"TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Movie Night Menus," & "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Cookbook" - Pizza and Pasta for Oscar Night 2017!

Date I made these recipes:  February 26, 2017 – Academy Awards (Oscars) 2017

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Movie Night Menus – Dinner and Drink Recipes Inspired by Films We Love by Tenaya Darlington and Andre Darlington

Published by Running Press

ISBN: 978-0-7624-6093-9/© 2016

Recipe:  Bowtie Pasta with Spicy Vodka Cream Sauce – p. 35 (Menu intended for the 1933 movie, "Female" along with a Vodka Tonic and Boozy Olives, the last two recipes not listed here.)

The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous™ Cookbook – Recipes and Entertaining Secrets from the Most Extraordinary People in the World by Robin Leach

Published by Viking Studio Books

ISBN: 0-670-84245-1; © 1992

Purchased at Barnes and Noble (Used) – Roseville, MN

Recipe:  [Wolfgang Puck's] Whole Wheat Pizza with Chanterelles and Eggplant – p. 117

Sometimes it is a good thing to be woefully behind with these posts because it gave me the opportunity to talk about the kerfuffle at the end of this year's Oscars when the Best Picture winner was announced.

In case you missed it, here's what went down:  Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (a/k/a Bonnie and Clyde, the movie of which is now 50 years old), came on stage to announce the winner of the Best Picture.  They read the list of nominees, then Warren opened the envelope but appeared puzzled by the envelope's contents.  After turning the envelope practically inside out, he showed it to Faye.  She thought he was stalling, said "You're impossible," and announced the "winner," the film La La Land.

And so there was much rejoicing and the La La Land crew came up to give thanks and a couple of them started their acceptance speeches.  Suddenly, the stage was filled with other people all looking at the envelope as well as some of the show's staff talking into headsets, and then the third speaker from the film finished up his speech by saying "We lost by the way."

What?  What was he talking about?  Turns out, there was an envelope mix up and the Best Picture went to Moonlight, not La La Land.  So the La La people cleared the stage, the Moonlight people took the stage, gave short and stunned acceptance speeches and then the program ended.

Immediately, people went to work figuring out what went down and it wasn't long before we learned that Warren and Faye were given the wrong envelope by the team representing the accounting firm, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the firm that has been tabulating the Oscar votes for the past 83 years.  Oops.  Turns out PwC keeps two sets of each "winning" envelope on hand which is a good idea, unless the envelope handed to Warren and Faye was the envelope of an already-announced award (Best Actress, Emma Stone), in which case it was a bad idea.

So okay, to recap:  Warren and Faye did not read the right name, PwC goofed with the envelope, the producer for La La Land took the bull by the horns and practically shoved the correct envelope into the camera showing that Moonlight won (way to take control of the situ, dude), the show ended, everyone went to the after-parties and so the end, right? 

Wrong.  Within hours, there was call for an "investigation" and I'm sorry, what?  This was not Watergate.  This was not a matter of national security, this is the Oscars folks. Oscars are about films.  And in the end, this incident, unintentional as it was, likely helped Moonlight more than it hurt.  Historically, most people have a hard time remembering who won Oscar's most prestigious award, but not this year.  This is the year that Moonlight made history on many levels (African-American picture, African-American cast and director of a movie about African Americans and LGBT issues), and to me, this boo-boo only ensured we will remember this film and so it's a win-win all around.

Still, this was not my favorite award show snafu moment, not by a long shot. In 2010, a very stoned (drunk? other?)  Elizabeth Taylor (she had trouble with pain meds and, apparently, alcohol) was selected to present the 2001 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and to this day, that debacle is my absolute favorite award-announcement-gone-wrong moment.

First, she thought the nominees were listed inside the envelope and so started to open it (the winner is inside the envelope).  When the audience clued her in, she said "Whaaaat?  I don't open this?" and then "I'm new at this.  I usually like to get them [awards]!"  Ha!

Then host Dick Clark stepped in to help her out saying "read the nominees first."   Then she said "What is this [envelope] for?  Oh I see."  Oh dear God.

So then she read the nominees (finally) and then opened the envelope and started pulling it apart looking for the name.  (I am laughing as I write this).  And finally, she said "And the winner is...and it's flashing 'envelope'." Yes, Virginia, she read the message on the teleprompter, the message that said "envelope" as in "Read it already" and seriously, I about slid out of my chair.

