Bridesmaids

As soon as I heard about Bridesmaids, I knew it would make for a great movie night.

(movie images found here)

I invited Janette so that my two local bridesmaids would be in attendance, and my mom even came down for the affair. Granted, my mom's visit was mostly to pick up the grand-dog so they could watch her while I spent a long weekend with Eric in Oklahoma for graduation and his winging ceremony (yay!!!).

Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph star as best friends Annie and Lillian (the bride), with a cameo by Tim Heidecker (who plays the groom), and a great new face--Chris O'Dowd--as Officer Nathan Rhodes. Jon Hamm is in it, but truthfully, he plays such a sucky character it's hard for me to remember he was in it. It's funny, it's touching, and it's over the top. We enjoyed it for sure. Who knows, maybe we'll all jam out to Annie Lennox/Walking on Broken Glass after our ceremony?!

Movie Rating

Plot: 4.75 stars

Cinematography: 4 stars

Acting: 4.875 stars

Average: 4.5+ stars

A Brazilian meal seemed most fitting since the scene showing the aftermath of the Brazilian meal in the movie is EPIC. Luckily our food didn't have the same effects!

I personally was less than pleased with the dish, mostly because I came across more than a few bones and practically nothing makes me more irritated while eating than finding fish bones in my food. It didn't help that hunting down the red snapper was a bit of a challenge in the first place and made the meal slightly pricey. I do, however, think it was the best fish for the stew as it held together really well and had a good texture and flavor.

Moqueca (Brazilian Fish Stew)

Slightly adapted from this recipe

Serves 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

For the Piri Piri:

1 TB + 1/2 cup olive oil

5 cloves garlic, smashed

4 cayenne chile peppers, stemmed, ribs and seeds removed, roughly chopped

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

For the stew:

2 1/2 pounds red snapper, cut into 2-inch pieces (or sub with grouper, red fish, flounder, striped bass, escolar or any other white fleshed fish)

1 cup roughly chopped onion, plus 1 cup julienned onion

2 cups roughly chopped tomatoes, plus 2 tomatoes sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

2 cloves garlic, plus 1 TB minced garlic

5 TB chopped fresh cilantro leaves

3 TB fresh-squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Piri Piri (recipe included)

1 (14.5 oz) can coconut milk

salt

steamed white rice (for serving)

DIRECTIONS

Start with the Piri Piri. Heat a small saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 TB of the olive oil to the pan. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and peppers to the pan. Saute, stirring often, until the edges of the garlic start to turn brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice to the pan and remove from the heat.

Place the contents of the saute pan in a blender and add the salt. Puree the peppers and garlic in the blender until mostly smooth. Drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil through the feed tube of the lid of the blender. Let cool before using, and store unused portion in an airtight container in the fridge.

Next, make the marinade for the fish by blending together the chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 TB cilantro, 1 tsp salt, and lime juice. Put the fish in a large plastic Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Once fish has marinated, heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan, and once hot, add the julienned onions to the pan and saute, stirring often until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the minced garlic to the pan and saute an additional 30 seconds. Pour the fish and marinade into the saute pan and add the remaining teaspoon of salt, the Piri Piri, and the coconut milk and stir to combine. Once the liquid comes to a boil, dot the top of the pan with the sliced tomatoes and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until the flesh starts to flake, about 10 minutes.

Remove the cover from the pan and sprinkle the remaining 4 TB of cilantro over the fish. Serve accompanied by steamed white rice.

Dinner Rating

Movie Relevance: 4.625 stars

Taste: 3.875 stars

Average: 4.25 stars

Thanks to everyone for attending!

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

A River Runs Through It

I chose installment #2 in our pre-vacation movie series for its fly fishing focus as well as and the beauty of the Montana landscape and the Big Blackfoot River. Watching all that casting has to have helped our chances for success fishing the Flat Creek in Wyoming, right?!

A River Runs Through It (1992) is directed and narrated by Robert Redford, won the Best Cinematography Oscar in 1993, and was nominated for two others. The movie tells the story of the Maclean boys, Norman (Craig Sheffer) and Paul (Brad Pitt), centering around their love of fly fishing which was instilled in them by their father (Tom Skerritt). It was an all-around great movie. I've got a new insult up my sleeve--Norman calls his future brother-in-law Neil a "world-class peckerwood". Great.

Movie stills found here.

Movie Rating

Plot: 4.5 stars

Cinematography: 4.75 stars

Acting: 4.5 stars

Average: 4.58 stars

Naturally, we had to have trout for dinner. Now, trout is not a fish I would have typically been drawn to for prepping at home, but it certainly will be from now on. It was affordable and so tasty, and I know it would be good with an even simpler preparation--not that this was difficult in the least.

