Classics & Cocktails

My next Dinner and a Movie event from the TCM Wine Club was Sabrina. A film I love even though the match of Humphrey Bogart and a young Audrey Hepburn seemed a bit off. Cary Grant was offered the lead role, but declined, supposedly because of an umbrella. He didn’t want to carry one on screen. Bogart was on loan from MGM, but was unhappy during filming convinced he was all wrong for the roll. I still think he carried it off beautifully.

This film definitely has some great scenes, and the story of Sabrina growing into womanhood made an impression on me. I first saw it as a young girl, one who climbed trees just like the young Sabrina. To evolve from that to the sophisticated adult Sabrina was this girl’s dream come true. This film was a big influence on fashion of the day. Although Hubert Givenchy designed Audrey’s wardrobe for the film, Edith Head took home the Oscar for Best Costumes. Givenchy wasn’t given credit at all! The little black cocktail dress popularized by Hepburn featured a high “Sabrina” neckline in front. Hepburn was paid $15,000 for the film AND had to pay for her dresses out of that! Compare that to Bogart’s $300,000 and William Holden’s $150,000.

An appetizer of truffle infused cheese.

So first up was planning my menu.  My mind immediately went to a wonderful souffle! And since Sabrina goes to Paris in the film, surely the wine would be French. But no! Here TCM is missing the mark big time. A wonderful film, with perfect food and wine pairings already in the script, and instead TCM suggested an Italian Chianti paired with Spaghetti Bolognese.  Sorry TCM, but this is an epic fail, virtually out of the gate (I’m still in my first case of wine). Why wasn’t this wine and meal paired with Roman Holiday? 

Despite my misgivings, I did make a wonderful Spaghetti Bolognese. I started off with a truffle infused cheddar served with crackers.  The Chianti was good and paired well with the food. I followed it up with a Torta Caprese, another nod to Italy. But if this was a do-over, a French wine and souffle would be perfect. A fun twist is to serve a martini – in a skinny olive jar!  

Chocolate Torta Caprese

Sabrina was made in 1954, directed by Billy Wilder. It started production without a finished script! Screenwriter Ernest Lehman worked himself to exhaustion, even suffering a nervous breakdown during filming.

Bogart didn’t like working with Audrey Hepburn, he wanted Lauren Bacall to have the role of Sabrina. And he and William Holden couldn’t stand each other. Filming must have been rough for him. I feel that added to the gruffness of his character.

Look quick in the film, Raymond Bailey and Nancy Culp make an appearance. You will remember them as the banker and Miss Hathaway in Beverly Hillbillies. And a last Easter Egg? When Linus takes Sabrina to the movies, the film on the marquis is “The Seven Year Itch”, Billy Wilder’s next movie project!

Here’s the recipes:

Spaghetti Bolognese Sauce

2 T olive oil
1 med onion diced
1 large carrot diced
1 celery stalk diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb italian sausage
1 cup red wine
18 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 t fresh rosemary, chopped
2 t fresh sage, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 t rosemary infused sea salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
12 oz whole wheat spaghetti
Fresh chopped parsley and shaved parmesan cheese to garnish

Heat olive oil in dutch oven or (transfer to a crock pot) Cook onions, carrots, celery, garlic for about 5 minutes. Add meat and cook for 10 minutes, crumbling into small pieces. Add wine, crushed tomatoes and seasonings and let simmer for 2 hours.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain, toss with sauce and garnish with parsley and parmesan cheese.

Torta Caprese

12 oz unblanched whole or sliced almonds
1 ¼ cup sugar, divided
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter
6 eggs, separated
½ tsp sea salt
2 T Grand Marnier

Powdered sugar for dusting.

*Preheat oven to 325, rack in the middle.  Grease a 9” springform pan, line the bottom with a circle of parchment.