Finally – finally, she read the winner's name and the way she said "Gladiator" (Best Motion Picture – Drama) was hilarious. She sounded half surprised, half delighted and again, half out of it.  And as if that wasn't enough, she tried to close out the show, thanking everybody for coming and Holy Snort-able Moment, Batman, can someone get this woman offstage and quickly? Here's the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGT-NUBNTZc

Naturally, and just like this year's Oscar debacle, this video went viral.  Saturday Night Live did a spoof of it as did an actor friend of mine who used to throw his arms out dramatically while at the same time saying "Glaaaaaaadiator."  You might have had to be there but it was hilarious.  Poor Elizabeth.  Still, every year without fail, I not only re-watch the clip, but I do my own imitation of her presenting the award.  Priceless!

So sorry, Warren and Faye, as good as this moment was, Elizabeth takes the day!

And now on with our story, (already in progress) - the 2017 Oscars and what I made on movie night.  Actually, we need to take another slight detour because one of the books I used on Oscar night was TCM Turner Classic Movies Movie Night Menus and Robert Osborne, long-time host of the TCM channel passed away last week at age 84. 

Turner Classic Movies was a start-up cable station that was owned originally by media mogul Ted Turner (thus, the name).  If memory serves, Ted initially wanted to colorize classic  black & white films, something that had the film community up in arms in two seconds flat.  You think this year's Oscar kerfuffle was bad, you ain't seen nothing!

At any rate, that idea went apparently by the wayside and today you can find a wide variety of classic films, in black and white and color, on this station with commentary and interesting trivia provided by Robert Osborn who signed on with TCM from the beginning (1994).  I loved Robert's commentary as he had great things to say about great films.  He also had insightful things to say about some not-so-great films as well. He'll be missed.

Unlike the other "dinner and a movie" cookbook I used for the SAG Awards, this one highlights only 30 films that have stood the test of time and then provides a menu for us to follow that is tailored to each movie.  Just like the other book, specialty cocktails are provided in every category.

Here's a sampling of some of the movies in this book:

• The Divorcee (1930)
• Grand Hotel (1932)
• The Thin Man (1934) - This film's menu featured a dry martini, naturally.  Nick and Nora fans will know what I mean!
• The Philadelphia Story (1940) I hate to say this but I never warmed up to this film despite it's A-list cast of Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant.
• Casablanca (1942) – "Round up the usual suspects."
• Adam's Rib (1949) – possibly my favorite Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie of all time.  Added bonus:  the hilarious actress, Judy Holiday, played Kate's legal client and she played it to perfection.
• The Sting (1973) – This movie is memorable to me because it was the first time I was asked out on a date to go to the movies.  I was 15 at the time, the guy, 16.  Unfortunately, and due to conditions of out of my control, the date never happened and it was years before I watched this movie.  (For the record, the boy was not the problem.  Just had to clarify that!)
• The Big Chill (1983) – "We took a secret vote.  We're not leaving.  We're never leaving."
• Moonstruck (1987) – Andy and I so loved this movie, we walked back up the aisle at our wedding to the tune "That's Amore."  This easily could have been a family documentary.

 So that's the sampling and I'm happy to say that I have seen 22 out of the 30 on the list which is not bad at all.  Alas, I did not see the movie, Female, associated with one of tonight's entrees – Bowtie Pasta with Spicy Vodka Sauce – but this film was released in 1933 and I am not quite up on my 1930's film viewing.  I'll have to see if I can find this and watch it sometime.

I am also happy to report that out of the list of 30 films, there are only a few of the ones I have seen that I don't like:  the aforementioned The Philadelphia Story (and also the musical that followed a few years later, High Society, staring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra); Giant (1956); and An American In Paris (1951).  Let's parse these!

It is rare that I hate on Katharine Hepburn, but I just did not like her character in The Philadelphia Story. She played the very snotty and spoiled Tracy Lord and I just could not deal.  That said, I did like the way she said Cary Grant's character name:  "C. K. Dexter Haven."  Nice ring to it, no?

Then there's Giant, a film staring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean, a movie that was sort of the precursor to the TV show, Dallas.  I read the book, Giant, by Edna Ferber, but just did not like it on the big screen.  Rock Hudson's character in particular just drove me nuts.  He played a Texas cattleman with an ego as big as the state of Texas.  At any rate, put me down for "no, thank you."

You may be shocked to see An American in Paris on the list but try as I might, I just cannot get into this story because there's just too much music and dance and this is hilarious because I like music and dance!  That said, the movie's music, written by George Gershwin, is the stuff of legend and I've performed many of the movie's songs both in my community band and as a vocalist at various and sundry performance venues.

I could go on and on also about some of the rest of the movies but we would be here all night so let's move on to the second featured cookbook, The Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous Cookbook by [the show's host] Robin Leach.

