Recipes:
American Sniper-Sharp Shooters
1/2 pound kielbasa sausage, finely chopped or processed until crumbly
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons minced garlic
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups lager beer, preferably amber
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped thyme
3 cups grated Cheddar (about 12 ounces)
Spicy Popcorn, for garnish, recipe follows
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives, for garnish
Spicy Popcorn:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup white popping corn
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon Essence, recipe follows
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
Cook the kielbasa in the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot over high heat until golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and bay leaves and cook, stirring, until the onions are slightly caramelized, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the stock and the beer. Add the thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Add the cheese a little at a time, stirring until nearly completely melted after each addition. Remove from the heat, taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Birdman-Wings
Coat chicken wings with olive oil, season with McCormick Onion and Garlic seasoning. Place on two tinfoil lined baking sheet and bake (or roast if your oven has that setting) at 450 degrees for 40-50 minutes.
Boyhood- Black Album Punch
2 bottles of Apothic Dark wine, 16 oz Pom/cherry juice, 2 to 4 oz of Grand Marnier, then added half bags of frozen black berries, raspberries,cherries,and blueberries.
Grand Budapest Hotel- Courtesan au Chocolat
THE PASTRY
Make a choux pastry of flour, water, butter and eggs. Though correct proportions may vary depending on one’s elevation and humidity, we recommend:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup fresh water
1/4 lb (1 stick) butter
4 eggs beaten in a bowl
A pinch of salt
A larger pinch of sugar
Bring the water, butter salt and sugar to a boil. Remove from the fire and quickly mix in the sifted flour. Return to heat for a few minutes, stirring, and cook until the dough forms a single lump. Allow to cool just enough to keep the eggs from cooking and stir in very gradually with a strong wooden spoon.
Cover your tray in parchment and pipe the dough into spoon size dollops. You will need small, medium, and large size pastry balls (large tablespoon, teaspoon and hazelnut size dollops) to make a courtesan. Bake in the oven at 350F(180 C) for about 25-35 minutes. The smaller pastries are best put on a separate tray as they will cook more quickly.
Remove from the oven and discreetly make a small piercing in the choux to allow the steam to escape.
THE FILLING
Once cooled, the large and medium choux should be filled with a crème pâtissière of chocolate, egg yolks, and sugar.
1 1/2 cups whole milk
Several large pieces semi-sweet chocolate
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 spoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon flour
Cornstarch to thicken
Heat the milk gently and add chocolate, stirring to melt into a rich, almost-steaming chocolate milk. Whisk egg yolks, flour, sugar, cocoa and a few spoons of cornstarch into a smooth mixture. Add half of the hot chocolate milk to the bowl, a little at a time, stirring constantly. Then add this mixture back into the rest of the hot milk, stirring over gentle heat for a few minutes until the mixture thickens to a custard. Remove from heat and chill.
ASSEMBLAGE
Once cooled, spoon the chocolate crème into a pastry bag and pipe into the large and medium pastry balls.
Prepare sugar icing of confectioner’s sugar, a dash of vanilla and enough milk to achieve the desired consistency. Separate into 3 small bowls and add food coloring to each - one pink, on lavender, one pale green. Reserve a small amount of white icing.
To assemble a Courtesan, dip a large ball of filled pastry in the pink icing (to the midline) and place icing side up on a small tray. Repeat with a medium pastry into the lavender icing, and place it, iced side up, atop the first ball. Press it gently so it sticks in place. Repeat with the smallest pastry in the green icing. Decorate with filigree of white icing as desired. Place a cocoa bean atop the tower as a garnish.
Serve fresh.
Imitation Game- Code Crackers
4 large cucumbers, diced
6 vine ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
1 medium red onion diced
1 diced jalapeno
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 packet dry ranch dressing
Salt and pepper, to taste
Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Add vinegar, ranch dressing, salt and pepper, and toss until well coated. Add a pinch of sugar to balance vinegary taste.
Selma- Hotbed
In a small, square Pyrex dish, layer the following from the bottom up:
Cream cheese
chili
salsa or taco sauce
cheddar cheese
Monterey Jack Cheese
Jalapenos
Black olives
Microwave for 2-3 minutes until warm. Serve with Tortilla chips.
Theory of Everything-Brief History of Thyme
Roast:
- 1.5 lb beef tenderloin roast
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Bruschetta:
- 1 loaf baguette, sourdough, asiago loaf, or bread of choice, sliced
- 6 shallots, sliced not minced
- ½ cup butter + 4 tbsp for cooking shallots
Seasonal Thyme Mayo:
- 1 cup mayonnaise (Hellmann's)
- ¼ cup fig jam
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
For the Shallots:
- Heat 3 tbsp of butter (or use oil) on medium heat then add the shallots, stir until coated, add a pinch of salt (speeds up caramelizing process) and brown them until caramelized. Caramelizing onions brings out their amazing natural flavor. Make sure the pan doesn't get too hot or the butter will burn. Continue this process of cooking and deglazing until the onions have reached the color, flavor, and texture you desire.
