A $5 vanilla milkshake, a buttery grilled cheese sandwich, a plate of spaghetti doused in syrup, expired cans of pineapple, pizza in Naples, a danish pastry breakfast eaten outdoors Tiffany’s: title that movie? (See the tip for the solutions – no peeking.) Scenes within the movies we love that contain meals typically purchase an iconic standing. Are all of us simply fascinated by the logistics – is Will Ferrell’s Buddy actually consuming all that candy spaghetti in Elf? – or do such moments merely make us hungry to recreate the dishes at dwelling? Both approach, right here is my tribute to a few classics.
Mushroom carbonara (pictured high)
The film Heartburn is peppered (sorry!) with references to meals, and this dish is a meat-free tackle one shared within the movie by Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. They eat it in mattress and from the identical huge bowl, imagining a life the place they are going to eat this as soon as per week for the remainder of their lives. Each time I see it, I all the time surprise what number of takes it took to get that scene proper – and what number of occasions that huge bowl of silky-sauced pasta needed to be made.
Prep 10 min
Prepare dinner 35 min
Serves 2
For the fried shiitake
1 tbsp olive oil
150g recent shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps chopped into 1cm items
½ tsp mirin
½ tsp soy sauce
For the soy shimeji
1 tbsp olive oil
300g shimeji mushrooms, trimmed, or oyster or king oyster mushrooms, shredded
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
For the ‘carbonara’
5 egg yolks
50g parmesan, finely grated
1½ tsp mirin
1 tbsp soy sauce
Nice sea salt and black pepper
250g dried bucatini, or spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
1 giant garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Begin with the shiitake. Put the oil in a big saute pan on a medium-high warmth, add the chopped shiitake and cook dinner, stirring typically, for about seven minutes, till golden throughout. Combine the mirin and soy in a small bowl, pour into the pan and cook dinner, stirring shortly for one more minute. Tip the shiitake combine on to a plate and put aside.
Wipe the pan clear and put it on a excessive warmth. Pour a teaspoon of oil into the pan, then add a 3rd of the shimeji (or oyster or king oyster mushrooms) and cook dinner, stirring typically, for 2 to a few minutes, till calmly golden throughout. Tip into a big bowl, then repeat with the remaining shimeji, cooking them in two extra batches and including a teaspoon of oil. When the final batch of shimeji is cooked, return all of them to the pan. Combine the mirin and soy in a small bowl, pour excessive of the shimeji, stir to coat, then tip out into the big bowl and put aside.
Now for the carbonara. Put the egg yolks, parmesan, soy and mirin in a bowl, add just a few good grinds of pepper, combine effectively and put apart.
Put 1.3 litres of water and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt in a big pan and convey to a boil. Flip down the warmth to medium-high, add the pasta and cook dinner till al dente. Two minutes earlier than the pasta is completed, return the saute pan to a medium warmth and, as soon as it’s scorching, add the oil and garlic and cook dinner, stirring, for 30 seconds, till aromatic.
Utilizing tongs, raise the cooked pasta out of the boiling water and stir it into the garlicky oil. Measure out 200ml pasta water right into a bowl, shortly stir within the egg combination, to mix, then pour the lot into the pasta pan and stir vigorously for a minute, simply till the combo thickens right into a sauce that coats the pasta.
Take the pan off the warmth, stir within the shimeji till effectively mixed, then use tongs to switch the pasta to 2 bowls. Scatter 1 / 4 of the fried shiitake excessive of every bowl of pasta and serve with the remainder of the shiitake on the aspect.
Inglourious apfelstrudel
You don’t usually really feel hungry when your abdomen’s in knots, however within the gutwrenchingly tense strudel scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, I discovered myself distracted by the sheer perfection of the apfelstrudel: the precision of the slice, the crisp pastry, the swirl of cream on the aspect. I had to make my very own. Attempt to pay money for Turkish filo pastry: it has a robustness that makes it simpler to roll, plus it lends itself to extra-crunchy layers. Don’t fear in the event you can’t, although: use any good filo and take a bit extra care when dealing with it, as a result of it’s extra delicate; use 30g much less every of icing sugar and butter, too.