The title of the cookbook is the same title as this show that aired pretty regularly from 1984 to 1989, and then very sporadically until 1995 before disappearing from the airwaves.  The show was hosted by a Brit – Robin Leach – who brought us into the living room and lives of the rich and famous so we could all see how the other half lived, lucky us.

The thing that I remember most about the show was not who was showcased but Robin Leach himself.  The guy had a booming voice, prompting one comedian, I don't remember who, to mimic the guy in a sketch:  "I'M SHOUTING AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!"  I still use that line from time to time even though nobody ever knows what I am talking about!

Since it had been a long, long time since last I saw the show, I went to YouTube to reacquaint myself with Robin's intro and was surprised/not surprised to see it

featured a brief clip of a very young Donald Trump walking with a much younger Michael Jackson.  Wow.  Talk about doing the Time Warp again!  Indeed, this book is stuck in a time warp and so let's discuss the who's who and the what's what of my second featured cookbook.

The book's recipes are broken into categories, and within each category is a recipe submitted by someone a) rich, and b) famous because that's how this thing works.  Our categories for best rich and famous people's recipes are: "Extravagant Affairs;" "Casual Entertaining;" "Relaxing at Home," and "Favorite Recipes of the Rich and Famous."  I feel like I'm playing a special edition of Jeopardy!

Under "Extravagant Affairs," we have an entry titled "Congratulations Elizabeth and Larry," and what do you know, no sooner did I talk about Elizabeth Taylor above than here she is featured with her 8^th (and final) husband, Larry.....somebody.  (Had to look that one up.)  Actually, Larry Fortensky to whom our Liz was married from 1991-1996.  Larry and Liz's wedding feast was featured in the book and included "Fettuccine with Seafood" and "Roast Chicken with Morel Sauce."

Alas, Larry and Liz were unlucky at love as were two other celebrities listed in the "Casual Entertaining" section:  Ivana Trump, The Donald's first wife, and Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff. Wolfgang is known as the official caterer of the Academy Awards Governors Ball and up until they got divorced, wife and business partner, Barbara Lazaroff worked in the business with him.  No matter as Wolfgang's food is good and was a perfect pairing to go with the TCM Cookbook's pasta dish.

Another couple who bit the dust were the "Relaxing at Home" team of Bruce (now Caitlin) and Kris Jenner, and unless you've been living under a rock, you know how that whole story played out so no need to go there.  Also found under the "Relaxing at Home" category were former pro baseball player, Steve Harvey, and his wife Candace Garvey and wow, you want to read the saga of someone who "played the field" (sorry, I could not resist the pun), check out his bio on Wikipedia.  Let's just say the man had a lot of women and children in his life, plural.

Then we have "Favorite Recipes of the Rich and Famous," and I don't know why some of these people were listed here and not elsewhere in the book, but I did not write the book so there you go.  It is here we find recipes from actress Joan Collins, actors Jerry Lewis and Roger Moore as well as Regis and former TV show partner, Kathie Lee (now Kathie Lee Gifford).   Rounding out this category was a submission from The Beverly Hills Hotel that made me laugh because the book is all about rich and famous people and then, inexplicably, a building appears.

Given that tonight was a night celebrating movies, I really wanted to make a recipe from someone associated with Hollywood versus someone who made a name in another field, but that was somewhat hard to do as the latter outnumbered the former.  So I decided finally that Wolfgang Puck was close enough because of his famous Oscar party connection and so I was good to go.

I was all set to make a Wolfgang pizza (he's famous for his pizza) and even selected one – "Black Forest Ham and Goat Cheese Pizza" - as that sounded delicious, but I started getting a nagging feeling I made that before, and sure enough, I did!  Check out my blog postings from February 2009 and there you will find it.

Since I knew I wanted to make pasta from the other cookbook, I just simply substituted another of Wolfgang's pizzas and it was a winner.  The recipe is for a Whole Wheat Pizza with Chanterelles and Eggplant and it was great even if I did make a few adjustments that are noted in the recipe recap below.

And so, dear reader, we had ourselves a pizza and pasta Oscar-viewing night and it was grand but I have to tell you that I felt like I was dining out at a Sbarro restaurant.  Anybody remember Sbarro?  It was a fast-casual pizza and pasta place, popular in the 1980's and maybe early 90's.  And do you know what kids?  They are still operating!  And not only are they still operating, but apparently they are in the food court in the Rosedale Mall, a mall I just visited this afternoon.  I guess I don't get out much anymore.

This then concludes Oscar Night 2017 with its attendant trauma-drama as well as all the dirt that's fit to print about some of the celebrities involved in this and past Oscars.  Good times.

Until next year....

