Pain Perdu and "Amelie"

Pain Perdu is the French dish that consists off bread dipped in an eggy custard and pan fried in butter - sound familiar? In America we know this dish simply as French Toast. Pain Perdu in French means "lost bread" and it's name comes from the common use of older bread that has become too hard to eat. Dipping it in the custard was a way to use the bread they'd other wise have to discard. Actually, using day old bread that is a bit harder works better then fresh bread that's still soft. The stale bread will soak up more of the custard without becoming mushy. Today, French Toast is a staple on breakfast tables and diner menus across the country and it's a favorite meal of mine anytime of day. The key to making great Pain Perdu is using very good crispy bread and having a perfectly sweet custard to dip it in. Since we're making a very simple and classic French dish today, a perfect movie to go along with it is 2001 film "Amelie". Some of you may write this film off right away. It's a foreign movie and you'll have to read the subtitles, Unless you understand French, but this is a beautiful, funny, heartwarming, and magical film I really think you should all see. Before we get into the flick, lets make our food!

Recipe yields 6 to 8 large slices of Pain Perdu

1 loaf of good quality French Bread (a day or two old is best)
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

¼ cup of heavy cream

¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

Butter
Maple syrup or powdered sugar for serving

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

In a shallow dish, combine the 3 whole eggs and the heavy cream. To make the custard for my Pain Perdu a little thicker and richer, I like to add an additional egg yolk to the mixture. If you don't know how to separate and egg yolk for the white, it's actually really simple. There are many methods to do this but the easiest is just to crack the egg and pour the egg through into your hand over a bowl like I have pictured. Separate your fingers slightly and gently shake your hand. The egg whites will fall through the crack of your fingers leaving only the egg yolk.

To the eggs and the cream, add your vanilla extract, sugar, cinnamon, and the nutmeg. Whisk the custard together until the eggs have been beaten together.

In a saute pan, melt about a tablespoon of butter over medium to medium high heat. Take a slice of your bread and lay it in the egg custard. Let the bread soak for about five to ten seconds on each side so that it's able to absorb a good amount of the custard.

Once the butter has melted in the pan, lay the bread in the melted butter. Fry the toast on each side for about five minutes or so. To be honest I rarely time my Pain Perdu when I cook it in my pan, it's all about color and texture. The bread should be golden brown with some spots of darker brown throughout.


Once the toast has been fried on both sides, transfer right from the pan to the plate or into the oven while we finishing frying the rest. Add more butter to the pan as needed when cooking the batches of toast.

For serving, I like the cut the Pain Perdu in half on an angle. Arrange the toast nicely onto a plate and place a nice pat of cold butter on top. The heat from the Pain Perdu will melt the butter. Top with either powdered sugar or some maple syrup and serve hot. It's no wonder the world has fallen in love with this classic French dish. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or desert! Now that we have a plate on sweet and delicious French Pain Perdu it's time to enjoy one of the best French Films ever created, "Amelie".

Amelie is a strange young woman with an imagination that knows no bounds. As a young girl, she was miss diagnosed with a heart condition which kept her from attending school like the other children. Instead, Amelie spent most of her childhood alone and used her imagination to keep her entertained. Now a young woman working in the heart of Paris as a waitress, she still sees the world in the same beautifully imaginative way she did as a young girl.

One night, Amelie discovers a hidden tin filled with childhood treasures of a previous occupant on her apartment. When Amelie secretly returns the lost tin to it's rightful owner, she witnesses his reaction of pure joy. Seeing the mans reaction, Amelie becomes inspired by her actions and devotes her life to bringing that same joy to the people around her. Throughout her journey, Amelie may have met the love of her life...if she allows herself to believe it. The world of love and beauty she thought only existed in her imagination might not be as far off as she dreamed.

"Amelie" is a unique film. It's directed in a very artful and almost magical way that I couldn't help but fall in love with. The soundtrack alone is enough to watch this movie, it's truly a beautiful score that Yann Tiersen created. "Amelie" wasn't a movie I thought I would enjoy at all, and it ended up restoring my faith in films. If any of you ever questioned if making movies was a form of art, "Amelie" should prove to you a thousand times over that it is. Click here for a quick glimpse at the movie, "Amelie".

Movie Review - "Zero Dark Thirty"

Kathryn Bigelow's 2012  film "Zero Dark Thirty" was among the years most anticipated and critically acclaimed films. "Zero Dark Thirty" centered around the 10 year hunt for the worlds most notorious terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, and the men and women responsible for finding him.

Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, a young CIA operative who becomes engulfed with the task of finding and capturing Bin Laden. Throughout the decade long search Maya meets many obstacles, including colleagues who fill that there are more tasks at hand than just finding one man in a world full of terrorists. Still Maya is single minded on her task and she sees no other path to victory than bringing Osama to justice. Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Chris Pratt, and Jennifer Ehle all play supporting roles in the film.

Being a huge fan of "The Hurt Locker", I eagerly awaited Zero Dark's release into theaters from the first day that I heard about this film. That being said, I have to say my first reaction to the film was disappointment. I didn't really get into it until very late into the film(a film that runs almost 3 hours I might add) and it failed to bring me on the edge of my seat. Now I have to add to that, I enjoyed this movie a great deal more the second time that I watched it. For whatever reason, I was more connected with the actors performances during my second viewing. I especially enjoyed the work by Jason Clarke and wished his character appeared in more scenes. Jessica Chastain certainly deserved praise for her strong performance as well and I look forward to future films of hers.

All in all, "Zero Dark Thirty" has some extraordinary moments in it. My advice is to at least give the film two chances like I did. The closing climax where the hunt for Bin Laden appears to finally be coming to an end is a great sequence and one that will get your heart pumping and one particular scene where Maya and a higher ranked CIA officer get into a shouting match gave me chills. While I still believe "Zero Dark Thirty" was a bit overrated and a bit too lengthy, it deserves it's spot among the years best films and should be on your short list to view in the near future. Here is the trailer for "Zero Dark Thirty"

Fresh Guacamole

I love freshly made Guacamole! Whenever I make a big batch it never seems to last very long. It's so delicious, easy, and healthy!! I like to add a little red onion and red bell pepper to my Guacamole for some color and flavor. Grab a bag of good tortilla chips and this is a great snack for any movie night, taco night, picnic, or any other reason you can find to make it!!

4 Avocados
½ of small red onion (finely diced) 
½  of a small red bell pepper (finely diced)
1 clove of garlic (grated or minced) 
½ sour cream
Pinch of Cayenne pepper (optional)
The juice and zest of one Lime (or lemon)
Kosher Salt and Blacker Pepper
 

To prep the avocado, take a knife and pierce the skin of the avocado and cut down until you can feel the pit inside. Carefully cut around the avocado, keeping your knife down to the pit. Once you've made your cut, twist the avocado and pull apart. Now to remove the pit from one half of the avocado. With a little bit of force, hit the pit with the blade of your knife. Hold the avocado and pull back on the knife and the pit should easily pop out. Carefully remove the pit from the knife and scoop the flesh of the avocado out into a mixing bowl.

Immediately after the place the avocados in the bowl, add the fresh lime or lemon juice to them and mix together to make sure all the avocados have a coating of the citrus juice. This will prevent them from browning. Now add your diced onion, bell pepper, sour cream, zest, garlic, and your seasonings. Mix everything together very well until the avocados are smooth and all the ingredients are incorporated. Serve with tortilla chips (I love the blue corn tortilla chips) and enjoy!!

Shredded Beef Tacos and "Three Amigos"

Cinco De Mayo is only a few days away and that always puts me in the mood for some Mexican inspired foods. When it comes to Mexican food the first thing that comes to my mind are tacos! It was one of my favorite dinners as a child and I still love them to this day. Over the past few years, I've learned to make my tacos a little differently than I've had them prepared most of my life. Instead of using ground burger as our meat base, I use beef shoulder and braise it until it's tender enough to shred with a fork. Mixed together with stewed tomatoes, onions, spices, and chipotle peppers these tacos are sure to take taco night to a new level. As far the film for this week, I had to go with a film starring three of the funniest actors I know,"Three Amigos!" It's a film that never fails to make me laugh and it always makes me crave some Mexican cuisine. It will go perfectly with a nice plate of tacos and a cold margarita.

Serves 6 to 8

2lb Chuck roast
Vegetable Oil
Kosher Salt
Black pepper
1 large Red or Spanish onion (Sliced)
1 bell pepper (Sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (Minced or grated)
1 teaspoon of Ancho Chili powder
15oz can of diced tomatoes
12oz can of diced tomatoes with green chillies
2-3 canned chipotle peppers
16 flour tortillas
Desired toppings like Shredded Cheddar, onions, salsa, avocado, etc.

In a dutch oven or a large pot, about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the bottom of the pot. Bring the oil to temperature over high heat. Season your chuck roast really well with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper. Once the oil is hot, sear the chuck roast on all sides until it's browned and develops that beautiful crust.

