Silver Screen Cuisine - The Hundred Foot Journey -

#silverscreencuisine GBC event
The Screen on the Green in Islington is a grand old cinema, an institution, a rare thing, dating back from the beginning of the last century. And now, This very old venue is breaking the cardinal rule of movie-theatres with ingenuity, it's hosting Silver Screen Cuisine - Film and Food from the comfort of your seat - A first: for as much as £35, during the past week, filmgoers were treated to an open bar and canapés on arrival, a film and a full menu plus wine. 

Immediate immersion with a "franco-indian" décor.

The scheme is the brain child of the enfant terrible of food websites and multi-media cie, namely Great British Chefs in association with Celebrity Cruises. Au diable vauvert the "no eating in cinemas" dogma. This was a feast. No wander that the question on everyone lips as we left was, "When is the next screening?
#silverscreencuisine

The Mumbai Masala -Ketel One Vodka-based-

At the interval Pascal Aussignac of the infamous Club Gascon and Alfred Prasad both Michelin star chefs created a "fran-dia" menu for us, inspired by the Hundred Foot Journey.

Pascal Aussignac alfred prasad #silverscreencuisine
Hundred Foot Journey is sweet and fluffy film which retraces the journey of an Indian family who fled India when their restaurant was burned down to the ground during a political riot. When they arrived in France, the head of the family recreates his beloved "Maison Mumbai" across the road (100 feet away) from a Michelin-starred establishment. It's a tearjerker and my serviette came in very handy at times.
white asparagus emulsion, foie gras flan sea urchin jus, trout confit with verjus, chicken tikka, Kadhai paneer, veal onglet

 
The dishes based on the film included foie gras flan with sea urchin jus, herb-wrapped veal onglet with ‘Baingan bharta’ ratatouille, Kadahi paneer with pulao rice and my favourite fusion dish Mess on Mumbai cranberry coulis, rose Chantilly, sweet bondi. Just to mention a few to give you an idea of the feast that was.
 
The spiced dessert was a triumph of fusion, the mains taken individually were stunning, put together, it was a little overwhelming. Fusion yes anytime, but it might have been good to leave some classic out of it. Ratatouille is a great dish add spices and then it is still a great dish but it's not a ratatouille any longer, it's a baigan barta with many vegetables.
 
At the end of the film and as the event folded we were presented with fran-dia petits fours.
 
This was a truly fantastic event.
 
Read more about:
Club Gascon reviewed by the talented Cook Sister! My turn to visit and review next ;)
 
Alfred Prasad is passionate about food poverty and is an ambassador to charities such as Action Against Hunger. Do you remember the blogger-aid cookbook?
 
Disclaimer : I was invited by GBC- I have not be ask to write a positive review- all the words are my own, photos from GBC photobank -

Lamb ragù

Chez Pebble Soup, we have a word to define leftovers thrown together mixed in with beans, usually serve on toast. The ultimate comfort food: a gù. 
lamb gu ragu casserole leftover comfort food recipe Romanian wine Recas’s Sole Shiraz
There is no amount of sophistication in the kitchen which will beat a good gù.

However to turn a gù  into a recipe which can be replicated and photographed nicely, we might need at the very least to get rid of the toast, probably replace the baked beans by fresh vegetables, turn the dish into a casserole or to give it, its proper name a ragù serve with a good glass (or two) of wine.
 
If you are still contemplating what to do with the lamb left over from Easter. Look no further, I found this recipe in Waitrose magazine. It needed adapting for pecuniary reasons.
 
Notes on adapting this recipe and red wine sauces
When I grew up, in France, wine was used a lot in cooking to produce rich red wine sauces, such as in this Beef Guardiane
But in the UK cooking with wine is an expensive business. The common mistake, one I made when I first arrived was to use cheap wine, don't bother. When you cook with wine, it has to be a decent wine as the taste of the wine is the basic flavour. My solution is to forget about the wine and replace  the light stock with a heavier, richer one.
 
Lamb ragù
 
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, cut into 0.5cm pieces
2 leeks, trimmed and cut into 0.5cm pieces
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ x 20g pack rosemary, leaves finely chopped
½ x 15g pack oregano, leaves roughly chopped
3 bay leaves
or replace the three herbs above by a good dose of mixed herbs
2 tbsp tomato purée
500ml beef or lamb stock
400-500g leftover lamb cut into 0.5cm pieces, or raw lamb cubes if you don't have any leftvovers
Salt ( only a little if the stock is already salted), pepper to taste
 
Method
In a large sauce pan, add the olive oil, cook the leeks and carrots for 10 minutes, medium heat.
Add the herbs, the garlic, the lamb and let it sweat for a further 10 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients bring it to boil and slow the heat down, cook for a further hour.
 
This dish was paired with a Romanian Recas’s Sole Shiraz, it's a medium bodied wine, very fruity, a rare combination of Shiraz, Fetească Neagră. It's a rather complex wine, lighter than the Romanian wines we tend to get normally in supermarkets and well worth getting a bottle if you like smooth red wine or if you feel a little adventurous (retailed at Waitrose)

Though I liked Reca's Sole for its complexity, I was not impressed at all by my pairing. It's only a few days later whilst reading this very interesting piece in the Guardian about Bulgarian and Romanian wines that I understood why - I had just done a big faux pas .
 
Disclaimer: the wine was sent to us for review

Falafel

Falafel is a Middle Eastern street food which is remarkably easy to prepare. Serve with Baba Ganush, fresh salad and there you have it: lunch for the family, snack for yourself or party food for the many.

Middle-East recipe falafel chickpeas coriander spices meze snack

Falafels are packed with the flavours provided by herbs fresh coriander, parsley and spices, cumin and cinnamon, the recipe below would have beneficiated from a coating but I am still experimenting with the new Tefal airfryer and I am a bit cautious.
 
Ingredients
 
2 cans of chick peas drained/rinsed if you are using dried chick peas they will need to be soaked and cooked prior to using in this recipe
1 egg lightly beaten
2-4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or coriander or a mixture of both
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tsp cumin powder
1tsp gound coriander
 1/4 tsp chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
pinch of ground cinnamon
 1 table spoon olive oil
 
Each falafel could be rolled in sesame seed to coat before cooking
 
Method
In a food processor whisk the chick peas until roughly smooth
add all the other ingredients and process until smooth don't be tempted to add water if you already have lemon juice otherwise add 1tsp of water if the mixture doesn't "gel"
 
You will end up with a big "lump"  Form small balls with 1 tablespoon of mixture and place on an oiled tray. Bake at gas mark 5/180C for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and crunchy on the outside. It's ready to be served
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