Trout with Lemons, Capers and Croutons with Roasted Vegetable Tian

Slightly adapted from this recipe

Serves 4

I suggest starting with the Tian. The trout can be started and finished while the veggies roast away in the oven, smelling all delicious.

INGREDIENTS

Trout:

4 TB olive oil, separated

2 slices good-quality white bread, cut into 1/8" cubes

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 brook/mountain trout, filleted

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 TB butter

2 lemons (1 segmented and finely chopped, 1 juiced)

1 TB capers

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Tian:

2 zucchini, thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 baking potatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup finely chopped chervil (or sub parsley, like we did!)

salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Tian:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush an 8-inch baking dish with olive oil and arrange the vegetables in the dish, alternating rows of the different vegetables. We had great success alternating zucchini, potato, tomato.

Drizzle all over with olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with minced garlic. Bake for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chervil/parsley and more salt and pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature. NOTE: This makes a wonderful left over meal with an over-easy fried egg on top!

Trout:

Heat 2 TB of oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat, and saute bread cubes until golden brown and toasty. Remove to a plate. Season each fillet on both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Season the flour with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge each fillet lightly on the skin side and tap off excess flour. Heat 2 more TB oil in the pan over medium high heat until just smoking. Place each fillet flour side down in the oil and cook until golden brown. Turn the fillets over, reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until opaque.

Remove fillets to serving plates. Add butter to pan and cook until just browned. Add lemon segments and juice. Remove pan from heat, stir in capers and parsley. Top fillets with sauce and reserved croutons.

Dinner Rating

Movie Relevance: 5 stars

Taste: 5 stars

Average: 5 stars--this was a winner!!

There was quite a bit of other food and drink in the movie, including oats, a roast beef sandwich, a ham sandwich with sardines, speakeasys, martinis, gin & prune juice, whiskey, bread and jam, watermelon, chicken salad sandwiches, baked chicken, homebrew, Boilermakers, and a homemade breakfast of bacon, milk, and muffins.

Rrrrrrrrango!

"Get your dirty, webbed phalanges off of my boots!" -Beans

RANGO was the first movie in a series of movies leading up to our sure-to-be epic Guest Ranch vacation at the end of the month! What can i say about this movie-I LOVED it and watched it once for movie night, once by myself, and twice with the kiddos all before returning it to Netflix. Its the tale of a chameleon who finds himself thrown from his cushy caged life into the dry, hot Mohave desert. He makes his way to the town of Dirt were he finds himself to the be much needed hero the townsfolk there are in need of. The animation is INCREDIBLE. The details in everything from the water to the sand to the various scales and feathers of each varmint made my jaw drop.

To accompany this true western we made Bean's Burrito Bowls and then Dirt Puddin' cups to cool our tongues afterward. Both were mighty tasty vittles.

movie stills found 

Movie Rating: 

Plot: 4.75 stars

Cinematography: 5 stars

Acting: 4.75 stars 

Average: 4.833 stars

Chipotle Yams and Black Bean Burrito Bowls
(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:
2 cups cilantro lime rice, warm
1 cup seasoned black beans, warm
1 cup chipotle yams, warm
1 cup pico de gallo
1 large avocado, stones, scooped and sliced
1 cup jack or cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 handful cilantro, chopped

Directions: Assemble and enjoy!
Adapted from this recipe on closet cooking

Chipotle Yams
(makes 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion (sliced)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 chipotle in adobo (chopped)
2 teaspoons adobo sauce
2 tablespoons sauce/ketchup
4 cups yams (peeled and chopped)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and saute until fragrant, about a minute. Add the chipotle, adobo sauce, tomato sauce and yams. Toss everything to coat, cover and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. (We actually tossed in some water occasionally to better cook the yams and not dry them out).

Jalapeno Spiced Black Beans
(makes 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 jalapeno (minced)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (19 ounce) can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup water (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil. Add the onion and sauce until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno and cumin and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beans and water, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Mash some of the beans with a fork if desired.

Cilantro and Lime Rice
(makes 4+ side dish servings)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 cup long grained rice (white or brown)
2 cups water
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
1 lime (zest and juice)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion. Saute until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant about one minute. Add the rice and toast in the oil for a few minutes. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes for white or 45 minutes for brown. Remove from the heat and mix in the cilantro, lime juice, and zest.

