Month: December 2023

Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame

Starring the incomparable Rosalind Russell (ie the star of His Girl Friday and many other fast talking classics), Auntie Mame is a long time personal favorite. Initially set during the Prohibition era, the film follows bohemian socialite Mame Dennis, who is granted custody of her 

Elf

Elf

A film by Jon Favreau, Elf has become a holiday staple in American households. I have to be honest– I was not initially a fan (I’m a bit of a Christmas movie snob). But I’m now happy to say that I’m no longer a cotton 

Love Actually

Love Actually

It’s almost Christmas as I write this, so Love Actually is, actually, all around. Thankfully, it’s a delightful movie full of relatable characters (except Kyra Knightly, who always sucks) and poignant moments that still make me ugly happy cry 20 yrs later. I have to have an entire box of tissues on hand during Sam’s run through the airport.

Written and directed by rom com genius Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones, Knotting Hill), Love Actually was one of the first large ensemble films to resonate with me. It’s also maybe the last– filmmakers have tried to replicate with little success (I’m looking at you, Valentine’s Day). Rather than a saccharine collection of generic lovey-dovey stories, the plot includes flawed characters with a range of personalities and ages, and not all of them have happy endings. And still when you finish Love Actually, you feel optimistic and a bit better about the world– which is quite something in this day and age. 

So, in honor of Love Actually, Heathrow Airport, and England (the country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter, David Beckham’s right foot, and David Beckham’s left foot), I’ve made a high tea filled with delicious delicacies and taste explosions. Absolutely no dead baby’s fingers included.

So, assuming you’re ready to get the shit kicked out of you by love– get cooking!

The Movie

The Menu

sausage rolls

Rock and Sausage Rolls with Beat-root

Yield: 4 rolls
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

For the old (Billy Mack baby) and young (epically agile Sam) rock and rollers in the film-- these very British sausage rolls get an apropo red hue from the roasted beets included. Yes it's punny, but what the hell.

Ingredients

  • 1 4in x 8inch puff pastry, 1/8 inch thick
  • 1/2 cup ground pork sausage (think breakfast, not Italian)
  • 1 tsp minced sage
  • 1 tsp minced rosemary
  • 2 tsp minced or grated onion
  • 2 tbsp roasted grated beetroot (see note)
  • hefty pinch ground clove
  • hefty pinch salt
  • 1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
  • a sprinkle of plain flour, for dusting
  • 1 egg, well beaten with a splash of water
  • black sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425. Mix grated beet/beat with sausage, onion, and seasonings.

sausage roll ingredients

Sprinkle a cutting board with flour, and lay out your puff pastry. Spread mustard over pastry, with roughly a one inch boarder on all sides untouched. Spread sausage mixture over mustard in a line, and brush the borders of the pastry with egg wash-- see below.

sausage makings

Wrap your roll and rest with seal at the bottom. Brush with more egg wash and score lightly with a sharp knife. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cut into four equal pieces (you can trip the very ends first to ensure you don't have excee dough). Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

sausage rolls pre bake

Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving, tho you can serve at room temperature.

sausage rolls

Ah fuck, wank, bugger, shitting arse head and hole these are good.

Notes

You can buy cooked beets at the store sure, but if you have fresh beets handy it's very easy to roast them-- for the purposes of this recipe, tossed lightly in olive oil, salt, pepper, wrapped tighly in aluminum foil and roasted at 400 for 50 minutes. the beats will be softened but not super firm-- perfect for grating.

piri piri chicken

Piri Piri Chicken Croissants

Yield: 2 Small Sandwiches
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes

A Portuguese sammie for Jamie and Aurelia, whose first awkward conversation takes place over a plate of croissants. Noting that I will never have Aurelia's hot bod, I ate both myself with no reservations.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 roasted red bell pepper, cut into chunks
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tablespoons paprika
  • 3/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbsp Peri Peri Sauce
  • 2 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise
  • thinly sliced shallot
  • leafy lettuce

Instructions

Assemble marinade ingredients!

piri piri marinade

Reserve a tbsp of the sauce in a separate container, and marinade the chicken in the remainder ro at least 3hrs (up to overnight).

