Create An Oscars Best Picture Menu Slideshow

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 20 Shucked oysters, cleaned
• 2 cups Buttermilk
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup AP flour
• 3 T Old Bay Seasoning
• 6 cups canola oil

1. Marinate oysters in buttermilk, salt, and pepper for at least an hour.
2. Mix flour with Old Bay.
3. Heat canola oil in a pot large enough that the oil only fills it half way, to 350 over medium heat, use a candy thermometer to keep track of temperature.
4. Remove oysters from buttermilk, dredge in seasoned flour, and fry in canola oil until crispy and golden brown. Season with salt when oysters are removed from the oil, let oysters drain on paper towels.
5. Serve on toasted baguette, cut into 4, with Hush puppies and remoulade. 

Remoulade:

• 4 oz Dijon mustard
• 2 oz ketchup
• 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t prepared horseradish
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ t lemon juice
• 2 t black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 stalk of  celery, chopped
• 2 T parsley, cleaned and chopped
• ¼ spanish onion, chopped
• 2 T Paprika
• 2 dashes of Tabasco sauce
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Pinch of chili flake
• Salt and Pepper.

1. Puree all items in food processor until smooth
2. Season to taste.

Serves 6
Ingredients

Marinated shrimp

• 2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 oz of chipotle en adobo
• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 2 oz of canola oil

1. Blend chipotles, lime juice and zest, and oil until smooth.
2. Marinate shrimp in chipotle and lime for 24 hours.
3. Preheat grill until very hot, pull shrimp from marinade. Grill shrimp until translucent, flipping halfway through. About 2 minutes per side.
4. Serve with Spicy Grit Cakes and Red Eye Gravy

Grit Cakes

• 6 ounces uncooked grits
• 3 cups water
• 3 ½ oz pickled jalapenos, chopped
• 3 ½ oz pickled red pepper, chopped
• 2 oz shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 T Salt
• Flour
• 6 cups Canola Oil
• Salt and Pepper

1. Dissolve salt in water and bring to a boil, over high heat, in a 2 quart heavy bottomed sauce pot.  Whisk in grits.
2. Reduce heat to medium and continue to whisk until grits have thickened and start to bubble. Turn heat to low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until grits are cooked through.
3. Turn off heat and stir in cheese, jalapenos, and red peppers. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Spread evenly about ½ inch high onto cookie sheet lined with with parchment paper.  Cover with parchment and cool in refrigerator.
5. Once completely cool, cut into 1" circles.
6. Over medium heat Canola oil in a pot large enough that the oil only fills it half way, to 350, using a candy thermometer to monitor temperature. Dredge grit cakes with flour and fry until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels and season to taste.

Red Eye Gravy

• 1 red onion, chopped
• ½ lb bacon
• 1 c whiskey
• 1 c coffee
• 4 c dark chicken stock

1. In heavy bottomed 3 quart sauce pot over medium heat, sweat bacon until almost of the fat has rendered from the bacon. Add in red onion and sweat until translucent.
2. Turn off heat and deglaze the pan with the whiskey. Turn heat back to medium, bring whiskey to a simmer and cook out alcohol. Do not let the whiskey boil.
3. When whiskey has reduced by half add in coffee and reduce by half.  After coffee has reduced, add in chicken stock and reduce slowly until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain this through a fine mesh strainer. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 12 oz bottle of amber beer
• 2 c plus 4 oz All Purpose flour
• ½ t baking soda
• ½ t salt
• 1 t Ground black pepper
• 1 lb Chicken breasts, cleaned of excess fat and cut into strips
• 6 cups Canola Oil

Procedure:

1. Combine 2 cups flour, baking soda, salt and pepper in large mixing bowl. Whisk in beer and eggs until there are no lumps in the batter. Let batter rest for at least 20 mins.
2. Over medium heat Canola oil in a pot large enough that the oil only fills it half way, to 350, using a candy thermometer to monitor temperature. Dredge chicken strips in remaining flour. Then dip into the beer batter. Carefully place the chicken into the hot oil, making sure to lay the chicken away from you and to not overcrowd the pot.
3. Cook until chicken has cooked all the way through. Drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

Whiskey Sauce

• 2 white onions, sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 oz fresh ginger, minced
• 1 oz Tabasco
• 5 oz Ponzu soy sauce
• 10 oz white grape juice
• 8 oz whiskey
• 2 oz canola oil
• salt and pepper

1. In large heavy bottomed, 2 quart sauce pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat until smoking. Add in sliced onion, minced garlic and ginger; turn heat down to medium and caramelize.
2. Add in the whiskey, ponzu, grape juice, and Tabasco. Bring this up to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
3. Briefly blend the sauce in a blender, just to puree whatever is left of the onion, garlic and ginger. Do this in stages, making sure not to overload the blender. Strain this liquid through a fine mesh strainer and season.

Serves 8

Hot Dog:

• 6 All Beef "Brooklyn Bangers" Hot Dogs
• 12 oz queso dip, heated
• ½ red onion, finely chopped
• ½ lb bacon, cut into 1/4 inch matchsticks
• 6 Martin's Potato Long Rolls

1. Heat queso dip in a saucepan over very low heat, making sure not to scorch.
2. In a frying pan, over medium low heat, render fat out of bacon. Remove bacon from pan and let cool.
3. Grill hot dog until heated all the way though.
4. Top toasted hot dog bun with bacon, grilled hot dog, queso dip, and diced red onion.

Queso

• 8 oz canned diced tomatoes
• 6 oz pickled jalapenos, diced
• 1 lbs Velveeta
• 8 oz milk
• 2 oz sour cream

1. In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, melt Velveeta with milk, over very low heat. Stirring constantly
2. Remove from heat and whisk in sour cream, jalapeno, and tomato.