Once the meat is seared, set the roast aside on a platter and lower the heat. Add the sliced onions and bell pepper. Saute them together in the oil for about 10 minutes, stirring them occasionally. Once the peppers and onions have cooked together, add the two cloves of garlic and stir in with the other vegetables.


 Place the chuck roast back into the pot over top the peppers and onions. Be sure to pour any juices from the platter that your roast was resting on back into the pot as well. Next add the canned of diced tomatoes, the Ancho chili powder, and the can of diced tomatoes with green chillies.


Next add two chipotle peppers from a can into the tomatoes and vegetables. Chipotle peppers tend to be spicy so I start with two and you can always add more later on if you want the tacos to be spicier. The rest of the can of peppers can be placed in a freezer bag and popped in your freezer for next time. Add about ½ cup of water to the pot and mix everything together very well. Now just let the meat simmer on a low temperature for about 2½ hours giving a stir every once in a while.
 

After the cooking time is up, the roast will have become very tender and flavorful. Use a pair of tongs and a large fork to shred the beef. Once the meat has been shredded and mixed together with the sauce, season to taste. Now the only thing left to do is assemble our tacos and eat!

You can use hard taco shells or flour tortillas, which ever you prefer. Follow the instructions on the back on how to prepare them. Get any toppings you'd like to have for your tacos. I usually do any prep work that's needed for my toppings while the meat is still braising so I can eat as soon as the meat has been shredded. Classic taco toppings for me are shredded lettuce, shredded cheddar cheeses, onions, avocado, and either some salsa or some freshly diced tomato. Scoop some of the beef out onto your tortilla and add any kind of topping you'd like. Fold the taco up so that it stays together and slice the taco in half. I usually plan on serving two to three tacos per person but they are quite a bit more filling than ones made with ground beef. Serve the tacos with a nice cold beer or a margarita and this is one flavorful Mexican inspired meal. Now it's time for this weeks movie that helped inspire this dish, the classic comedy "Three Amigos!"

Steven Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase - need I say more? The three comedians play silent film cowboys who fight Mexican outlaws and bandits on the silver screen. When a woman is trying to find help for her village of Santa Poco that is being terrorized by an ruthless outlaw named El Guapo, she stumbles across a screening of a Three Amigo's film. Mistaking the movie for real life, she write the Three Amigos and asks them to save her village from El Guapo.

Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase), and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) receive the letter for help just after learning that the studio has fired them and the Three Amigos are no more. Just as the woman made the mistake to think that the film of the three men was real life, the Amigos believe the letter to be from a fan and are just going to put on a live show.

No longer on the set of a movie, their enemies don't follow the scripts to set up their witty lines and and even worse - they shoot with real bullets! The Amigos certainly aren't prepared to battle real life outlaws and face the harshness of the desert. They'll have to harness the spirits of the fictional heroes they portrayed if they wish to make it out of Mexico alive. A humorous tale from start to finish, here is a link to the trailer for "Three Amigos!"

Michelle Pfeiffer

Born on April 29, 1958 Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses to ever grace the movie screen. Michelle's versatility as an actress seems limitless as she's portrayed characters ranging from a mobster's wife in "Scarface", to a masked villain on the roof tops of Gotham in "Batman Returns", to an evil witch seeking a way to eternal youth in "Stardust."

Born in Santa Anna California, Michelle was a fan of films from a very early age saying that she would stay up very late as a young girl watching black and white movies. After taking a drama and theater classes during her high school tenure, Michelle realized that acting was truly her calling. Her first major break through role was starring in "Grease 2" and she's been one of motion pictures most recognized and loved actresses ever since. Michelle Pfeiffer is one of, if not my very favorite, actresses and her performances completely change the films she's in. Even if the movie she's in doesn't appeal to me on any other level, I usually can't help but watch it simply to observe her performance.

My favorite film featuring Miss Pfeiffer is a toss up between "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Batman Returns" with "What Lies Beneath" close behind them.The character of Susie Diamond is one of my favorite characters in any film. Not only did Michelle play her character with humor and heart, Michelle's beautiful voice is reason enough alone to love the character and the film. A sentimental favorite of mine is Michelle's timeless performance as Catwoman/Selena Kyle in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns." Anything Batman was my favorite as a young boy and I loved everything about this film. Michelle became one of my favorite actresses as a young movie fan simply because she was the lady who played Catwoman. In all seriousness however, she did an amazing job with the role perfectly bringing out her character's sexy, seductive, psychotic ways. How about you guys, what is your favorite Michelle Pfeiffer movie?

