Ahhh, just seeing the movie poster makes me feel cozy. The Holiday takes place at the end of December and concludes on New Year's Eve so it's perfect for January's Film+Food pick!
The Holiday is a romantic comedy where "dumped and depressed, English rose Iris agrees to swap homes with similarly unlucky in love Californian Amanda for a much-needed break. Iris finds herself in a palatial Hollywood mansion while Amanda navigates the lanes of a picture-perfect English village. Soon enough, both lovelorn ladies bump into local lads perfect for a romantic pick-me-up." I really could not have said that better.
Let's start the menu off with some appetizers inspired by Amanda's visit to the village market. She roams from aisle to aisle drinking wine from the bottle and tossing random snacks into her cart.
Who wouldn't want to be a part of that shopping trip?!
I used a combination of green olives and kalamata olives and roasted mixed nuts. You can see
here (starting at :45) when Amanda checks out there are so many delicious snacks. To keep the appetizers simple, you could easily grab an assortment of cheeses or even a crusty loaf of bread to go along with the olives and nuts.
Next, we have several items inspired by the Hanukkah party Iris hosts for her newfound friend, Arthur. Miles shows up unexpectedly and Iris and he really hit it off. As he is leaving he gives her a kiss on the cheek and says, "the brisket was great and those chocolate-covered macaroons... delectable." So, first up is the brisket, but you won't need a knife and fork for these Brisket Puff Pastry Bites!
I got the idea from
this recipe from Inquiring Chef, but made a pretty major substitution by exchanging shredded barbecued brisket for the fruit spread and cheese. Puff pastry makes every filling seem more decadent. You really can't go wrong with any filling.
Also, inspired by Iris's Hanukkah party is this simple berry fruit salad.
I've made plenty of fruit salads, but I don't think I've ever made one with just berries. If you need a recipe, you can use this
Berry Fruit Salad recipe from Allrecipes, but really all you have to do is mix a variety of berries together and sprinkle them with sugar or honey.
The last item inspired by the Hanukkah party is Coconut Macaroons.
Here is the recipe from Downshiftology. They come together quickly and the taste reminds me a little of an Almond Joy.
Now, we're heading on to our next menu item, but this time our inspiration comes from the Christmas Eve scene.
After unloading their feelings about their exes, Miles says to Iris, “I’m making you some
fettuccine. It is Christmas Eve and we are going to sit out on that patio,
gonna make ourselves a little fire, pop some bubbly, and we are going to
celebrate being young and being alive." When the scene changes we see a giant
bowl of fettucine, but when the camera backs away it’s Amanda holding the bowl of noodles not Iris! So... they’re both having fettuccine on Christmas Eve?? Is Christmas Fettuccine a thing?
The neat thing about this recipe from Yup, It's Vegan is that you cook the noodles right in the sauce. I couldn't resist adding some Christmas flair though so you can see my pasta has oven roasted tomatoes and spinach for just a hint of red and green.
The next item is a bonus item since I misheard the original "chocolate-covered macaroons" line and heard "chocolate macarons". Well, the idea was already in my head and my taste buds were already excited so I went ahead and made Chocolate Macarons anyway!
This was my first time making macarons and I attribute this recipe from the Sugar Geek Show for my success. They are a little labor-intensive, but so cute and so delicious.
Our very last menu item is our drink!
There were several drinks depicted in
The Holiday. Bottles of red wine, vodka, Manischewitz, and hot chocolate (with 5 marshmallows) to name a few. I chose champagne because it is mentioned in the Christmas Eve scene and at the end for the New Year's Eve scene.
Whatever you choose, Cheers and Happy New Year!
Check out more Food+Film posts here!
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