Bowtie Pasta with Spicy Vodka Cream Sauce – serves 2 – from TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Movie Night Menus

1 jar (12 ounces) roasted peppers in olive oil, drained (Ann's Note:  it would figure that the minute I needed to find roasted peppers in oil, I couldn't, not even from an Italian grocery store!)

1 small clove garlic

2 tablespoons tomato paste

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ cup vodka

½ pound bowtie pasta

¼ cup heavy ream

1 sprig fresh basil, leaves sliced into ribbons, for garnish

Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

(Ann's Note:  notice that tomatoes are nowhere to be found in this recipe.  Instead, it's red peppers and tomato paste.  I must say though, I thought it was refreshing!)

Puree the peppers and garlic in a blender until smooth, then pour the mixture into a saucepan over medium heat and add the tomato paste, pepper flakes, and vodka.  Stir.  In a separate pan, start cooking your pasta, according to the box instructions.

Simmer the vodka sauce for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the sauce tastes sweet-hot, without being too bitter.  (If it still tastes bitter, cook it a few minutes more or add a teaspoon or two of sugar.  The cream will also mellow it.)

Add the cream to the sauce and stir.  Heat gently.  Drain pasta and separate into warmed bowls.  Ladle sauce over the pasta and top with fresh basil and black pepper.

Whole Wheat Pizza with Chanterelles and Eggplant – serves 4 – Wolfgang Puck's recipe is from The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous™ Cookbook – Recipes and Entertaining Secrets from the Most Extraordinary People in the World

For the Whole Wheat Dough

Ann's Note:  I cheated an purchased an already-made and non-whole wheat pizza dough to save time, but if you like to make dough, then rock on.

1 enveloped active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 cup cool water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

Pinch salt

3 ¾ cups whole wheat flour

For the topping

1/3 cup olive oil

2 medium eggplants, trimmed and sliced ¼-inch thick

Salt and freshly ground pepper

½ pound chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and sliced ¼-inch thick

2 cups freshly grated mozzarella cheese

¼ pound fresh goat cheese, cut into ¼-inch cubes

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium leek, cleaned, trimmed, and thinly sliced

4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

Fresh thyme sprigs

Ann's Note:  As you'll see, the recipes calls for you to sauté only the eggplant and mushrooms, but I took it up a level and sautéed all but the tomatoes and I loved the result.  Leeks are great when softened and I wasn't sure I wanted that full flavor that raw ones bring.  It's up to you but I think you'll like the result. That said, the by-the-book instructions follow.

To make the dough

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let proof for 5 to 10 minutes.  In a separate bowl, combine the cool water with the olive oil, honey, and salt.  Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor.  With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil mixture, then the yeast through the feed tube.  Process until the dough forms a ball around the blade.  Transfer to a buttered bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk. 

Punch the dough down and knead it on a lightly floured work surface for about 1 minute.  Divide into 4 equal parts and roll into tight balls.  Place on a tray, cover with a damp towel, and let rest for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Ann's Note:  Hmmm....interesting that he suggested to refrigerate overnight because here's what often happens:  chilled dough does not roll out very easily. Ours was refrigerated when I bought it and then got stored overnight in the fridge and Andy had a hell of a time rolling it out.   This is not the first time this has happened and after this, I will make a mental note not to do that.   If at all possible, buy it fresh or make it fresh. 

Roll or stretch each ball into a circle 7 to 8 inches in diameter.

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500F.  Lightly dust a wooden pizza paddle with flour or semolina.  Working with one circle at a time, place the pizza dough on the paddle. Ann's Note:  Okay....no.  We don't have a pizza stone and we most certainly don't have a pizza paddle, are you kidding me, Wolfgang?  So here's what we did instead:  we set the oven to 450 and cooked the pizza 10-12 minutes (Wolfgang's cooking time for the whole thing), and then we lowered the temp to about 350 and baked it another 10 minutes or so.  And we used a "regular" pizza pan because that's what is in most people's kitchens.  Worked fine.

One final Ann's Note:  My grandmother used a boxed hot roll mix for her pizza dough and to this day, I can still taste how glorious that crust was.  It still contained yeast but the dough ended up being thick without being deep-dish thick and I loved that.  She was also a master at spreading that dough out on the pizza pan; I am most decidedly not a master at that.  In fact, so frustrated do I get by that endeavor that I turn that job over to Andy who does a much better job with it. 

"The Hollywood Cookbook - Cooking for Causes" - Mediterranean Chicken and Coconut Rice Pudding for the Oscars!

Date I made these recipes:  February 22, 2015 – Oscar Night!

The Hollywood Cookbook – Cooking for Causes by Jackie Zabel and Morgan Most

Published by:  Silverback Books, Inc.