Prep 15 min
Steep 30 min
Prepare dinner 1 hr 20 min
Relaxation 15-20 min
Serves 8
6 sheets Turkish filo pastry (37cm x 47cm), or common filo (170g)
110g unsalted butter (80g if utilizing common filo), melted – put aside 15g for later
80g icing sugar (50g if utilizing common filo) – put aside 1 tbsp for dusting
50g exhausting amaretti biscuits, roughly crushed
50g toasted pecans, calmly damaged
50g dried smooth prunes, stoned if want be, then minimize into 1cm items
For the filling
5-6 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and minimize into 1½cm items (600g)
50g smooth mild brown sugar
1 tsp floor cinnamon
1 tsp floor cardamom, from 15-20 pods, bashed open, pods discarded and seeds floor
¼ tsp flaked sea salt
1 giant lemon, zest finely grated, to get 1 tsp, then juiced, to get 1 tbsp
To serve
Whipped or squirty cream (or custard)
Put all of the filling elements in a big bowl, combine to mix, then put aside for about half an hour, so the apples launch a few of their juices. Drain, then discard the liquid.
Warmth the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/fuel 6. Put a big, barely damp, clear tea towel on a worktop: that is that will help you roll the strudel later. Lay a sheet of filo on high of the tea towel, brush it generously throughout with melted butter, then, utilizing a sieve, calmly mud it throughout with a couple of tablespoon of icing sugar. Repeat with the remaining filo, melted butter and icing sugar.
Leaving a 4cm border across the edge, scatter the crushed amaretti excessive of the filo, high this with the apple combination, adopted by the pecans and, lastly, the prunes. Fold over one of many shorter borders to the opposite aspect, so the pastry fully encloses the filling, seal the sides, then do the identical with the longer borders. Ranging from the longer aspect and utilizing the damp fabric that will help you, fastidiously roll up the strudel like a swiss roll till it’s fully sealed and the seam is on the backside.
Once more utilizing the fabric that will help you, fastidiously raise the strudel on to a big oven tray lined with greaseproof paper. Brush with the reserved butter, then mud with the reserved icing sugar. Utilizing a pointy serrated knife, minimize six evenly spaced 7cm diagonal slashes throughout the highest of the strudel to disclose the filling inside. Bake the strudel for 45-50 minutes, till the pastry is crisp and deeply golden, then take away and depart to relaxation for 15-20 minutes.
Slice and serve heat with cream.
Bubba’s prawns
Bubba was Forrest’s greatest pal. They noticed solely the most effective in one another and the nice in everybody else. They fought collectively, fished collectively and ate industrial portions of shrimp collectively, and their partnership is without doubt one of the most memorable options of Robert Zemeckis’ 1994 masterpiece, Forrest Gump. In honour of that, right here’s a nod to Alabama and one other nice partnership: shrimp and grits – or, on this case, king prawns and polenta. And that’s all I’ve to say about that.
Prep 15 min
Prepare dinner 25 min
Serves 2
For the polenta
250ml complete milk
Nice sea salt and black pepper
200g quick-cook polenta
50g unsalted butter
50g parmesan, finely grated
For the prawns
60g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tsp chipotle chilli flakes
½ tsp candy smoked paprika
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp dried oregano
500g uncooked king prawns, peeled and deveined
½ lemon
10g picked flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Put the milk in a medium saucepan for which you have got a lid, add 250ml water and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt, and convey to a boil. Flip down the warmth to medium-high, pour within the polenta and cook dinner, whisking continuously, for about two minutes, till it thickens to a unfastened porridge consistency. Take off the warmth, cowl and put aside.
Now for the prawns. Put the butter, oil, garlic, chilli and paprika in a medium saucepan, add a quarter-teaspoon of salt and an excellent grind of pepper, then placed on a medium-high warmth. Prepare dinner, stirring typically, for 2 minutes, till the garlic is aromatic and the spices are simply beginning to keep on with the underside of the pan. Add the Worcestershire sauce, maple syrup and oregano, and cook dinner for one more two minutes, till the sauce reduces and thickens barely. Add the prawns and cook dinner, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes, till they’re cooked by means of and effectively coated with the sauce. Take off the warmth and squeeze over the lemon half.
Stir the butter and cheese by means of the polenta, then switch it to a lipped platter. Prime with the prawn combine, sprinkle the parsley on high and serve directly.
