Film Feasts Project

Hello!

Apparently I got bored of making fun of blogs three years ago. Instead I have decided to write about how astoundingly greedy I am in the hope that it will act as a kind of therapeutic mirror, preventing my otherwise inevitable obesity and premature death. Or perhaps it will be a catalyst as the process of writing about food turns me into a complete obsessive. Either way...

This project is based on films that make me hungry. The aim is to watch a film and simultaneously eat the foodstuffs most satisfying in the context of the movie. This was originally inspired by watching Empire of the Sun with my brother, and realising that although it is by itself a brilliant film, it is greatly enhanced with the addition of a large, greasy meal of meaty noodle soup and fried gyoza. The idea was compounded after watching Grave of the Fireflies (eating sushi and tonkatsu whilst two children starve to death in post-war Japan :D); and much later, Ratatouille (eating a baguette with lots French butter and cheese whilst a rat teaches us valuable moral lessons).

This is not unlike enhancing a quality fillet of steak with a beautiful glass of Malbec. In fact it is identical to the erudite practice of wine pairing. Just as the POWs in Empire of the Sun are craving the food you are gorging yourself upon, so the bloody sinews of the steak are bolstered by the ample tannins of the wine, forming a tender mycelium of pleasure (incidentally I can't write about wine as poetically as I can drink it).

In the first film of the project (I might return to the aforementioned formative films later), I will extend this idea to an astounding tripling - of film, feast and fine wine, in Gianni Di Gregorio's -

Pranzo Di Ferragosto
servito con pasta (e carichi di vino bianco) or
Mid-August Lunch, served with pasta (and loads of white wine)


This film is beautiful and features a large helping of comedy, sweetness and hot Roman summer. Whilst you would do well to follow the dishes from the film, such as baked pasta or filetti di persico con patate, it is a lot of food (although...they do talk about baked pasta a lot). I opted for a light pasta dish adapted from a Cordon Bleu recipe, with several glasses of a powerful Ardèche Chardonnay (a wine I would never normally drink, but this one is very far off the usual watery joke people bring to parties). The main character Gianni, who is also the writer and director, is rarely seen without a glass of Chablis in hand - it is quite enjoyable to drink along with him. I actually wandered into this film tripling inadvertently on the 15th August. What luck! What an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

Pasta with prosciutto and Parmesan
Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil
400g Pennoni (or Farfalle if you prefer)
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
200g chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
3 courgettes, cut into batons
150g Prosciutto, roughtly torn
300ml crème fraîche
100g Parmesan
Fresh Basil

1. Cook the pasta al dente so that you are draining it as the sauce is ready.
2. Heat oil in a large pan over a high heat, and fry all the vegetables until lightly coloured, 3-4 minutes. Add the prosciutto and fry for a further 3 minutes. Stir in crème fraîche and heat through, add parmesan, black pepper and a little salt.
3. Add pasta and heat through, stir in roughly torn basil and serve immediately.

Try and eat some slices of good quality mortadella at the same time.

Writing this has made me absolutely starving.