Torta di Prugne {Gluten-Free} #FoodNFlix

This month Evelyne from CulturEatz is hosting Food'N'Flix. Here's her invitation. She invited us to watch I am Love.*

On the Screen...
I am shocked that this movie has never made it onto my to-watch list.I will watch anything set in Italy. Seriously. Anything. And if it's actually in Italian, even better!

It's actually a hilarious phenomenon. No matter how long it's been since I left Rome, if I watch a movie in Italian, I begin to think in Italian for several hours; I often try to speak to my family in Italian for a spell, too. My boys just shake their heads and wait till it passes.

I am Love is about the Recchi family whose matriarch is Emma (played by Tilda Swinton), a transplanted Russian who, as she admits, ceased being Russian when she married Tancredi Recchi and moved to Milan. In fact, she admits that Emma isn't her real name; it's the name her husband gave her. She says she  doesn't even remember her birth name, but she recalls that they called her Kitesh.

There is so much to say about this dramatic, tragic love story. There is so much I adored about it - the scenery, the language, the acting, the music - but I don't want to spoil it for you. Let's just say that, within the framework of the Recchi family story, there is sex, love, death, and food. And there's lots of the latter considering one of the characters is a chef.

Antonio prepares eggplant and elderflower when he talks about opening his own restaurant at the remote property his family owns in Sanremo. When Emma dines at the restaurant he runs for his father in Milan, he prepares prawns in ratatouille for her. Though there are no words in the scene, you see that she is positively seduced by the dish. And, then, there's the dish that unravels it all. It's the Russian dish that Emma had shared with Antonio: Ukha, a clear soup made with lots of different freshwater fish. 

If you're wondering about the title of the movie, you're not alone. I did some research because I was perplexed myself. When Emma is in bed with her husband, they are watching Philadelphia and Maria Callas is performing an aria 'La Mamma Morta' (the dead mother).

Voce piena d'armonia e dice

Vivi ancora! Io son la vita!

Ne' miei occhi è il tuo cielo!

Tu non sei sola!

Le lacrime tue io le raccolgo!

Io sto sul tuo cammino e ti sorreggo!

Sorridi e spera! Io son l'amore!

Tutto intorno è sangue e fango?

Io son divino! Io son l'oblio!

Io sono il dio che sovra il mondo

scendo da l'empireo, fa della terra

un ciel! Ah!

Io son l'amore, io son l'amor, l'amor. 

The final line is: I am love, I am love, love.

Next month, Elizabeth at The Lawyer's Cookbook is hosting us as we watch Popeye.* That's another new-to-me movie. Hope you'll join us.

On the Plate...

I was intrigued by the ukha, but I really wanted to make something more Italian. And I decided to make an Italian plum tart because I had made a plum jam last night and the color reminded me of love - the passionate, all-consuming, messy kind of love. The jam was a brilliant garnet shade with dueling highlights of red and purple. Does it sound crazy to think that emotions have color? I'm weird like that.

Ingredients

• 1 C butter
• 1-1/2 C gluten-free flour blend
• 1/2 C ground almonds
• 2/3 C organic granulated sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 4 to 5 T plum jam (recipe to come)
• roasted plums (click for my recipe) to create a layer over the jam

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place flour, ground almonds, sugar, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. With your hands, press the butter into the flour, flattening the cubes into flat leaves. Add in the eggs and press together gently to form dough. Press two-thirds of the dough mixture into an 8" square pan.

Spoon jam over the top of the dough and spread over the surface. Lay roasted plums on top of the jam. Crumble the remaining flour mixture over the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden and firm. Let cool slightly before you slice and serve.

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.