. Transfer onions to a bowl and chill.

Dinner Rating: 

Movie Relevance: 4 stars

Taste: 3 stars

Average: 3.5 stars

Miller's Crossing

"What's the rumpus?" Miller's Crossing was yet another passive movie choice on my part—it happened to be at the top of my Netflix (or wait, isn't it Qwikster now?!) queue and before I thought to update it, it was in the mail. It found its way to my queue in the first place because it is an early Coen brothers film and I'd heard good things about it.

(image found here)

Some expected faces appear: Gabriel Byrne as lead character Tom Reagan, John Turturro as Bernie Bernbaum—Steve Buscemi even has a small part—as well as Marcia Gay Harden as Verna. The character I based our dinner on, however, was Johnny Caspar. Played by Jon Polito, Johnny is the only Italian guy in the midst of a gang of Irish mobsters. The movie is set probably in New York/north Jersey during Prohibition. The beautiful scenery throughout is courtesy of New Orleans but the film doesn't take place there. Too bad, I love Cajun food!

Movie Rating

Plot: 2.5 stars

Cinematography: 3.5 stars

Acting: 3 stars

Average: 3 stars

Our dinner, Wiseguy Spaghetti (Squash) and Meatballs, was eye-opening and tasty even though we did a pretty bad job of following the recipe. Neither Lindsey or I had ever made spaghetti squash, but I can tell you confidently that we both will make it again. How cool that when you roast this big yellow beast, its flesh turns into vermicelli-thin strands! I still can't get over it. I'll give you the recipe as it was intended. Our mistake was using ALL the onion in the meatballs which made them pretty potent. We ended up breaking them up to form more of a hearty meat sauce so we could tolerate (and disperse!) the flavor. Even with our flub, I ate all the leftovers--yum!

Our snack was a simple tray of marinated fresh mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes, olives and peppadews with sliced baguette. Delish! We also tried spreading some of the minced sun-dried tomatoes on the baguette—very good indeed.

Wiseguy Spaghetti (Squash) and Meatballs

(adapted from this recipe)

INGREDIENTS

1 large spaghetti squash

1 lb. Italian sausage, casing removed (I used mild)

1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1 cup drained and rinsed cannellini beans

1 medium red onion, roughly chopped, divided

3 large carrots, roughly chopped, divided

5 cloves of garlic, peeled, divided

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

2 TB pre-minced sun-dried tomatoes, jarred

2 eggs

1/2 cup chopped parsley, divided

1/4 cup chopped basil

2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes

1 14-oz. can tomato sauce

1 1/2 TB balsamic vinegar

3 TB olive oil, divided

2 1/2 tsp salt, divided

Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the spaghetti squash in half, length-wise, scrape out and discard the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the squash cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the beans, 1/2 the onion, 1 carrot, and 3 cloves of garlic in a food processor. Puree until completely smooth. In a large bowl, place the sausage and ground beef along with the bean puree. Add crushed red pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt, both eggs and 3 TB of the parsley. Mix by hand until completely blended.

Shape mixture into 12 meatballs and place on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Place in the oven along with the squash for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce, add the remaining onion, carrots and garlic to the food processor. Pulse until well chopped but not pureed. Heat 2 TB of olive oil in a large sauce pot over medium-high heat. Add teh chopped veggies and saute for 5 minutes to soften. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sun-dried tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, pepper, remaining parsley and basil. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cover and continue to simmer until meatballs are finished baking.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and carefully transfer them into the sauce. Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer another 15 minutes so the flavors combine.

Once the spaghetti squash has cooled, use a fork to scrape the flesh into strands and place in serving dishes. Top each pile of squash with sauce and meatballs.

Serve with a nice crusty baguette. Mangia!

Dinner Rating

Movie Relevance: 3.5 stars

Taste: 3.5 stars

Average: 3.5 stars

The Searchers

We're back from our western adventure vacation to Flat Creek Ranch in Jackson Hole Wyoming! The Searchers was our last movie in honor of the west before we packed up and went out WEST! 

The Searchers was classic. John Wayne was by far the BEST actor in the bunch in addition to having the best 'mosey'. He plays Ethan Edwards, a civil war veteran, who dedicates years to the search and recovery of his niece who was abducted by Indians. 

Movie Rating: 

Plot: 2.5 stars

Cinematography: 2.5 stars

Acting: 2.75 stars (Personally, I thought John Wayne's performance was pretty great, but the rest of the cast was just terrible!)

Average: 2.5 stars

We made Cherry Chipotle Chili-YUM!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive olive

1/2 pound lean ground turkey

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 medium carrots, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes

Directions:

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook turkey with salt and pepper, stirring, until browned, 5–10 minutes. Add carrots, onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots soften, 3–5 minutes.

Stir in chili powder. Add tomatoes, cherries, chipotles, bay leaves and 1/3 cup water; bring to a boil. 

Reduce to a simmer; cook, stirring once or twice, until chili thickens, 10–15 minutes. Add beans; cook 2 minutes. Flavor with chipotle sauce to taste. Remove bay leaves. Divide chili among 4 bowls. Top each with one tablespoon yogurt and garnish with cilantro, if desired.

Dinner Rating: 

Movie Relevance: 3 stars

Taste: 4 stars

Average: 3.5 stars