ISBN:  13: 978-1-56937-083-8; © 2006

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores

Recipes:  Mediterranean Chicken (Anne Hathaway's) – p. 116 and Coconut Rice Pudding – p. 157

Tonight was the 87^th Academy Awards show and the Oscar went to...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Clocking in at 3.5 hours, this sucker was long and might I say boring?  And predictable.  And boring.  Wait, I said that.

Once upon a time, when I actually went to a movie theater (not since 2003 folks and it seems even longer than that) and watched most if not all the Oscar contenders for Best Picture, that horse race was fun.  Heck, I even snuck in a foreign films along the way just to keep my hand in the game and for bragging rights:  "Why yes, I did see that Icelandic horror story, thank you very much.  Two words:  Total shoe-in!"  Back then though, my movie viewing had a purpose and that was to win, finally, my friend Mike's Oscar pool. You think the actual Oscars are a battle? Ha! Try winning that damned pool. Some years I came so close to winning it all (and my plastic Oscar)  it was ridiculous.  And I had my speech all ready to go, damn it, and of course it was totally original, unlike most "plug and play" speeches we hear today (well, except this year):  "I'd like to thank my [producers] [directors] [the good folks at craft food service]...."

But then.  But then everything got boring and predictable and was there any doubt about who would win anything (in a major category) this year?  No, there was not.  In fact, so slow-moving was this train that toward the end, when I was desperately fighting off sleep (and the accompanying mouth drool), I was momentarily dismayed (confused?) to see that Patricia Arquette wasn't pictured along with the rest of the ladies up for Best Actress.  And that's because she won her award for Best Supporting Actress what – days earlier?  It seemed so. 

And G-Bless Neil Patrick Harris but he did not help matters along at all.  Now, if he would have tap danced, if he would have created a work-out video or if he magically (because he is a magician) made the entire auditorium disappear (save for Oprah who never goes anywhere because she's well...Oprah!), well then maybe I might have sat up straighter and paid better attention.  But he didn't so I didn't and so there you go.

And I can't even blame my drowsiness on the fact that Andy and I ate a heavy pre-Oscar meal because we didn't.  Well okay, the coconut rice pudding wasn't exactly the lightest thing on the planet but it was dessert and we had just a small taste so we would not do what in fact we did anyway – snooze!  Poor Andy bailed 3 hours in, recognizing that he would miss out (not really) on the Best of the Best of the...whatever...categories that remained but the guy has to get up for work in the morning and as excuses go, I don't think the boss would be tickled with "Well, I was up too late watching the never-ending Oscars and then I overslept and...."  Okay, small lie:  that might work with me if I was his boss but not in a machine shop full of guys.  Just sayin'...

Okay, well, I could go on and on (and believe me, post-awards I do go on and on about the fashion), but let's get to this cookbook.

The title, if you will, is somewhat misleading because it's The Hollywood Cookbook and to some – okay me – "Hollywood" still means films.  Films that are celebrated on a night like tonight at the Oscars.  Yet this book is filled with mostly TV actors who, of course, work in Hollywood but yet it's not the same.  This is why TV actors are celebrated with the Emmy's and movie actors are celebrated with the Oscars and the twain never shall meet, or at least didn't until the Golden Globes and the Screen Actor's Guild Awards were created to split the difference.  Or at least that's the answer that I'm going with for today.

Now, the purpose of this book can be found in the subtitle "Cooking for Causes."  And so each actor, actress, or chef, listed here gives us the charity/cause they support and they are all worthy.  In some cases, I was tempted to select a recipe based on the cause and not necessarily the actor.  Then other times, I flipped it and was learning toward the actor instead of the cause.  Well, luckily, I have Mr. Not-All-That-Interested for a spouse and so I handed him the book and let him select the recipe he wanted—which really is the point of this blog, right?  And when he handed it back, it was with the caveat that he didn't care what else I made from the book, he wanted the Coconut Rice Pudding.  He loves rice pudding and he loves it so much that despite the fact that we were grocery shopping for ingredients to make this rice pudding, he was still going to buy some at Trader Joe's.  I reminded him of dinner and he put the package back.  "Another day, dear. You can buy it another day."

As to the main dish, he was leaning toward, Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford's (once married, now divorced) recipe for slow cooker cassoulet until I pointed out to him that it calls for duck (I don't like duck) and that even if we substituted that item, it called for a lot of meat and a lot of meat means a lot of money.  So I made the Mediterranean Chicken instead.  That's how well roll the week before payday!