There is a wonderful interview on YouTube with Michelle from James Lipton's show Inside the Actors Studio. Lipton and Michelle talk about her early years, her personal life, and of course all of her iconic and memorable movie rolls and how she came to play them. It runs about forty minutes long but it's a real treat to watch or just listen too, clicking here will take you to that segment. With a film called "Malavita" co-staring Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones set to be released later this year, I can't wait to see Michelle's performance in the film and, hopefully, many more to come.

Lemon Berry Parfait

I love to end a meal with a nice sweet treat. Now that the warmer months are coming upon us, I'm always trying to come up with deserts that can be made without heating up your oven and making the house any warmer than it has to be. That's how I came up with my lemon berry parfait recipe. The sweet and fresh berries and nice tart lemon curd compliment each other perfectly. Adding a layer of freshly whipped cream on top is like the icing on a cake.

Serves 4 to 6

Zest of 3 Lemons
½ cup of Fresh lemon Juice,
1½ cups of sugar
1 stick of butter at room temperature
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 pint of heavy cream
½ teaspoon of Vanilla
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
2 cups of blueberries
2 cups of sliced strawberries 

 
Zest all three of the lemons and add the zest to a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and whisk together with the fresh zest. This will help the oil in the lemon zest infuse into the sugar. Add the softened butter into the sugar and the zest mixture and until everything is completely combined. The mixture should be light and fluffy - you can do this by hand or with an electric mixer.

Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, making sure each egg is mixed in well before you add the next. Finally add the the lemon juice and the salt to the mixture and beat until combined. Pour the mixture into a sauce pan and cook over medium low heat on the stove stop. If at any point the mixture begins to simmer lower the heat slightly. Stir the Lemon curd constantly for about 10 to 15 minutes until the lemon curd begins to thicken. Once thickened, allow the curd to cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. In the meantime you can wash the berries and slices the strawberries into thin slices.

Chill a wire whisk and a metal or glass mixing bowl - this will help the whipped cream form better. Add the cream, the vanilla, and the powdered sugar to the bowl and whip cream until soft peaks begin to form. Don't over beat. Set the whipped cream aside in the refrigerator until we are ready to assemble.

When the lemon curd is cooled, start by placing the blueberries in the bottom of trifle or a parfait dish. Pour about half of the lemon curd over the blueberries. Next, lay the strawberries slices over top the layer of lemon curd and then pour the remaining lemon curd over top. Finish the parfait with our whipped cream and put back into the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. This dish can be assemble in either a large trifle or parfait bowl like I did or in individual serving glasses.

Fluffernutter Tart and "Bad Teacher"

Who didn't love to open up their brown paper bags at their school cafeteria and find a delicious Fluffernutter sandwich made by mom? It was always my favorite lunch to bring to school and even now the taste of salty peanut butter and sweet marshmallow fluff takes me back to my school lunch days. Now I'm assuming most of us no longer pack a peanut butter and fluff sandwich to work for lunch, at least not near as often as we did as children. So I took a little inspiration from an Ina Garten recipe for Peanut butter and Jelly bars and thought I'd spin the flavors around and use fluff instead of jelly. My "Fluffernutter Tart" is a sweet treat children and adults will go crazy for. Soft peanut butter crust and topping with gooey fluff in the middle, this desert is really good! Since the flavors of our desert will takes us back to school, of course our movie has to as well. Cameron Diaz stars in the outrageous comedy "Bad Teacher"

1 Stick of room temperature butter
¾ cup of granulated Sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of pure Vanilla extract
1 cup of good peanut butter (I prefer Jiff)

1½ cups of All-purpose Flour
½ teas spoon of Baking Powder
¾ teaspoon of Kosher Salt
2 cups of marshmallow fluff 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Start by greasing a 9 inch wide tart pan with a little bit of butter and dusting the pan with flour. Make sure all the ridges in the tart pan are greased well and get a good coating of flour. Bang out any excess and set the tart pan aside. If you don't have a tart pan, a pie plate or a 9x10 baking dish will work just fine. 


In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the stick of butter with the sugar until light and fluffy - about 4 to 5 minutes. Once the butter and sugar have been mixed together, turn your mixer off and add the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter to the mixture and continue to mix on medium speed. With the mixer off, use a rubber scraper to scrap down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is being mixed together.

In a separate mixing bowl - combine the flour, kosher salt, and the baking powder together. Mix the ingredients together with a whisk or a fork. Turn the electric mixer on low and slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix together just until a dough begins to form. Use your rubber scrapper again to scrap the sides and the bottoms of the bowl and mix in any dry ingredients that might not have been Incorporated into the dough. 

