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Did you miss the theatre showing of the movie Chef? I did too and I was berating myself because I’d looked forward to it for ages. I got the flu, family things were going on and I missed out.
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So for me and for all of you who missed it on the big screen, it’s coming to DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital with UltraViolet on September 4th. If you’re a food lover who’s not been paying attention, here’s the scoop on the movie.
Chef was written by the American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, John Favreau who also stars in the movie. His co-stars and other actors are some of my favourites – Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey, Jr., Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Emjay Anthony and Oliver Platt. Just looking at the cast and I nearly start laughing. I love a funny movie.
As Carl feared, the critic gives a less than satisfactory review and rather than suck it up and move on, he uses Twitter to berate the critic in a full meltdown. With his life a mess, the chef listens to his ex-wife who tells him to go back to Miami and get back to his roots where he loved to cook and feed people.
He heads to Miami with his ex, Inez and gets to spend fun time reconnecting with his son and the ex-wife’s new husband Marvin offers Carl a broken down food truck to get back on his feet. I’m not going any further into the movie because nobody wants to know everything before they watch a movie. I watch a comedy movie to laugh and feel happy.
The best bit is that Chef is about food and blogging and social media – the things that consume my life and probably yours. Seriously, who doesn’t eat and want to talk about it?
Having the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray at home is really convenient — to the kitchen. I’ll have my copy of Chef on September 4th and after the movie is over, I’m going to serve this outstanding panna cotta with almond toffee crunch alongside Moscato and cinnamon poached pears.
- 4 pears
- 1 bottle Moscato wine
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- 330 ml Full cream milk
- 470 ml Cream
- 120 grams icing sugar
- 3 sheets titanium gelatine
- 2 vanilla beans
- Peel the pears, slice in half and scoop out the seed bits and bottom end with a melon baller or spoon. Keep the stems, they're pretty.
- Place them in a saucepan and pour over the wine and toss in the cinnamon quill. Cover with a piece of baking paper to keep the pears wet and cover.
- Simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until you can pierce the pear with a knife and it feels soft.
- Remove pears to a plate and increase the heat and reduce the wine until it's syrupy. However thick you like.
- Pour syrup over the pears.
- Place almonds on a baking tray and place in the oven at 180C for about 8 minutes or until the almonds take on just a little bit of color. Set aside.
- To a saucepan on medium heat, add the sugar and the water. Cook until the mixture reaches the hard crack stage 150C. Remove from heat and put the bottom of the pan in water to stop the cooking - you don't want burnt toffee.
- Toss in the almonds and pour out on a Silpat or baking paper and smooth out.
- Once cool, place in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin. Place in an air tight container and set aside. (This will keep for weeks, well covered)
- Brush a non-flavoured oil on 8 dariole moulds - it will help to remove the panna cotta.
- Put the 3 sheets of gelatine in a bowl of ice water to soften.
- Place milk in a saucepan and slice the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with your knife and add to the milk. Toss the beans in as well. Bring the milk to nearly boiling but do not boil. You'll see little bubbles on the side of the pan, that's hot enough.
- Remove from the heat and let the beans steep for 30 minutes.
- Remove the beans and add the gelatine and mix well. Add the sugar and mix well.
- Add the cream and place the bowl over a bowl of ice water and stir until the mixture just begins to thicken. This will hold the vanilla seeds in suspension. If you don't mind the seeds falling to the bottom, this step is not necessary.
- Pour into dariole moulds and refrigerate until set. Mixture will still be wobbly.
- Dip moulds into hot water for a few seconds and invert on a plate.
- Assembly
- Plate the panna cotta and sprinkle the crushed toffee on the top.
- Slice the pear into strips and place alongside the panna cotta.
- Drizzle some syrup over the pear and around the panna cotta.
This post was kindly sponsored by Universal Sony but honestly, I’m really looking forward to this movie release.
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