Before we get to the recipes, here's a look at a few stars who submitted recipes, the movie they are most likely known for and their charity:

• Thora Birch - "American Beauty."  Charity: Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation).
• Michael J. Fox - "Back to the Future," of course.  Charity: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
• Brendan Fraser  - "Blast From the Past." Charity: P.S. Arts.
• Anne Hathaway (Mediterranean Chicken) – "Les Miserables (Best Actress winner, 2013)."  Charity: Lollipop Theater Network.
• Ron Howard – director of too many films to name but my favorite is "Apollo 13"...not to mention the star of TV shows like "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Happy Days."  Charity:  Boys and Girls Club of America.
• Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford (Coconut Rice Pudding) – Mostly TV roles, she for "Malcolm in the Middle," he for "The West Wing."   Charity is one they founded:  Clothes Off Our Back.
• Esai Morales – "La Bamba."  Charity:  TreePeople.
• Wolfgang Puck – none listed but he donates a lot of time and attention to several worthy causes as well as caters the Oscar's Governor's Ball every year.
• Treat Williams – mostly known for Broadway and TV roles like Stanley Kowalski in a TV remake of "A Streetcar Named Desire" ("Stellaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....").  Charity:  Save the Children

...and more.

As a PS, actor James Denton – Desperate Housewives – is also included in this book and I nearly went for his southern treats before my husband decided otherwise.  James is married to a woman from MN and has been living in a Twin Cities suburb for the past couple years.  He has also been very active in Twin Cities theater productions.

Okay, so as to the recipes, both were good and I loved that I could make up the base for each, pop it in the fridge and then proceed to forget about them for a couple of hours.  Actual cooking time was minimal and so for once I was able to time them to get done at the same time – woot!

As to the chicken dish, it was tasty but I must say that the marinade was interesting.  It contained oil and vinegar and that was okay but then you added a bunch of savory items like garlic and capers and oregano and then topped it off with fruit and then topped it off further with brown sugar.  Huh.  The taste was great but you wouldn't have thought so at first blush.

The one little quibble I have is that if you look at the photo included in the book (which never seems to look like my finished product), you'd swear there were onions in this recipe.  And yet I read the instructions and the ingredient list several times and no onions were mentioned.  So there's that mystery.

And the instructions for the rice pudding puzzled as well.  The ingredients call for "1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean (scraped)."  Have we all got that?  But then there's the instruction "Remove vanilla bean pod and refrigerate..."  It almost sounded like I should leave the bean pod whole but I wasn't sure.  So I showed it to Andy who also had no idea. And so I put the entire bean pod in the mixture and removed it before chilling.   This might not have been right but it's my blog and I'll cook like I want to!

And the Oscar for this evening goes to...the food.  Enjoy!

Mediterranean Chicken – Serves 6 – Note:  marinate for 4 hours or overnight

6 boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (3 whole breasts)

¾ cup red wine vinegar

3/34 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, smashed

2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano leaves (Ann's Note:  Not to sound like an idiot but I've never heard of fresh oregano leaves, only dried.  Still, my Rainbow grocery story carried them, bless their hearts, and so I bought them.)

2 tablespoons capers

1/3 cup dried apricots

1/3 cup pitted prunes

1 handful pitted green or black olives

3 bay leaves

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup white wine

½ cup brown sugar

6 cups salad mix or rice

Place chicken in a large baking dish.  In a bowl, combine vinegar, oil, garlic, oregano, capers, apricots, prunes, olives, and bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well.  Pour mixture over chicken breasts and place, covered, in refrigerator.  Allow chicken to marinate for 4 hours or overnight.  Ann's Note:  The oil will "set" when refrigerated but no worries, it's fine.  Odd-looking, but fine.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Remove chicken dish from refrigerator and discard bay leaves.  Pour wine over the top of chicken and sprinkle with sugar.

Place dish in oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Serve chicken breasts on a bed of rice or salad.

Coconut Rice Pudding – Serves 6 – Note:  allow one hour for milk mixture to cool, 4 hours to overnight for mixture to be refrigerated before finishing the recipe

1 cup cream, whipping

1 ¼ cups unsweetened coconut milk, well shaken

2 cups milk

3 black cardamom pods (Ann's Note:  you can get these at a co-op or Whole Foods but I couldn't find black, only green.)

1 ½ tablespoons grated lemon zest

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups cold cooked rice (preferably medium-grain)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon vanilla bean (scraped)

Toasted coconut shavings, for sprinkling

Combine the milks, cardamom pods, vanilla bean and lemon zest in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Remove from heat, cool for one hour.  Remove vanilla bean pod and refrigerate for 4 hours (or overnight).