Press about ¾ of the dough into the bottom of the pan to make our crust. Press firmly along the bottoms and the sides to make about a half inch crust. Once the crust is formed, scoop out the marshmallow fluff into the center of the tart. This step is going to be sticky, use a metal spoon and a clean hand to evenly distribute the fluff across the bottom of the tart as best as you can. If you spray your spoon and hand with a little bit of cooking spray it helps to keep the fluff on the tart and off of you. What we have left of our dough is going to be our topping. Distribute the rest of the dough by crumbling it over top the fluff.

Place the tart pan in the oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until the peanut butter dough is turning slightly brown and the fluff is beginning to puff up from the crust. Allow the tart to cool a bit before you remove the sides of the pans. Slices and serve for a desert I really hope will bring out the inner child in you! Now I do have to warn you, this weeks movie is certainly not recommended for our younger audiences but they'll sure enjoy this recipe!

The 2011 comedy "Bad Teacher" stars Cameron Diaz as Elisabeth Halsey, a junior high school teacher who really doesn't give an F - and I don't mean the grade. She isn't just a bad teacher, she is one of the worst teachers imaginable. Elisabeth plans to ditch teaching and let her wealthy husband take care of her the rest of her life, that is until he realizes Elisabeth only stays with him because of his money. With Elisabeth's rich housewife dream up in smoke and no money of her own, she's forced to return back to teaching at John Adams Middle School. Elisabeth's idea of teaching, close the blinds and show her students a movie. Her motive for teaching isn't to inspire her students, but to save up money for breast implants.

When a wealthy, young, and handsome substitute teacher Scott Delecorte (Justin Timberlake) arrives to the school, Elisabeth begins to target Scott's affection. She soon stops showing films and classes and only tries to model herself as a good hearted teacher to impress Scott. Her ways of teaching soon take a turn around when she learns that the teacher who's classroom scores the highest on the state test receives a bonus. Jason Segel, Lucy Punch, Phyllis Smith, and John Michael Higgins co-star in this outrageous comedy.

The humor in bad teacher ranges from harmless to offensive so be prepared to just watch a movie for some laughs and not take things to seriously. For me this movie offered me a bunch of laughs and it's still a favorite of mine to watch after a long hard day when all I want to do is laugh some worries away. To get a glimpse at just how bad she is, check out the trailer for "Bad Teacher".

Movie Preview - Finding Dory

Sorry for the late post today everyone!

Disney and Pixar's 2003 Oscar winning film "Finding Nemo" was a box office hit and quickly became one of the most loved Pixar movies to date. Centered around a clown fish named Marlin searching the vast ocean for his lost son Nemo. Marlin found aide from a lovable but very forgetful fish named Dory who suffers from short term memory loss. Together the two of them will go against all odds to try and find Nemo and return home safely. The under water tale was visual stunning to say the least and the story was full of heart and laughs.

Dory was voiced by popular actress/comedian/talk show host Ellen Degeneres and has been very vocal about wanting to do a sequel to "Finding Nemo" for quite sometime. It was recently announced that Pixar has indeed begun plans to make a sequel to Nemo, "Finding Dory" and the film will hit theaters sometime in 2015. I for one am very excited to hear this news as I am a huge fan of "Finding Nemo" and really think the upcoming sequel has a lot of potential.

We all scream for Ice Cream!!

Ice cream has to be one of the greatest things on the face of the Earth!! Smooth, creamy, sweet, delicious, cold, and it's the perfect treat to beat the embending heat of the Spring and Summer months. Ice Cream also happens to be a perfect snack for any of you favorite movies! If you're an ice cream lover like I am, something you may want to consider purchasing, if you don't have one, is an ice cream maker. They are widely available in kitchen and department stores and their prices vary to help fit most of our budgets. A few summers back I bought my Cuisinart Ice cream maker off of a popular online retailer for around 75 dollars and it's been worth every penny!

Making ice cream is really not a complicated task at all. Just a basic mixture of cream, whole milk, sugar, and some flavorings is really all it takes. Over the next few months, I'll be sharing with you some of my favorite ice cream recipes I've come up with over the years. From your basics like vanilla bean and chocolate to some of my more creative ideas like lemon lavender. If you are interested looking to purchase an ice cream maker, my best advice and go online read the reviews of their owners. The consumers will certainly steer your clear of the less desirable models. I personally own the Cuisinart ICE-30BC 2 quart Ice Cream maker. No complaints what so ever from me, it's a great ice cream maker and one that's gotten a lot of use. It's easy to clean and has everything I need to make fresh ice cream whenever I want! Keep checking back for some great ice cream recipes!