Pico de Gallo
(makes 2 appetizer sized servings)

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups tomatoes (seeded and chopped)
1/4 cup onion (chopped)
1 jalapeno (seeded and minced)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 lime (juiced)
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: Mix everything.

Oreo Sand and Dirt Cups

INGREDIENTS:
1 package (3.4 oz) JELL-O vanilla flavor instant pudding
1 package (3.4 oz) JELL-O chocolate instant pudding
4 cups cold milk
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Topping
20 OREO cookies, finely crushed

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare the vanilla and chocolate pudding mixes separately with milk as directed on packages. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir 1/2 cup cool whip into each bowl of pudding.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cookie crumbs into bottom of each of 8 (6-oz) dessert cups. (OR be piggies like us and divide it between two glasses!) top each layers of 1/4 cup vanilla pudding, 1 tablespoon cookie crumbs and 1/4 cup chocolate pudding. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until ready to serve.

Dinner Rating: 

Movie Relevance: 4 stars

Taste: 5 stars

Average: 4.5 stars

The Other Guys & Pretzel Nirvana

Having been crazy busy the last few weeks straight, The Other Guys (2010; starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, The Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Keaton) was a last-minute movie selection since Lindsey had the DVD in hand and neither of us had seen it.

It made me laugh a few times, like during the scene with whisper fighting, and had some street food references built right in:

In addition to the ice cream truck and hot dog stand, there's also: coffee, fresh strawberries, sugar balls, Arnold Palmers, Guinness, water with cucumber, mustard, bourbon, and mike's hard lemonade.

Movie Rating:

Plot: 1.5 stars

Cinematography: 1.5 stars

Acting: 1.5 stars
Average: 1.5 stars

Movie stills found here

For dinner, I ran with the NYC street food idea. Searching through tastespotting.com, I found this recipe for pretzel-wrapped hot dogs and paired it with big dill pickles from the deli and a new cole slaw recipe, found here.

Honestly, I still can't quite believe it. We made amazing soft pretzels from scratch. And they were easy! Wrapped around a hot dog, dipped in mustard, I'd even say they were divine.

Unfortunately, our slaw didn't quite hit the mark--we both wanted it to be sweeter, so I'd tweak the recipe to add honey or sugar next time. It was really pretty though, made with green cabbage, granny smith apple, and slivered almond and the tiny black poppy seed specks that provided a nice texture as well.

PRETZEL DOGS

Makes 16 wrapped half-dogs

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 TB sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 package active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 TB unsalted butter, melted and cooled

8 hot dogs, cut in half (Nathan's to be supremely accurate)

For boiling (where the pretzel magic happens!):

10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

To finish:

1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 TB water

Pretzel salt (or kosher salt), for topping

Directions

Combine the warm water, sugar, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. If you use active dry yeast, let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, until it's foamy and begins to smell of yeast. [If using instant yeast, let the mixture sit for a couple minutes to dissolve the yeast and then proceed--it won't be foamy.]

Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and, on medium-low speed, combine the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears shiny, roughly 4 to 5 minutes.

Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray (or lightly grease with vegetable oil) and place dough in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, place bowl in a warm area, and let dough rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place the dough on a greased surface, and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope, roughly 12 inches long. Carefully wrap each piece around a half hot dog. Pinch the ends together to seal the dough and keep it from unravelling.

In a large pot, combine 10 cups of water and the baking soda, stirring to dissolve. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil.

Carefully place a couple of pretzel-wrapped hot dogs in the pot and allow them to boil for 30-45 seconds. Using a slotted spatula, remove each pretzel dog from the water and place it on a drying rack to allow any excess liquid to drip off.

Once all the pretzels are boiled, place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Brush each with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with salt. Bake until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer pretzel dogs to a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving. Dip in your favorite mustard(s) and enjoy!

P.S. The Kosciusko mustard was our favorite! Also, if you have leftover dough, plain pretzels can be made by simply omitting the weiner halves and forming the dough into sticks, twists, nuggets, etc., boiling and baking. Yum!

APPLE & POPPY SEED COLESLAW

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the dressing:

Juice of 1 lemon

2 TB mayonnaise

3 TB olive oil

1 TB apple cider vinegar

1 TB poppy seeds

1 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

1 green apple, cored and julienned

4 cups sliced cabbage (from one small head)

1 cup slivered almonds

Directions

Whisk the dressing ingredients together until well combined. Place the apple and cabbage in a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Cover and let stand for about an hour. Just before serving, toss in the slivered almonds.

Dinner Rating:
Movie Relevance: 4.5 stars

Taste: 5 stars

Average: 4.75 stars