Category: Film Club


Apr
2020

Bridget Jones’s Salmon

categories: Film Club, Fish, Salmon

Hello friends! I made Bridget Jones’s Salmon as a nod to our latest film club event.  We are continuing to meet through iso.  Only now we meet via Zoom. It is a nice way to catch up and see each other. And  I am running out of things to watch so having a film club choice is always good!!!   Last meeting was my choice and the random category I drew was Rom-Com.   Now I am not a big fan of said genre so it actually threw me into a bit of a panic!

Bridget Jones Salmon 1

My first and initially only choice was Two Days in Paris, which is a film I absolutely love!  Plus I thought, by having a couple that are together at the start,  it subverts the whole boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl which is one of the things I find so formulaic and boring in most rom-coms.  Plus, you know…

Paris 😍

And Adam Goldberg 😍😍

And Julie Delpy 😍😍😍

Have you seen it?  It hits so many of the things I love  I feel like the makers tapped deep within my psyche to find all that was good.  And then turned it into a movie!

Turns out though that 2DIP is not currently available on any of the streaming services or for rental on the Googs, or YouTube.  And of course, my fine upstanding friends and I would never stoop to illegally downloading films (🙄) so as a choice it was null and void.  Which left me here…

Until I remembered Bridget Jones!  I loved the book and the film!  I was a bit worried though because I thought at half of film club would hate it.  But, even though parts of it have dated horribly, everyone really enjoyed it.  There is something about living in iso that I think makes people crave the familiar and watching Bridge was like wrapping myself in a warm and comforting blanket!

If you are looking for entertainment, I can heartily endorse you watching Bridget Jones Diary.  It was the perfect antidote to the bad news and gloom of the daily news.

I can also heartily recommend Yotam Ottolenghi’s Bridget Jones’s Salmon!

In the spirit of not going out to buy items I did not have and not wasting ingredients I do have I made two substitutions to the original recipe in my version:

  • I had no celery so I  left it out altogether
  • I had no currants so I subbed in some barberries I found in the back of the cupboard.  And yes, I am the weirdo that has barberries in the back of their cupboard.  I am actually very sad because the little shop I used to buy them from has closed.  I am treating the ones I have left like gold until I can find somewhere else that sells them!

Bridget Jones Salmon 2

When Life Give You Lemons…

So, in response to the virus and a big drop in revenue, my work has cut hours for most people.  So as of now, I am working four days a week.  I feel absolutely no rancour in relation to this decision which I honestly think was done to save jobs.  It sucks because I am one of those lucky people who actually love what they do, and I was actually had more work to do in response to the changing conditions.

Bridget Jones Salmon 3

But my loss sweet readers is your gain because I have been wanting to post more on here for ages. Having that one extra day where I am not working means I will have more time to spend doing this.  I also am in the process of making list of all those things I said I would do “if only I had the time”  and I am going to get cracking on that.  I fully intend to make my additional day off a blessing and not a curse!

Stay safe, stay indoors and take care.  And let me know what Rom-com you would have chosen!

 

 

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May
2019

Triple Cheese & Triple Onion Empanadas

categories: Cheese, Film Club, Pastry, Vegetarian

These triple cheese and triple onion empanadas were inspired by two events.  The first was my visit to Tasmania in January.  There was a stall selling triple cheese and onion empanadas at the Salamanca Markets.  I didn’t eat any because I was full of scallop pie but the memory stayed with me.  The second inspiration was one of our Film Club pics.  And the third, oh yeah, I forgot to mention at the start that there was a third.

It’s empanadas?  Hell yeah!

Triple Cheese and Triple Onion Empanadas

 

The three kinds of cheese I used for the empanadas were feta, smoked cheddar and parmesan.

Triple Cheese and Triple onion empanadas2

And the three onions were Spanish, Spring and leek.

Triple Cheese and Triple Empanadas

The film that inspired this recipe is the documentary Three Identical Strangers.

This was the documentary choice in our first round (we are now about to start round 2) and it was a brilliant choice from one of my friends.  I had never even heard of this film before this but I was so glad Film Club brought it to my attention.

The film begins with three young men, discovering that they were triplets who were separated at birth and adopted out to different families.  Their reunion is the stuff of media wet dreams and the boys achieve a degree of fame with numerous froth pieces showing them dressing the same, talking the same, moving in unison, etc. And initially you think this is all the film is going to be about….how are they the same?  How did their different upbringings make them different?  What is nature, what is nurture?

 

Except it doesn’t quite turn out like that because the film then takes a dark turn.  And just as you are recovering from that twist?  It takes an even darker turn. I’m not going to spoil… but the end?  OMG!  I don’t think I have ever been that angry at the end of a film before.  Talk about the heart of darkness.

I think this is a really clever piece of film making, the timing and pacing is perfect, the story being told is totally compelling.  I can highly recommend this film.  Except be prepared to be FURIOUS at the end.

If you are watching at home, my triple cheese and triple onion empanadas would make a great movie snack.

I can also heartily recommend the Aji Pique ( a Colombian hot sauce) I made to go with the empanadas.  The recipe stated that in Colombia, they use this oosauce on everything fish, eggs, meat, chicken and I can totally see why!

For the empanadas it adds a sharp, spicy tang that complements the smoky cheesy filling and the crisp pastry.

 

Triple Cheese & Triple Onion Empanadas

Next weekend, why not bake up a batch of these empanadas and watch Three Identical Strangers?

Here’s the trailer.

Here’s the recipe!

Print

Triple Cheese and Triple Onion Empanadas

Print Recipe

A film watching (or anytime) snack, these triple cheese and triple onion empanadas are a delicious vegetarian snack!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 sheets of Shortcrust Pastry
  • 1 egg separated

For the Filling

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 leek, finely chopped
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 4 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic,crushed
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 200g Smoked Cheddar cheese
  • 200g Feta Cheese
  • 100g Parmesan
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Salt and Pepper

For the Glaze

  • 1 egg, beaten

Instructions

For The Filling

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
  2. Add the leek, Spanish and spring onions and reduce the heat to low.
  3. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are softened (around 10 minutes).
  4. Add the garlic and cook until the onions are golden (another 10 or so minutes).
  5. Set aside to cool.
  6. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  7. Grate the Smoked Cheddar and Parmesan,.
  8. Crumble the feta into a bowl and add the other cheeses.
  9. Mix in the beaten egg, the smoked paprika and the cooled onion mixture

To Assemble

  1. Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 rounds.
  2. Spoon the cheese mixture onto the middle of each of the rounds.
  3. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg white. Fold over and seal.
  4. Alternatively you can use an empanada press to seal the edges of the pastry.
  5. Brush the tops of the empanadas with the egg yolk.
  6. Place the empanadas in the oven for around 20 minutes. Around halfway through, turn them over and brush the other side with the egg yolk.
  7. Serve with the Aji Pique.

I served my empanadas with some Aji Pique, which is a Colombian Hot Sauce.

The recipe for this can be found here.

 

 

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