Last night we had a BIG Oscar party in our house and I was a little nervous since it was the first big shindig in our casa, well that and I chose to make a flotilla of food. I simply adore our gentle friends and one thing I know about our group is we love to eat. With that in mind I was going to make darn sure everyone had enough to nibble on during the three hour show.
Epicurious assembled menu plans based on the Best Picture nominees and the one that stood out to us was the Inception option. It’s very French inspired since part of the movie takes place in Paris – the scene with the city folding on top of itself is still incredible every time I see it. Although I liked the recipes they suggested, I decided to stick wtih French fare but do it my way. And the award goes to….
- La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup
- Monte Cristo-Style Croque Monsieur
- Baked Brie with Golden Raisin Compote
- Green Bean Amadine
- Steak Frites
- Chocolate Pots de Creme
To get real nerdy about it I made an “Execution Plan” to ensure everything was done by 6:00 p.m. so we could watch arrivals and snarkily judge away.
- 2:00 p.m. Prep and mis en place
- 3:00 p.m. Make compote for Brie, while compote cooks, make pots de creme, refrigerate
- 3:30 p.m. Make soup
- 4:00 p.m. Make green beans, assemble and bake Brie rounds
- 5:00 p.m. Make sandwiches
- 5:40 p.m. Fire steaks, let rest and slice, make fries
- 6:00 p.m. Guests arrive
Everything pretty much went according to plan and let me tell you, the soup, green beans, sandwiches and brie rounds with that stellar compote were delicious. For the steak frites I kept it very simple. David (the super poodle) ran to the store and bought a Weber charcoal grill so he could grill them properly. Little salt and pepper on the steaks, grill and you are done. I took frozen fries and mixed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and thyme leaves and baked until crispy. Thanks to my lovely and talented niece Alex who is a bomb chef for coming up with that tasty concoction.
I’m giggling at the thought of the Pots de Creme because the flavor was amazing but I didn’t have enough glasses to properly make individual servings, so I decided to place the whole shebang in a large ramekin. Yeah, don’t do that. We had to put it in the freezer so it would set up, but a few minutes on the table and it was like ice cream. Of course, no one cared and it was gone by the end of the night but I highly suggest not being an idiot like moi and scratch the idea if you can’t do it individually.
The Oscars were OK this year, a little zzzzzzzzzz at times and it wasn’t as exciting as in years past but I am so happy for The King’s Speech! It’s an excellent, heart warming story and if you haven’t seen it yet, GO.
Here’s our spread and more posts to come this week…I hope. 