Strain the cardamom mixture into a medium saucepan.  Add the sugar, salt and rice, and bring to a boil over medium-low heat.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently until thick and creamy, about 40 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla extract and serve warm or chilled.  Garnish with coconut shavings.

"The Wolfgang Puck Cookbook" & "Foodarama Party Book" - Black Forest Ham and Coat Cheese Pizza and Gala Cake

Date I made these recipes: February 22, 2009 (Academy Award Night)

The Wolfgang Puck Cookbook – Recipes from Spago, Chinois and Points East and West by Wolfgang Puck
Published by: Random House
ISBN: 0-394-53366-6
© 1986
Recipe: Black Forest Ham and Goat Cheese Pizza – p. 112-113

Foodarama Party Book – What to Serve-What to Do at parties for all occasions – Children, Teenagers, Adults by the Kelvinator Division, American Motors Corp., Detroit 32, Michigan
Published by: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
© 1959
Recipe: Gala Cake – p. 37

Well, folks, we are just hours away from the start of the 81st annual Academy Awards – can you stand the excitement?? I know I can’t—so many dresses to critique (it is about the dresses, right?), so little time.

Sadly, folks, the only movie up for an award (Best Supporting Actress) that I’ve seen this year is Vicky, Christina, Barcelona, a quirky yarn directed by Woody Allen (who else?) and that was only a week ago. I am, quite sadly, light years behind on my movie watching.

Once upon a time, though, I was queen of the cinema. I went to movies all the time, especially weekend matinees when it was cheap (today, you can’t even buy the popcorn for what I paid). I was even at the local Uptown Theater when they screened the documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, Harvey Milk being the subject of this year’s movie, Milk, starring Sean Penn. Who knew that this kid from the middle of nowhere would be so cutting edge?

Last year’s Best Actor, Daniel Day Lewis, was also the subject of a quirky 1988 movie, Stars and Bars that also played at the Uptown during a film festival. From what I recall, he played an art dealer who had to go down south to sign an up-and-coming artist named Freeborn (what would I do without http://www.imdb.com/?). The one scene I distinctly remember was when Day Lewis stayed overnight at a theme hotel and had to paddle a canoe (yes, a canoe) across a waterway built in the registration area to get to the registration desk. If memory also serves, he tipped the thing over. Perhaps you had to be there but it was damned funny. It was especially nice to see DDL is a lighthearted comedy for once; that guy does “serious” like nobody’s business.

But alas, people, between the cost of the movies (not to mention snack canyon) and the movie-watching public’s increasing inability to remain quiet in a movie theater (“This is NOT your living room, and yes, I know he has a gun, thank you very much!”), we stopped going. I hate to admit this, but the last time I was in a theater was for The Matrix 3. Why I bothered with that flick, I have no idea but after that, it was DVD rental or bust. (Incidentally, another make-it or break-it moment took place in a movie theater in a state that shall remain nameless for security reasons—my own security—involving me and a woman I referred to as a “(expletive) hillbilly.” It was a heat of the moment thing and I forget where I was (not to mention my manners) and out it came; my entire row, consisting of me, my husband, my brother and sister-in-law slid down in our seats the minute that phrase was uttered in anticipation of a life-changing incident (otherwise known as “death.”). The fact that I lived to tell about this is probably due to the fact that back then, guns were not allowed in the theater…I think.)

But I digress…in order to honor the Academy winners, I turned to the man who has fed the stars for years on end: Wolfgang Puck.

Although famous in Hollywood, Wolfgang opened up a restaurant here in the Twin Cities a few years ago called 20.21 - (http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/2021/minneapolis/ It’s located in the Walker Art Center (our modern art museum), is primarily Asian-influenced and just darned good. That Wolfgang knows his way around a kitchen even though he came, he saw (the opening) and then he left and went back to sunny California where he doesn’t have to bring his car battery inside during a cold snap like we do.

It was a little challenging making something from Wolfgang’s book but I finally settled on a pizza. I did not make the pizza dough recipe in the book because I’m lazy and because (as I’ve stated before), “why do for yourself what others can do for you?” Just go buy a large pizza dough from Broder’s Cucina Italiana (or your local pizzeria) and be done with it!

Now at first blush, the gala cake recipe doesn’t seem like it’s a good fit for a pizza and you’re right, but there was a method to my madness. Last night, Saturday night, was the second annual Arcademy Gala. Arc Greater Twin Cities is a nonprofit organization serving individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities and their families, and I’ve had the privilege of volunteering for them for the past 22 years. Over time, I’ve chaired national convention events, the 50th anniversary party and last year, stepped in with T-minus 6 months to go to chair the 1st annual gala. Because the event is held in February, we decided to play on the group’s name, Arc, and throw our own Oscar-themed party. Both last year and this year were a hit with a lineup of outstanding entertainment and high-spirited fund-raising auctions. It is a great time for a great cause and for Twin Cities’ residents looking for a great evening out, this is THE event to consider.