chicken marinade

Preheat the oven to 425. Place chicken on a wired rack over an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes until thickest part of the breast reads 150. You can ignore all sources that say 165 should be a cooked chicken's internal temp-- LIES. But you should use a meat thermometer just in cases. Remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature.

piri piri chicken

Mix the remaining tbsp of piri pir sauce with mayo and gather the rest of your sandwich fixins:

Assemble and enjoy whilst dreaming of Colin Firth learning a new language just for you.

piri piri chicken

lobster sandwiches

Lobster Salad Tea Sandwiches

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

For the mother of the first lobster in the nativity play. Karen gets a sandwich all her own, because she fucking DESERVES IT.

Ingredients

  • 2 3oz lobster tails
  • 1/2 tbsp of salt, for boiling water
  • 1 lemon, quartered
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 tsp minced celery
  • 1/2 tsp minced shallot
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • cucumber, thinly sliced
  • thin sliced white sandwich bread, crusts removed

Instructions

First, collect your little lobster tails. I prefer fresh, since store bought cooked lobster tends to be chewy.

lobster

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and add your lobster tails and 3 quarters of lemon. Your water will take a minute to come back to a rolling boil-- once it does, cook for 3 minutes. Remove the lobster tails from the water and immediately place under cold running water until no longer hot.

Using a very sharp pair of scissors, cut through your lobster tails lengthwise and extricate the delicious yummy lobster meat.

lobster meat

Mix mayo, juice from remaining quarter of lemon, celery, and shallot-- add in lobster, and flavor with salt and pepper to taste. Thinly slice cucumber on a bias, and get to assembling.

Cut at a diagonal-- then consume while listening to Joni Mitchell and thinking about why men are garbage.

Wisconsin Cheddar and Bacon Tartlets

Wisconsin Cheddar and Bacon Tartlets

Yield: 4 tarts
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

A foursome of American-ized bacon and Wisconsin cheddar tarts--goofball Colin would enthusiastically approve.

Ingredients

  • 4 2in x 2in squares of puff pastry
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup Wisconsin cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • several dashes of hot sauce
  • egg wash, to finish (shared with sausage rolls-- see note)
  • 1 slice thick cut bacon, chopped

Instructions

Cut your puff pastry squares, and mix egg, cream, cheese, salt, and hot sauce.

Place squares in a cupcake tin and brush lightly with egg wash. Fill with egg mix. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes to start-- while you wait, cook bacon bits in a saute pan until crisped. Drain, and sprinkle over your tartlets for the final 5 minutes of cooking. Remove from the oven when the puff pastry is a rich golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before nom nom noming.

YA DARLING.

Notes

An egg wash is typically a very well beaten egg with either a splash of water or cream included.

Nipples of Venus for the Stand Ins

Nipples of Venus for the Stand Ins

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

For Judy and Jack-- the man who politely warms his hands before massaging Judy's breasts. Note, per the EXCELLENT movie Amadeus, these tasty treats should really have chestnuts instead of walnuts. But I had walnuts on hand so screw it.

Ingredients

  • 1 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped
  • 2 ounces walnuts
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp brandy
  • splash pure vanilla extract
  • 6 oz white melting chocolate
  • drop of red food coloring

Instructions

Microwave dark chocolate in bursts of 30 seconds until melted (about a minute and a half all in). Set aside to cool slightly.

Pulse the walnuts in a food processor until very finely chopped. Next, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer, a couple of minutes. Add the melted chocolate, nuts, brandy, and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined. The mixture will be soft, so you'll want to refrigerate it for 10 or so minutes until slightly more firm.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and divide the chocolate mixture into two balls-- press slightly at the bottom of each so that they will sit flatly. Freeze for another 10 minutes so that your balls will again... firm up? lol.

Microwave white melting chocolate in bursts of 30 seconds, just as you did with the dark chocolate. Dunk chilled chocolate balls into white chocolate until completely coated, working VERY quickly (the butter in the balls will melt). Set back onto the parchment paper and refreeze, before coating once more. Refrigerate for at least 15 to 20 minutes or longer.

