
This month, I'm hosting
Food'N'Flix. I chose
Chef* and invited bloggers to join me in watching it and heading to the kitchen. Click to see my invitation:
here.
What a treat! This month we had quite a crew show up at the virtual
Food'N'Flix banquet table. It's always nerve-wracking to host an event and just hope - and pray - that other bloggers join in the fun. Otherwise, you're just sitting there. Alone. With just your dish to eat!
Thankfully, I had tons of participants - with sweets, pasta, stew, soup and seven versions of a Cuban Sandwich. That's right. Seven.
It's nice to see so many familiar faces around the table. And it's especially nice to see some new face this month. Thanks, all, for joining in the fun!
On to the dishes...
Wendy from
A Day in the Life on the Farm served up a bowl of
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. Wendy writes "
Pasta Aglio e Olio is a wonderful, comforting easy dish to
throw together and I can see a chef coming home after a long day in the kitchen
and making this for someone dear to them."
Kimberly from
Coffee and Casseroles made three things:
Carrot and Red Pepper Soup, Grilled Cheese, and"Sugar-balls." She had handwritten an entire page of notes while watching the movie - "garlic, fennel, lime, orange, zucchini, milk, blood orange,
kiwi, pork, soup, carrots, radish, kettle corn, fruit, jerky, sausage, hero sandwiches,
bacon, espresso, sweet breads, french onion soup, caviar eggs, scallops,
fricassee salad, lobster risotto, chocolate lava cake, wine, tequila, "pot
brownies" (there was a scene where two of the characters are hanging out
in the parking lot smoking and it just popped into my head) beef cheek, saute onions, pasta, fried green
tomatoes, green marinade, tuna, prongs, beef, quail with pickled radish,
chives, grilled cheese, cereal, "alphabet soup" (one of the twitter
scenes) hash browns, fried eggs, "breakfast sausage" (just because of
the eggs and hash browns) juice, "tasting menu", brisket, octopus
stir-fry..." Wow! I thought I took extensive notes. But, in the end, Kimberly shares, "The soup and sandwich was pretty much a given, but the
sugar-balls popped into my head with the scene where John Leguizamo dumps
cornstarch down his pants... thought was in my head and you know me, I couldn't
pass this one up."

Girlichef, run by Heather, brought some
Buttermilk Cardamom Beignets to the Food'N'Flix table this month because, as she writes, "Basically, you cannot go wrong with fried dough. I decided to put what might be "my" signature on a beignet, were I to have my own food truck. Aside from a slight tang from the use of buttermilk, I added a hint of cardamom; a whisper in your ear to tickle your memory months later." Agreed!
Evelyne of
Cheap Ethnic Eatz baked some
Berries n Cream Turnovers because
"My sweet tooth was calling so I decided to make berry
turnovers served with a big dollop of cream – a perfect portable version for a
food truck menu!" These looks amazing. I can't wait to try them.
On to the sandwiches...
Caroline from
Caroline Makes shared her
Cuban Sandwiches. She reports, "I did it properly, marinading the pork the day before and
cooking it in the morning that I was making the sandwich for lunch - I wouldn't
normally go to this much effort when making a sandwich!"
Debra from
Eliot's Eats made
The Local Cuban Sandwich. Debra reminded us that "El Jefe’s menu changed depending on what city they were in
and what could be locally sourced. In
Austin, for instance, Carl secures brisket from Franklin Barbecue to
incorporate into his sandwiches, giving them a Texas kick." So, she decided to give the Cuban Sandwich her own local spin.
Debra also let us know of a free downloadable cookbook from
Chef: here. I had no idea. Thanks for the tip.
Pam from
Sidewalk Shoes shared
The Pretzel Cuban Sandwich. She recounts how she ended up with a pretzel bun which I, personally, think is genius! "At first I was going to be creative and try and put a
different spin on the Cuban. Replacing
the pickle with chow chow – a Southern favorite and doing a few more
things. Then life happened. Particularly prom season – and as a
photographer I have been swamped photographing sparkly dresses and sparkling
faces! Besides I decided, why mess with
a classic? The only thing I did change
up was the bun, substituting a pretzel roll – which worked extremely well with
the sandwich."
Debbie from
The Friday Friends made
Cuban Sandwiches and Lava Cakes. Lamented, "I couldn't make up my mind between Cuban Sandwiches (obvious choice, I know) and Lava Cakes
(because my good friend Mitzi makes them all the time and they are a great
dessert!) So I decided to do both." Lucky us! I need a good lava cake recipe. Thanks, Debbie.
Elizabeth from
The Lawyer's Cookbook offered up her version of
Cuban Sandwiches, too. Elizabeth's list included "andouille sausage sandwiches, french onion soup, noodles of some sort, try to
make something relating to Twitter, breakfast . . . There were a ton of
choices. But I decided to go the sandwich route, the Cuban sandwich
route, in honor of the food truck. The sandwich was delicious. I have so much pork now though,
I’ll be eating pork for a week."

And lastly, I made
Cubanos with some Mojo-Marinated Pork Shoulder. I considered making some of the dishes from the beginning
when Casper was trying to reinvigorate the tired menu that Riva embraces. Casper
made spot prawns in a curry-carrot purée, garnished with radishes and a roast
squab with pickled red onion, chilis, gochujang, and soy vinaigrette. I thought about recreating the culinary clichés from Riva's
menu - that while tired are also tried and true! Think a poached egg topped
with caviar, French onion soup, scallops with beurre blanc, a frisée salad, and
filet mignon topped with a massive slab of butter. While not particularly
cutting edge, I knew any of those choices would be delicious! But, in the end, the Cubano won me over, too.

If you haven't seen it, hopefully this round-up will inspire you to watch
Chef. Thanks for all the bloggers who joined in the delicious fun.
Next month, Heather of
girlichef has invited us to (re)watch
The Goonies. Stay tuned for her invitation. Funny...my family and I
just watched this last week. The boys finished homework early and, while I was making dinner, they dug out the DVD. I'll have to pull it out again soon...with cooking on the mind.
*This post contains affiliate links for this month's movie selection and next month's. Here...