Serves 8

Vanilla Cake

• 1 ½ cups Sifted Cake Flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• ½ cup Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1 cups Sugar
• 2 large Eggs, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ cup Whole Milk

Procedure:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a cookie sheet with butter and dust with all-purpose flour. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
2. Beat in the butter one heaping ¼ teaspoonful at a time, using an electric mixer set on low speed, until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Beat in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles fine damp sand. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and milk, and beat on medium-high, just until blended. Do not over beat.
3. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean — 15 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly before unmolding and cooling completely.

Peanut Butter Ganache

• ½ cup peanut butter
•  8 ounces 60% bittersweet chocolate
•  8 ounces heavy cream

Procedure:

1. Heat heavy cream and peanut butter together in heavy bottomed sauce pot over medium heat.
2. Pour the hot cream and peanut butter over chocolate and let sit for 2-3 mins. Whisk to combine.

To Serve:

1. Cool and cut cakes into 3 ½ inch circles
2. Pour warm peanut butter ganache over and cover on all sides evenly and smoothly
3. Cool completely to let ganache set. Store in airtight container, will keep chilled for up to 4 days.

Serves 4

Lamb

• 2 lbs leg of lamb
• 2 oz pickled red onion, see below for recipe
• 1 oz cleaned frisee
• 1 oz baby arugula
• 4 oz curried mayo, see below for recipe
• Spice Rub
• 4 rounds of whole wheat pita, cut in half and warmed to soften in oven or on grill

Preparation:

1. Liberally rub lamb leg with spice rub, making sure to get every available surface and inside of leg.
2. Roast Lamb leg in 350 oven until internal temperature of 140. Let cool.
3. When lamb has cooled completely pull apart and toss with curried mayo, pickled red onion, frisee, arugula.
4. Stuff the lamb mixture into warmed pita, making sure to evenly distribute the mix.
5. Serve with cucumber salad. 

Spice Rub for Lamb

• 1 t fenugreek, traditional Indian spice can be found in specialty stores
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1 t whole coriander
• 1 t whole fenugreek
• 1 t juniper berries
• 1 t cardamom pods
• 1 T whole black pepper
• 2 T sugar
• salt to taste
• pinch of chili flake

1. Toast all spices in a pan over medium low heat until you start to smell the spices.
2. Grind spices either in coffee grinder or mortar and pestle until very fine.  Mix in sugar, salt and chili flake

Serves 12

• ½ cup butter softened
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. allspice
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted,* divided
• Chocolate Ganache Glaze
• 1/3 to ½ cup apricot or peach preserves

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9-inch round layer cake pans with vegetable spray. In mixer bowl beat butter until fluffy. Beat in sugar then molasses to blend thoroughly. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. In another bowl sift dry ingredients together. Beat into butter mixture just to blend. Mix in buttermilk.

Coarsely chop 1/3 cup of the almonds; mix into batter. Pour into prepared pans, dividing equally and smoothing tops. Bake in center of oven about 15 minutes, just until springy to the touch. Cool in pans on racks 5 minutes then turn out onto racks to cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare Chocolate Ganache Glaze; set aside.

Place one cake layer on serving plate; cover with preserves and drizzle with glaze. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread glaze evenly over top and sides of torte. Garnish with remaining almonds. Allow glaze to set at least 1 hour before serving.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze:

In small saucepan over medium heat bring 6 tablespoons whipping cream and 1 ½ tablespoons light corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat and mix in 1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips until smooth. Cool until mixture is thick enough to spread on cake.

To toast almonds, spread in an ungreased baking pan. Place in 350-degree oven and bake 5 to 10 minutes or until almonds are lightly brown; stir once or twice to assure even browning. Almonds will continue to brown slightly after removing from oven.

Blueberry and pistachio streusel

1. Layer in blueberry preserves (make at home: cook down equal parts blueberries, sugar and water until the blueberries soften; stir and cool)
2. Top with pistachio streusel (see below)

Pistachio Streusel:

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour
• ½ cup Sugar, granulated
• ¾ tsp Salt, Kosher
• 1 Lemon, zest only 
• 6 Tbsp Butter, diced, cold  (3 oz) 
• ½ cup Pistachios, raw, chopped

1. In the Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest.
2. Slowly add butter and mix until it starts forming small clumps, then add pistachios.
3. Spread the streusel mix onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake at 300°F for 20 minutes, stirring and rotating it twice during baking, until streusel is golden brown and crisp.

Makes 2 Macarons

Ingredients

• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons ground almonds
• 1 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons sugar Raspberry buttercream

Preheat oven to 300°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine ground almonds and confectioners' sugar until very fine in a food processor. In a medium bowl whisk egg whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar, and whisk again until very stiff. Using a rubber spatula, add one-third almond mixture to egg whites and gently fold in, leaving some streaks. Gently fold in remaining almond mixture by thirds. Make a piping bag for the batter: Place a sturdy plastic storage bag into a tall water glass, folding its top back around the rim of the glass. Spoon batter gently into plastic bag. Remove bag from water glass and close, snipping a hole in one bottom corner. Use this piping bag to pipe 1-inch kisses onto baking sheets. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, turning pans halfway through baking or until set but not dried out. Let cookies cool completely, then remove from parchment paper with a small offset spatula. Sandwich cookies together with buttercream and serve, or store airtight for up to 2 days.

Raspberry Buttercream:

Using a mixer, beat ½ cup (1 stick) room temperature unsalted butter with a pinch of salt until fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon seedless raspberry jelly, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, and beat until blended. Store covered and refrigerated, and let come to room temperature before using.