Add a drop or two of red food coloring to the remaining white chocolate until you get a light pink color. Using a piping tip, add a slight amount of pink chocolate to the top of each ball. And there you have it-- a super sweet yet very sexually explicit treat.

Sad Sack Brazilian Banofie Pie

Sad Sack Brazilian Banofie Pie

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Fucking Keira Knightly... she didn't deserve Mark and his beautiful sensitivity anyway. That said, she does have good taste in pies. And recipe in particular is YUM-- with just a bit of Brazilian cinnamon for sad Sarah and a slight essence of sea salty tears for grieving papa Daniel.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup dulce de leche
  • 1 small unripe banana, sliced thickly
  • 1/4 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 more tbsp butter
  • pinch of flaky sea salt
  • whipped cream

Instructions

Start with the dulce de leche-- preheat oven to 425°F, and pour sweetened condensed milk into a small glass baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil, and place dish in a larger baking dish. Pour hot water into the larger dish until it reaches halfway up the side of the smaller dish.

Transfer to oven and cook until condensed milk has become deep golden brown, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and whisk dulce de leche while still hot. Set aside, and reduce oven temp to 350.

In a small bowl, add the graham cracker crumbs, first portion of butter, and first portion of sugar. Stir to combine. Divide the graham cracker mixture into two tart molds (or cupcake tins if that's what you got), firmly pressing with your fingers.

Bake for 5 to 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven or place in the freezer to set up for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, saute your bananas in remaining butter, sugar, sea salt and cinnamon until caramelized golden brown.

Cue the Bay City Rollers, and assemble-- add a heaping tbsp of dulce de leche to each crust, top with slices of banana, followed by whipped cream, another banana slice, and a dusting of additional cinnamon.

Cheater's Chocolate Pendant with Extra Wrapping

Cheater's Chocolate Pendant with Extra Wrapping

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

RIP Alan Rickman-- you're a damn gem even though your character in Love Actually was an ass.

Ingredients

  • 2 1//2 oz dark chocolate chips
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1/2 tbsp butter
  • drop vanilla extract
  • gold cooking dust
  • raspberry jam

Instructions

Heat chocolate, cream and vanilla in a glass bowl in bursts of 30 seconds, until melted and shiny. This is your truffle base. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set.

Roll into two truffle balls, and gradually shape into hearts.

Dust with gold until fully coated-- gouge a small hole in the bottom right of the "pendant" and fill with raspberry jam/"gems".

Chill until ready to eat, at which point you should place into a box, wrap with gold ribbon. This box will then go into a cellophane bag-- don't worry, it will be ready in the flashiest of flashes-- which you should then fill with rose petals, followed by a flourish of dried lavendar. I think we can stop there-- I lack a larger Christmas box.

Chocolate Jammie Dodger Biscuits

Chocolate Jammie Dodger Biscuits

Yield: 2 big cookies plus a few smaller

For the prime minister who love chocolate biscuits and debatably plump, foul-mouthed women from the dodgy end of London.

Ingredients

  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3 tbsp sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tbsp raspberry jam
  • 1 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the vanilla, butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Sift in the flour and salt, and continue to miix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with more flour and shape into a flat disk.

Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and, using a cookie cutter or glass, cut four circles out of the dough. In the center of two of the rounds cut out two hearts.

At this point, you'll have extra dough, so why not make a bunch of baby heart cookies? Because unlike Natalie, my thighs actually ARE the size of big tree trunks.

Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl (at this point in the blog post, you should be well versed). Spread onto the non-stenciled cookies, and allow to cool before covering with a layer of jelly.

Feel free to do the same with your baby hearts if you have extra! They're a delightful accompaniment to a nice cuppa tea and a smooch with Hugh Grant.

Boozy Christmas Tea

Boozy Christmas Tea

I know, I know, I didn't add milk. But the spiced rum is more "me" anyway let's be honest.

Ingredients

  • Good British Tea (I happen to have some from the BBC, because I'm cool)
  • Spiced rum
  • Sugar
  • Cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Instructions

If you don't know how to make a cup of tea, I don't know what you're doing reading this blog.

 

Epilogue

In case you want a soundtrack while you cook– Love Actually has a great one :). HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

For more menus, check out my movie directory here!