Grind the almonds in a food processor with 6 T of the sugar. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave safe dish.  Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl until lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in 10 T of the sugar. Add the melted chocolate, stirring to mix well. Add the ground almonds and salt and the Grand Marnier, stir to combine.

In clean bowl, beat the egg whites with remaining ¼ cup sugar until they form firm peaks. Gently fold this into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the springform pan. Cool completely.

Transfer to a serving dish, and lay a doily across the top and sift powdered sugar over it. Carefully remove the doily and voila!

Dinner & a Movie…

I love old movies. And fashion. And food. And chocolate – especially chocolate! During these socially distant times, I struggled to come up with some fun date nights that my husband and I could enjoy at home. So I decided to give the TCM Wine Club a try. Plusses? Each wine comes with tasting notes, menu ideas and a film suggestion. What could be a better date night than dinner and a movie with my favorite guy??

It arrived with 15 bottles of reds (my husband’s favorite kind of wine), but I was disappointed with the tasting note cards. I guess I was expecting the standard size sheet of paper, hole punched that you could place in a binder. Instead, the cards are small, maybe 5×6” with two holes – and I have no desire to hunt down a binder that would fit that.

And here’s the reason I mention it. If the size were larger, there would be room for actual recipes, not just menu suggestions, and a space for curated movie trivia for the suggested film. Don’t get me wrong – this is a great start. I have belonged to other wine clubs and they didn’t come with any cards at all! (P.S. If you’re a winery, I’m your man to make your curated cards!)

So, if you are considering trying the TCM Wine Club, feel free to follow along, as I have made detailed improvements for each bottle.

Starting with – Dial M for Murder.

The wine for this film was Grande Fleur de Lyeth from California. The winery is located in Sonoma County and if you’re in the area, definitely worth a visit. Hands down, the best wine I have ever had! The Lyeth Estate is known for being one of the first to experiment with Bordeaux style blends, and this one boasts layers of fruity plum flavor, plus a spicy undertone.  Great for a winter evening with an Alfred Hitchcock thriller!

The suggested menu was pretty easy to devise some recipes for. Seems like the perfect mid-century modern meal – meat and potatoes! I started with a plate of cheeses, slices of Honey Crisp apples, and assorted crackers. This really made the wine pop! Check out what’s in your local grocery store – I found a great cheddar and a mushroom cheese – not too expensive either.

roast beef on a carving board with herbs on top created an Herb Crusted Beef Roast which could work just as well with lamb or pork. I just happened to have a beef roast in the fridge. The herbs are easy to come by, and the fact that my daughter grows herbs at her Smoot’s Flavor Farm made it even easier.

I paired the roast with Smashed Parmesan Potatoes using some Yukon Gold potatoes. Easy, and the perfect complement to the roast. You can drizzle any pan juices over the roast and potatoes on your plate.

And what’s a dinner without dessert? Being a chocolatier, of course it had to be dark chocolate. I made Dark Chocolate Shooters. These could be served warm in a shot glass (you can drink them, but use a spoon to get every last bit) but I chilled them and served them with a dollop of whipped cream. Silky smooth!

Lights! Camera! Action! Dial M for Murder is one of my favorites from Alfred Hitchcock. They have a few teasers on the card, but I prefer a more detailed intro like they do before every film on TCM. So of course I had to come up with my own.

In 1953, Alfred Hitchcock was looking for a new project when his The Bramble Bush project just wouldn’t come together. The story Dial M for Murder landed at the studio and Hitchcock knew it had been a hit as a stage play, so he opted to direct it since he was already known as a thriller filmmaker.

Warner Bros. wanted it filmed in 3D. This meant Hitchcock would have to work with the giant cameras necessary for the process. He added a pit into the floor of the set, so the camera could move at lower angles to capture objects like lamps and tables in the foreground. This is particularly noticeable in the infamous scissor scene when Grace Kelly reaches across the desk. But by 1954 when the film was released, the 3D craze was dying out. What I wouldn’t give to see it in the original 3D!