For the Roast:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Rub roast with olive oil and season with salt and pepper on all sides.
- Melt ½ cup butter on medium/high heat in a skillet. Add roast once the pan is hot (it should sizzle upon adding or the pan is not hot enough and you will get tougher meat from the steaming).
- Flip the roast to brown each side, including the ends. You want a nice brown "crust" on each side. Use tongs for this.
- Add more butter as you go, if needed, as to not let the pan get dry.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Take out of the oven and tent it with foil to keep warm
Whiplash-Drumsticks
1 container of refrigerated Pillsbury pizza crust
2 tablespoons pesto
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 prosciutto slices
olive oil for brushing
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll the crust and top with pesto. Spread the pesto out with a spatula to cover the entire top of the dough. Sprinkle with cheese and then top with prosciutto slices. Using a knife cut 5 to 6 long pieces and then start to twist each one. Start with one end and twist to the middle and then pick up other end to finish off the twisting. Repeat until all twists are made and then brush the top of each one with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Foxcatcher - Seoul Food
For the sauce:
- 8 cloves garlic
- 2" piece peeled ginger
- 5 tbsp. soy sauce
- 5 tbsp. Korean chile paste
- 2½ tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1½ tbsp. Asian sesame oil
- 1½ tbsp. honey
For the chicken:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 ½ tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- Canola oil, for frying
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1½" chunks
For the waffles:(You could use a pancake mix and make it easy on yourself or follow my recipe below.)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups milk
- ½ cup melted butter or oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- wooden skewers
Start chicken.
- Whisk flour, cornstarch, and water in a medium bowl. Add chicken; toss. Set in refrigerator.
Start sauce.
- Add all ingredients for the sauce in a food processor (I use a mini-prep for this amount). Heat sauce over medium heat in a heavy sauce pan and stir. Cook until it turns a little darker in color. Add ¼- 1/2 cup water if sauce is too thick. Set aside.
- Heat 2" of oil into a large pot. Heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads 350˚.
Start waffles.
- Heat a waffle iron (I used a mini waffle maker I found on Amazon- they are perfect for skewers like this!). Whisk all ingredients for the waffles together and aside while you cook the chicken. While the chicken is frying, I make the waffles.
Fry Chicken.
- Working in batches, fry chicken until golden, 5-6 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Bring heat back up to 350˚ after each batch. Toss cooked chicken in sauce.
Cook waffles.
- Brush vegetable oil over hot waffle iron on both sides and immediately pour waffle batter into iron. Cook until golden brown. Lift waffle out of iron and repeat. Cut waffle into 4 pieces (unless you used the mini waffle iron).
Assemble skewers.
- Put one piece of chicken, then a waffle piece, followed by another piece of chicken and another waffle on the skewer. Finish with another piece of chicken at the top. Serve with melted butter and syrup to dip waffle in....mmm mmm good!
Notables:
4 different Batmans have now been Oscar nominated in the last 3 years 2015-Keaton (actor) 2014-Bale (actor) 2013 -Affleck/Clooney (producer)
Milena Canonero has now been Oscar nominated in Costume Design category in 5 diff decades. 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s.
Foxcatcher is the first film to receive Best Dir nom but no Best Picture nom since 'The Diving Bell and The Butterfly' (2008)
Boyhood began filming in 2002 - Ethan Hawke got supp Oscar nom (Training Day). He's now Oscar nom for Boyhood - in supp category
Robert Duvall has now been Oscar nominated in 4 difference decades. 70s, 80s, 90, 2010s.
Alexandre Desplat- 8 Oscar noms for Original Score. Never won 2015 (twice) 2014 2013 2011 2010 2009 2007
Bradley Cooper has now received 4 Oscar noms in the last 3 years 2015 - Pic / Lead Actor 2014- Supp Actor 2013- Lead Actor
Cinematographer Roger Deakins = 12 Oscar nominations. Never won '15 '14 '13 '11 '09 '08 (twice) '02 '01 '98 '97 '95
The Pool:
And the Oscar Cup goes to....
Dave Daly and Nathaniel Wayne
with 13 out of 24
And the rest of the Pool looked like this:
Tracy, Gianna, Jami - 12
Jake, Ursula - 10
Erika, Cate, Natasia - 9
Dawn, Susan, Nora - 8
Tom, Sean - 7
Ryan - 6
Anne - 5
Mike, Lynn - 4
Dan - 3
