TV Tuesday - Bridget Jones Diary Movie

Once again today's daily theme is TV Tuesday, where you cook a meal from a movie or TV show.

Today I have chosen the one and only Bridget Jones Diary. Everyone must have seen this movie, but if you haven't its a film about Bridget, an average woman struggling with her age, job, having no boyfriend and her weight. (Remember the big pants scene?) One New Year she makes a resolution to take control of her life and records each day in her diary where she has to tell the truth. The film has some quirky, eccentric, charming and disreputable characters throughout and poor Bridget is stuck in the middle. She is a 32 year old woman who just can't seem to find the right man, is gaining weight and keeps making an idiot of herself at public events! The movie is a lot of fun and every girl can find a similarity with Bridget and if not they're lying! 

My favourite scene is where Bridget takes her date home the charming Daniel and he discovers her enormous pants! Very funny!

My favourite quote is related to the recipe I'm going to recreate (but hopefully mine won't be blue)! 

Bridget: How's it look?

Mark: Uh, great. It's, um, blue.

Bridget: Blue?

Mark: No, but, blue is good. if you ask me there isn't enough blue food.

Bridget: Oh, shit! It must be the string.

Mark: Oh, it's string soup?

Bridget: What are we going to do about this dinner, then?

Mark: We have blue soup to start, orange pudding to end, and, well, for a main course you have uh, congealed green gunge!

The blue soup was actually leek and potato soup, but I'm replacing the potato with yep you've guessed it beans! Two types of beans, butter and runner beans. Green is a better colour for food then blue wouldn't you agree?

This recipe is super easy!

Ingredients
400g Leeks
Splash of Olive Oil
500g Runner beans, top, tailed and cut nto pieces, about 400g once prepared
1 Tin butterbeans - drained and washed thoroughly
1½ Litres Vegetable stock. I used Marigold Bouillion powderSalt & Pepper

Method
Slice the leeks and saute in the olive oil until the leeks are soft, about 5 minutes. 

Next add in the runner beans and saute for a further 5 minutes. 

Pour in the stock and add the butter beans and bring to a simmer. Add the salt and pepper to taste and cook for around 15 minutes. 

Remove from the heat and let cool for a while, before transferring to a food processor to blend. 

Transfer the blended soup to a clean pan and gently reheat before serving. I enjoyed mine with a lump of crusty bread, delicious.

New book
I have heard on the grape vine that a third Bridgett Jones book will be released 10/10/2013 and it is set in present day London and represents a totally new phase in Bridget's life and its called mad about a boy. 

Bridget is older, she is still keeping a diary, but she is also immersed in texting and experimenting with social media, with an emphasis on 'social'! I for one can't wait to see what mishaps she gets up to. Think about it Bridget drinking and texting = madness!

TV Tuesday - Julie & Julia Movie

Once again today's daily theme is TV Tuesday, where you cook a meal from a movie or TV show. 

Today I have chosen the beautiful and fabulous film Julie and Julia. I  love this film but why wouldn't I? Its about food and blogging! (the food however is not vegan friendly). For those of you who haven't seen the movie its about two women, Julie a chef in the early stages of her culinary career and Julia, a woman living in New York who aspires to cook all the recipes from the cook book written by Julie. Julia wants to create all 524 recipes in one year or 365 days and Julia detailed the challenge on her popular blog and announced that it would make her a published author. 

My favourite scene is where Julia has another complete melt down after a disastrous attempt at one of the recipes, which was worse than her previous melt down. She sits on the floor and cries like a spoilt child saying that she's a mess. She lies down on the floor and kicks her leg in the air in a massive strop when the phone rings and Eric, her husband answers it, its a reporter wanting to write about Julia! "He does?" She says.

My favourite quote from the movie is:

Eric: See, that's what's so great about blogs. You don't have to be published. You can go online, press enter and there it is, out there!

Obviously I'm not creating one of the recipes from the book, I can't remember there being anything vegan, but I am going to recreate a chicken recipe and replace the chicken with green beans! 

Beans with cream and mushrooms
When sauteing the mushrooms do as Julia says and don't crowd the pan!

Ingredients

200g Green beans

½ Tsp Freshly ground pepper

¼ Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Onion, finely diced

250g Chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced

160ml Vegetable stock

125ml Soy cream

2 Tbsp Fresh Chives or Spring Onions, finely shredded

Method

Top and tail the green beans and put to one side.

In a frying pan add half the oil and add the finely diced onion, saute until the onion is translucent. Add the finely sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 2-3 minutes.

Pour in the vegetable stock and cook until the liquid has reduced by half. Next stir in the cream and chives and bring to a gentle simmer, turn down the heat you don't want the cream to curdle.

Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a ridged skillet over a medium heat and add the beans. You're looking for charred lines across the beans, turn carefully so you get the lines on two sides. I would recommend using a good olive oil for this, it makes all the difference in the taste.

Transfer the beans to a serving plate and top with the mushroom and cream sauce. Serve with vegetables of your choice and a potato or bean side, like bean mash or new potatoes. I served mine with potato mash, carrots and cauliflower.

The mushrooms really complimented the green beans it was a match made in heaven. I'll definitely being pairing up the two again and soon.

TV Tuesday - The Breakfast Club Movie

Once again today's daily theme is TV Tuesday, where you cook a meal from a movie or TV show.

