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Oscar Cocktail: Oprah's Pomegranate Martini

At my house, the Oscars are a dinner party/betting pool event. There's a potluck of film-themed eats and lots of fast forwarding through acceptance speeches. This year we will be serving Oprah's Pomegranate Martinis in honor of Precious... because I didn't want to cook pigs feet.

Oprah's Pomegranate Martini

1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
2 ounces Absolute Citron vodka or white tequila
1 ounce Cointreau liquor
Cup of ice
Splash of sparkling water (optional)
Squeeze of lemon (optional)

Shake ingredients in a shaker and put in chilled martini glasses.

Oscar Food: Lemon Fusilli with Arugula ("Noodley Thing")

When I saw It's Complicated with my friends, we couldn't stop talking about how Nancy Meyers films are food porn for WASPs (The scene where they are making chocolate croissants on a date was almost too much for me). There's a lot of food to steal from this movie for an Oscar menu, but I decided to try my hand at the "noodley thing" they all seem to covet from the fridge.

Lemon Fusilli with Arugula
(from The Barefoot Conessa)

1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 cups heavy cream
3 lemons
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch broccoli
1 pound dried fusilli pasta
1/2 pound baby arugula (or 2 bunches of common arugula, leaves cut in thirds)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds. Add the cream, the zest from 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli in florets and discard the stem. Cook the florets in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain the broccoli and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta in a colander and place it back into the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook it over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until most of the sauce has been absorbed in the pasta. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl, add the arugula, Parmesan, tomatoes, and cooked broccoli. Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise, slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswise, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

Chocolate Nutella Turnovers

I always thought Nutella was overrated, but when you need something to punch up chocolate and make it more upscale, it'll do the trick. These turnovers are a quick dessert or breakfast pastry that are sure to cure a chocolate craving or impress your uppity friends and relatives.

Chocolate Nutella Turnovers
(from Bake at 350)

1 sheet Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (from the 17.3 oz box), thawed
1 & 1/2 c. chocolate chips, divided
1/2 c. Nutella
1 egg
1 TBSP water
2 TBSP slivered almonds
1 TBSP shortening (such as Crisco)

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Stir together 1 cup chocolate chips and the Nutella.

On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry into a 12 x 12 inch square. Use a pizza cutter to cut into 9 squares.

With a fork, whisk together the egg and water. Using your finger, apply the egg wash to 2 adjacent sides of each square.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon of the chocolate/Nutella mixture to the middle of each square. Fold over to make triangles and press to seal edges. There will be some of this mixture leftover. What happens in the kitchen, stay in the kitchen.

Brush the top of each turnover with egg wash. Sprinkle with the slivered almonds. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the reserved 1/2 c. chocolate chips and the shortening in the microwave on 50% power in 30-second intervals. Stir after each interval until melted. Set aside.

Remove the turnover for the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Spoon the melted chocolate into a quart-sized freezer baggie (a storage baggie might burst) and snip a hole in one corner. Squeeze over the turnovers in a decorative pattern.

Pretzel Dogs

I have long planned that during my golden years I will stop everything and dedicate my life to perfecting the art of breads and pastries. One of the first breads on my list is pretzel bread. So when I saw these I had to grab hold of them. The pretzel recipe is from Alton Brown, so I have no doubt that they will be tasty, but I'm thinking if you want less perfect but still tasty pretzel dogs you may be able to skip the yeast and proofing and try the process with premade pizza dough.

Pretzel Dogs
(from A Dash of Sass)

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package dry active yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt (or kosher salt), for topping
8 hot dogs, cut in half
 
Combine the warm water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast is foamy and begins to smell of yeast.

Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and, on medium-low speed, combine the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears shiny, roughly 4 to 5 minutes.

Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray (or lightly grease with vegetable oil) and place dough in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Place bowl in a warm area (near the oven, perhaps) and let dough rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper with non-stick spray. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a roiling boil.

Place the dough on a greased surface, and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, roughly 12 inches long. Carefully wrap each piece around a half hot dog. Pinch the ends together to seal the dough. Alternatively, to make regular pretzels, shape the rope into a U shape, cross the ends over each other and fold the twisted ends back onto the bottom of the U. Again, pinch the dough together to form a seal. Place each shaped pretzel on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Boil the shaped pretzels and pretzel dogs, one at a time, in the baking soda water for 30 seconds each. Using a slotted spatula, remove each pretzel dog from the water and place it on a drying rack to allow any extra baking soda mixture to drip off.

Place the boiled pretzel dogs back on the parchment lined baking sheets. Brush with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with pretzel or kosher salt. Bake until golden brown, roughly 14 to 15 minutes. Transfer pretzel dogs to a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving. Serve with a variety of mustards.

Makes 16 pretzel dogs.