This was Grace Kelly’s first film with Hitchcock, the most famous of his blonde stars. Theirs  was said to be the easiest working relationship of any of his stars, and they went on to make two more films: Rear Window in 1954 and To Catch a Thief in 1955.

Because this was originally a stage play, almost the entire script takes place indoors, largely in the Wendice apartment. Hitchcock chose to keep it that way to add intimacy and tension. He personally selected every prop because the 3D cameras were going to capture objects in a way his other films hadn’t.

Hitchcock’s exacting eye is known to involve wardrobe. He wanted the color of Kelly’s wardrobe to reflect her psychological condition throughout the film, so she starts in bright colorful clothes suggesting a happy life. As the film grows darker for her, her costumes take on a more somber tone.  The one argument Kelly had was in the attempted murder scene. Hitchcock had an elegant velvet robe made for Kelly, hoping to create interesting textural effects as the lights and shadows play off the fabric while she fights for her life. (I suspect the drapes are velvet for the same effect) But Kelly reasoned that Margot was alone in the apartment (as far as she knew) and was getting out of bed to answer the phone – she wouldn’t bother to put on a robe.

Hitchcock was nervous about shooting the murder sequence in 3D – so much so that he lost about 20 pounds. “This is nicely done but there wasn’t enough gleam to the scissors, and a murder without gleaming scissors is like asparagus without hollandaise sauce – tasteless,” he reportedly said after one take. Perhaps I should have served asparagus with the roast!

I always look for Hitchcock’s cameos in his films. In this one he appears in a class reunion photo in the Wendice apartment, seated at the banquet table on the left. I missed this until it was pointed out to me. Always a fun thing to look for – like Stephen King’s cameos in his films.

Enjoy!

Herb Crusted Roast   serves 2-3. (50 min)

• ½ cup Sundried tomatoes in oil
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 leg of lamb, or 2 thick cut pork chops or 1 thick good quality beef chuck roast
• Thyme

Preheat oven to 430 degrees F. Combine sundried tomatoes in their oil with 4 crushed garlic cloves.  Process with immersible blender or run through magic bullet or food processor. Add the salt.

Place meat in oven roaster, rub the mixture all over to evenly coat. Slice about 6 shallow slits in the meat and push the last garlic clove, sliced, into each opening. Cover and roast for 40 minutes (for medium rare). Uncover and broil for 10 minutes if needed for browning. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Place on carving board, pour juices from pan over roast and slice.

Garlic Smashed Potatoes    serves 2-3 (50 min)

• 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
• Olive oil
• 3 T melted butter
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 T chopped fresh parsley
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 T Parmesan cheese

Preheat your over to broil. Place potatoes in pot of salted water. Boil for 30-35 minutes until fork tender, drain. Place potatoes on parchment lined baking sheet. Use potato masher to lightly flatten potatoes in one piece.

Mix butter, garlic and parsley and pour over each potato. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and spritz with olive oil. Broil for 10 minutes, until golden brown for 10 minutes.

Serve immediately

Kahlua Chocolate Pudding Shooters  (makes 6 small servings) (15 min)

• 1 cup chopped chocolate (you can use dark chocolate chips)
• 2 good quality eggs
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup heavy cream plus ¼ cup
• 1/8 c kahlua
• ½ T powdered sugar
• Flaky sea salt such as vanilla infused salt.

Combine chocolate, eggs, salt, vanilla in food  processor and puree until chocolate if finely chopped. Heat ½ cup cream until foam starts to form around the edges, immediately pour hot cream into processor (this cooks the eggs and melts the chocolate) Puree 3 minutes until pudding is smooth and silky.  Add kahlua and puree again for 30 seconds. Divide into espresso cups or shot glasses.

Whip remaining cream with powdered sugar. Top each glass with dollop of cream and sprinkle with sea salt or infused salt. These can be served immediately or chill and they will set like regular pudding.