Savoury Table

Photos from this year’s participants. To see their posts, please scroll down to the bottom of the page for links to their sites.

Last year Haley with Cheap Recipe Blog asked if I’d like to join her and a group of other bloggers for a fun little event centering around the best picture nominees for the Academy Awards. We were assigned a nominated picture and asked to see the movie, write about it and cook a recipe that was associated with it. Even though I thought it was a lackluster year for movies I was happy to join in because I love movies.

I was assigned the movie Whiplash, a movie I probably never would have seen had it not been for Haley’s event. I did enjoy the super intense movie, albeit not a much as my preferred genre of period romance, but sadly, there wasn’t one available that year. To flashback to last year’s post and my recipe for golden potato, bacon and rosemary pizza, please click here.

When she asked if I’d like to join in again this year, I was happy to say yes. Since I thought that the movies this year were a bit better than last, I knew I had a good chance of writing about a movie that I really enjoyed. This year I was assigned the movie “Room”.

First of all, I was very surprised at how moving I found this movie. I hadn’t read the book, so I had no ideas or preconceived notions about how I thought the movie ought to play out. This happened to me years ago when I went to see The Shining and again recently with A Walk in the Woods, both experiences left permanent marks on me. I was so disappointed with how different the movies were from the books, that I now try not to read the book first, opting to wait until after I have seen the film.

The first part of Room takes place entirely in a single room. More specifically a rundown, fortified garden shed, that is occupied by a young woman known as “Ma” and her young son “Jack”. We learn that seven years earlier, when she was seventeen  Ma was tricked and “stolen” by their captor who they call Old Nick, who is also Jack’s biological father.

As the movie opens, it is Jack’s fifth birthday. The celebration is a meager one, with just a small cake and the regular day to day routine of vitamins, exercises and endless hours of television. Never having been outside of “room”, Jack’s only impressions of life are what he sees on the television.

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, I won’t give too much away. I will just say that after seven years in this room, events unfold that lead to their liberation from Ma’s prison and the only world that Jack has ever known, opening them both up to feelings that they did not anticipate.

Even though it sounds like it, this story is not depressing or sad. It has a heartwarming end that celebrates the resiliency and triumph of the human spirit. As you can tell, I really liked this movie and highly endorse it.

Since there wasn’t a whole lot of food featured in this movie, a birthday cake was my obvious choice, and an opportunistic one at that since it is also a special someone’s birthday at my house. I’m not exactly sure what type of cake Ma made for Jack’s birthday, so I was free to go out on my own and give a Victoria sandwich cake one more try.

Since moving from England I have tried to make this cake several times with disappointing results. I love a good Victoria sandwich slice with a cup of coffee and a circle of friends to share it with. I have such fond memories of this simple, yet elegant cake which was named after the greatest sweet lover of all, England’s Queen Victoria.

Originally, the Victoria sandwich, would have been a plain sponge baked in loaves or long bar shapes with jam or fruit placed in between the layers. It would then be sliced and have the appearance of a sandwich, hence the name. Whipped cream was added to the jam layer in the 20th century, resulting in the delicious modern version which I love so much.

I hope you will go see Room and any and all of the nominated movies to see if you agree with my opinion and those of my other blogger friends involved in this fun event. I know I have enjoyed seeing a great movie and having a big slice of cake. . . or four. Oh yeah, great news for high altitude bakers, this recipe works great just as it it written.

King Arthur Flour’s Victoria Sandwich Cake
This English favorite may look like an American cake but the differences are clear once you take your first bite. Unlike the fluffy, soft, super moist cakes that we Americans are familiar with, this cake is tender yet a bit crumbly and not quite as moist as its American counterpart. It can best be described as being similar to a pound cake. It is normally filled with jam or fruit and a slightly sweet whipped cream. It is then topped off with a healthy dusting of powdered sugar and voila! You have a cake that is pretty close to what you might find in an English tea room.

3/4 cup (1 – 1/2 sticks) butter, softened (I use unsalted, so I added just a pinch of salt to the batter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1-1/2 cups self-raising flour
A couple of heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar to sprinkle on top (my recommendation)For method, please click here to go to King Arthur’s Site, but come back for my own cream filling recipe below.

Cream Filling

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Combine cream cheese, mascarpone and vanilla extract in a medium size bowl; set aside.

In a separate medium size bowl whip cream until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle sugar over cream while continuing to whip until stiff peaks form.

Add a heaping spoon of the whipped cream to the cheese mixture. Gently fold in to lighten it. Fold in the remaining cream and gently blend until it is smooth. Spread over jam or fruit on bottom cake layer.

Dust the top of the cake with lots of powdered sugar.

Tempted by these beautiful photos submitted by the other participants? Please just click on the links below to see their best picture themed posts:

I’ll spare you of all the gory details, but I have been experiencing a health crisis lately. To say that this issue got my attention would be an understatement at the very least. There is no more denying it, I have to make some serious changes and the first one is with my diet.

Like most die-hard foodies, deep down I have known for some time that I needed to make some alterations to my lifestyle. I kept telling myself that I would get started right after the new year, or after my birthday, or our anniversary, or after that big contest I wanted to enter, but my body got tired of waiting and took control.

I also need to start listening to the signals my body gives off. No more Googling and searching for the answer that I want to see. No siree, from now on, for the rest of my life, I’m afraid that I will be running to the doctor for the smallest ache or pain. I used to make fun of people like that, but now I am one of them, for I see that they are the smart ones after all.

My new normal started just over three weeks ago. Since then I have done my best to eliminate most animal fat and protein from my diet (can you imagine?). This dessert lover has actually stopped eating refined sugar and am very careful about how much fruit and honey I consume. It’s a new day I tell you.

I am also very guarded about the amount of gluten that I eat. If you know me personally, you know how drastic this is, because I love me some bread. Oh sure, I’ve stumbled a time or two. Thanksgiving was a real challenge, so I allowed myself a few bites of forbidden fruit, and got right back on that horse. The 15 pounds that I have lost is my reward.

I promise that I won’t go all Gwyneth Paltrow on you here, but in addition to my usual recipes, I am going to start posting some healthy recipes that I think are worthy. Oh yeah, there will still be recipes with cheese, beef, sugar and flour, but there will also be lots of farro, quinoa, tofu and leafy greens.

One of my favorite new recipes is not only tasty, but it is perfect for our cold late fall nights. Inexpensive, hearty and satisfying, curried red lentil soup, has a lot of flavor and is a great way to finish off those vegetable odds and ends rolling around in your fridge from your Thanksgiving dinner. So I hope you’ll enjoy, and most importantly, take care of yourself.

Curried Red Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons light olive or vegetable oil
1 medium size yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 cup dried red lentils
3 tablespoons curry powder
6 cups vegetable stock
1 – 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and mashed or pureed in a food processor with a couple of tablespoons of reserved liquid from the can
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Pour oil into the bottom of a large sauce pan that is set over medium high heat.

Once oil is shimmering and hot, add onion, carrot, celery and cumin seed. Cook, stirring frequently until vegetables are tender crisp. At this point add in the the lentils and curry powder, stirring to coat.

Add the vegetable stock and garbanzo beans; stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for approximately 20 – 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.

Stir in the cilantro, lemon juice, ginger root, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes longer, stirring frequently.

Serve piping hot.

Serves 4 – 6.