And so in honor of THE event of the season, I selected this Gala Cake for my Oscar-evening lineup from the book, Foodarama. (I absolutely adore the name of this book! My husband and I used to throw a summer party on the huge deck of a previous apartment that we dubbed Deck-O-Rama. That party series – Deck-O-Rama 1 -5 – was a big hit but that’s another story for another day.)

Now this recipe calls for a combination of frozen and fresh fruit but if I were you, I’d consider going with the easier and less expensive option known as fruit cocktail; I did, and I never looked back. (Besides, this book was published in 1959; are you going to tell me that frozen fruit was preferable over fruit cocktail? I think not.)

“And the Oscar goes to….”

Black Forest Ham and Goat Cheese Pizza – Makes 4 small pizzas or 1 large one
1 recipe Pizza Dough (p. 110) divided into 4 equal pieces (or one large dough made from a box or purchased from a local pizzeria)
Extra-virgin olive oil, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
1 cup grated Italian Fontina cheese
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese or an equal amount of fresh, sliced mozzarella
2 baby Japanese eggplants, sliced lengthwise to ¼-inch slices and grilled or sautéed in olive oil
1 cup cubed goat cheese (Note: it’s easier and slightly cheaper to go with crumbled goat cheese)
2 ounces Black Forest ham, cut into julienne strips
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped, with 1 sprig reserved for garish

Before we get started, let me tell you about all my variations on a theme for this pizza:
I don’t have a pizza stone and don’t intend to buy one and so used a pizza pan and it worked out just fine. You will probably have to bake it a little longer than planned to achieve the same results.
I made one, large pizza and purchased the dough from Broders’ Cuciana Italiana in south Minneapolis – http://www.broderscucinaitaliana.com/. I also bought my fontina cheese and my mozzarella there.
I used one baby eggplant since my husband is not a big fan and I sautéed them in olive oil and then drained them on paper towels before putting them on the pizza.
Goat cheese is expensive so I used half the amount and went with crumbled instead of cubed.
I couldn’t find Black Forest ham and so went with Viriginia ham instead. I doubt I missed much in the flavor category and it saved me a trip to several other grocery stores.

And now for our actual instructions:
Before you are ready to bake the pizzas, preheat the oven with a pizza stone inside to 500 degrees for 30 minutes.
Roll or stretch the pizza dough, a quarter at a time, into a 7- to 8-inch circle. Now let’s pause here a minute to talk about this dough. For some reason, this sucker did not want to stay put and my husband and I had to wrestle this dough like alligator wranglers in order to get it into shape and onto the pizza pan. I suspect it might be because the dough was cold (I threw it in the refrig for a bit while making other things before taking it out to warm up) but it was a major endeavor. Let’s just say we were sweating, tired and covered with flour!
One at a time, place the pizza on a wooden peel (paddle) dusted lightly with flour or semolina. (Yeah, right Wolfie—like we all have a pizza paddle just hanging around our kitchen someplace.)
For each pizza, brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle it with dried chili flakes according to how s spicy you like your pizza. Arrange a quarter of the fontina and mozzarella cheese on the dough. Then add a quarter of the eggplant, goat cheese and ham. Sprinkle some chopped basil on top. Assemble the three remaining pizzas in the same way.
Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake it for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling lively.

Gala Cake – no serving size given
½ cup frozen diced pineapple
½ cup frozen diced peaches
½ cup seedless grapes
¼ cup halved maraschino cherries
OR buy two cans of fruit cocktail and drain (so much easier)
1 cup heavy cream
Confectioners’ sugar (added to the whipped cream)
½ tsp orange extract
½ tsp lemon extract
2 8 or 9-inch yellow cake layers (I purchased a generic yellow cake mix for all of $.99 – sweet!)

Thaw and drain the frozen fruits (or drain your fruit cocktail). Add grapes and cherries if purchased separately. Whip cream; sweeten to taste with confectioners’ sugar. Fold in the flavoring extracts, then the drained fruit. Fill and frost cake layers with the whipped cream-fruit mixture. Garnish with additional fruit, if desired.

Note: the photo in the book shows that the cake is frosted in between layers and on the top but not on the sides. I decided not to frost the cake at all and instead pulled out my frosting as I went along and added it to the cake as if it were a whipped-cream topping. It saved on space in my refrigerator and didn’t turn my cake into a soggy mess.