Today I have chosen the film called The Breakfast Club. This is an old classic, I think from 1985, yep remember them 80's! For those of you who have not seen it, the movie is about five teenagers at high school who each belong to a different social group. The five teenagers comprise of a geek, a princess, an athlete, a bad boy and one who is silent and disturbed. They spend a Saturday detention together for eight hours and at first they seem to have nothing in common and they all want the day to be over. However throughout the eight hours of detention slowly they start to help each other out, open up about their lives and come to understand that each of them is not that different from another.

My favourite scene is where they all let them selves go and dance like they've never danced before.

My favourite quote is related to the recipe I'm going to recreate with beans of course! 

John: What's in there?
Claire: Guess? Where's your lunch?
John: You're wearing it.
Claire: You're nauseating.
John: What's that? (Pointing to her lunch)
Claire: Sushi
John: Sushi?

Bean Sushi
Now, I know what you're thinking, how on earth can this work? Beans are not going to be the only ingredient in the sushi. In fact I think this Japanese dish is actually called maki sushi or sushi rolls.

Ingredients
2 Sheets of Nori seaweed
1 Cup Sushi rice - I just used leftover basmati rice
6 Green beans
½ Carrot
½ Avocado

¼ Lemon

Wasabi paste

Soy Sauce

Mirin or rice vinegar (optional)

Method
Wash the rice a few times in cold water and drain. Cook following the directions on the packet but as a general rule you will need 1 1/8 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. Simmer for about 20 minutes then take off the heat and let stand for another 15-20 minutes. Do not remove the lid, no peeking allowed.

Transfer the rice to a glass bowl to cool completely and add the mirin or rice vinegar, if using. Very carefully stir through you don't want to break down the rice.

While the rice is cooking and cooling prepare the other ingredients. Grate the carrot and transfer to a bowl. Mash the avocado with a little lemon juice to stop it discolouring. Top and tail the green beans and cook in boiling water for two minutes, no longer. You just want to blanche the beans they still need a crunch. Remove the beans from the heat and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Once the rice has completely cooled you're ready to make the maki sushi. On a folded T-towel (or sushi mat if you have one) place a sheet of nori seaweed and top with rice. Top with a line of grated carrot, a line of mashed avocado and then top with a line of beans.

Take the edge of the T-towel and carefully start to roll the sheet of nori, don't worry you may lose some rice. Brush a little water on the far edge of the nori seaweed so it stick together and forms a roll.

Wrap the roll in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Unwrap and carefully slice into rounds, the end rounds will be messy but that's the chef's treat. Serve with a small bowl of soy sauce to dip into and a dot of wasabi, careful its hot!   

I made double quantities and packed some up for lunch tomorrow. Apologies for the rubbish photographs, it was dark before I finished!

TV Tuesday - Mystic Pizza Movie

So today's daily theme is TV Tuesday, where you cook a meal from a movie or TV show. Regular readers of my blog already know my guilty little secret - my favourite TV show is home and away. However, I can't remember one dish that the Pier Diner cooks up other than smoothies.

So I dug deep and thought about movies that I have watched and liked which had a scene revolving around food. Regular readers will also know I love Pizza so the film that came to mind for today's recipe was Mystic Pizza.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie its about three teenagers who learn a lot about life and love one summer. The three teenagers, Kat, Daisy and JoJo work together in the same pizza restaurant in the town of Mystic, Connecticut. Leona, the proprietor of the pizza restaurant, zealously guards the secret formula of her pizza sauce.

My favourite scene is where Leona and her staff rejoice after watching restaurant critic give Mystic Pizza a glowing review. 

My favourite quote from the movie is:
Jojo: You know what I wonder?

Daisy: What?

Jojo: What the hell do you think Leona really puts in that pizza?

Green and white Pizza
I don't guard the secret of my pizza sauce like Leonna does in the movie, as it is one ingredient; tomato passata! As my blogging theme this month is beans what else can today's recipe be but Bean Pizza. It tastes better than it sounds - honest. Today I've taken photographs of each step to show you how I build this pizza.

Ingredients
1 pizza base
3 Tbsp tomato passata
1 Garlic clove
½ Onion
15 Spinach leaves
1 Courgette (the round variety)
9 Green beans
Grated vegan cheese
1 Large mushroom
6 slices of Jalapeno pepper
Mixed herbs

Method
First get your pizza station ready, thinly slice the courgette, mushroom, onion and garlic, top and tail the beans and finely slice 6 and cut length ways the other three. Finely shred the spinach.

Pour the tomato passata onto the pizza base and distribute evenly. 

Add the garlic, any which way you choose, I like to have a slice on each triangle of pizza.

Next sprinkle over the thinly sliced onion, I love my onion!

The next topping on my pizza is the shredded spinach

Followed by the thinly sliced courgette

It's looking tasty already, wouldn't you agree? Next to add is the finely sliced green beans, the piece de la resistance in my eyes.

We're nearly there, sprinkle the vegan cheese over the top. I used the Tesco Free From mild cheddar style cheese.

Top the cheese with the green beans that have been sliced length ways, more beans please.

Followed by the sliced mushrooms, can you see why I've called it the green and white pizza?

To give the pizza a little heat, not too much, just a little, add the sliced jalapenos. I used a jar of already sliced jalapenos. 

Sprinkle with mixed herbs and you're ready to pop this bad boy in the oven.

Bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the base crisped up. 

Delicious, who would have thought green beans make such a great pizza topping!