The January pick for Food ‘n Flix is the 1987 Danish film Babette’s Feast (now included in The Criterion Collection), chosen by Culinary Adventures with Camilla.  This is the story of two deeply religious and puritanical sisters who live on the remote coastline of 19th Century Denmark.  They give up much in their lives in order to live the way that they were raised and to help the people of the village.  Late in their lives, a French refugee comes to stay with them for many years and cooks them a fabulous meal to thank them.  The sisters and villagers are afraid to give in to the decadence of the meal, but it ends up healing many of their wounds and rifts.  It is a story about the healing power of food and how it can show love and thanks.

The food cooked in the movie is quite extravagant and I didn’t think I could take on turtle soup or quail stuffed with foie gras and truffles, so instead I decided to just go French in general.  I must have been influenced by all the soup that the Danish villagers ate (and the stew meat in my freezer), because I made a French stew with beef and red wine – cooked low and slow in a crockpot.

Beef is seasoned with salt and pepper and placed into a bowl with onion, garlic, shallot, celery, carrot, thyme, bay leaves, and lemon zest.

This is the fun part – a whole bottle of red wine is poured over the ingredients and then left to marinate (refrigerated) overnight.  The wine is the stock for this stew, and the flavor permeates everything.  So make sure that you use a good one!  I suggest a Cotes du Rhone for this. (more…)