Take two...Reel Tasty Brooklyn

All Photos by Kun Kim

After living in NYC for over ten years, I am still amazed how isolated one can feel despite being crammed on an island with eight million other people. We practicallly live on top of one another; it takes fewer steps to walk from my couch to my neighbor's door than it does to get from the kitchen in my parent's house to their living room.

Yet despite the close proximity, we have no idea what's going on in our neighbors' lives twenty feet down the hall. That's not to say we aren't curious. After all, NYC is the city of voyeurs - we're constantly looking into other people's windows and making up stories as to what their world is like. And sometimes you don't need to make things up...like when we look at the Holiday Inn across the street on a random Tuesday night (note to those who stay in hotels and don't shut the curtains...be careful...just because you're in a hotel doesn't mean that people can't see you).

So it seems only fitting that our second Reel Tasty Brooklyn movie was the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Rear Window. As relevant now as it was back when it was made, this movie encapsulates the NYC experience: the tiny apartments, the eccentric mix of neighbors, the unknown of what is happening right around us. All of the neighbors are people we recognize and identify with: the young newlyweds, the struggling musician, the lonely single woman, the arguing married couple, the beautiful woman with the numerous suitors, the couple who's lived in the building forever. The perfect parallel to the Reel Tasty experience.

Jason and I could not have asked for a better evening - beautiful weather, great crowd, and of course, tons of food (click here for Jason's recap of the evening). Our menu for the night:

Pastrami-cured salmon...because I used to fear all condiments and am only now getting into Dijon mustard, I still like to leave some plain so people have options.

Snacks

• Parmesan tortilla crisps
• Roasted red pepper and olive tapenade
• Candied bacon and peanuts

Appetizers

• Pastrami-cured salmon crostini
• Grilled shrimp with chorizo butter
• Potato, bacon and onion tarts

Entree

• Grilled hangar steak with malbec-reduction and two sauces (horseradish sauce and gorgonzola sauce)
• Orecchiette with caramelized onions, sugar snap peas, fava beans and ricotta
• Cucumber and jicama salad

Dessert

• Pavlova with chocolate curd, raspberries, and freshly whipped cream
• Marscapone ice cream with fresh fruit

As for the movie, I was amazed at how many of our guests had never seen this classic. While I am more of a Cary Grant fan than Jimmy Stewart (although the drunken scene with the two of them in A Philadelphia Story is on my top ten movie scene list), this is one of my all-time favorite Hitchcock movies. Humor, suspense, fashion, and one of the most beautiful women who ever lived, Rear Window is a mirror into our own lives...only with Raymond Burr smoking cigarettes in the dark (still one of the creepiest scenes ever).

I am definitely not a pastry chef, but I was fairly excited by this dessert. The chocolate curd is from my friend's cookbook.

Overall, it was a fantastic evening with good food and even better company. Our guests left happily sated, enriched with the sharp wit of Jimmy Stewart, the beauty of Grace Kelly and bags of chocolate salted caramels.

And, as expected in this city, Jason's neighbors were watching the movie out of their own windows.

In a tip taken from Cook's Illustrated, alternating the shrimp on two skewers will help prevent overcooking when grilling.

Grilled Shrimp with Chorizo Butter
The chorizo butter can be made a few days in advance. If you don't have a grill, this dish can also be made in a saute pan. The chorizo butter can be added to the pan in the last few seconds of cooking. I like to serve this with grilled/toasted bread to soak up the delicious butter.

2 links of dried chorizo sausage
1 stick butter at room temperature
4 scallions - finely chopped and separated in half
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 lemon - halved and juiced
1.5 pounds of extra large shrimp
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

Heat grill on medium-high heat. If using wooden skewers, soak in water (although, in full disclosure, I usually don't do this).

Put one chorizo link into a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Let cool. Chop finely and place in bowl.

Add stick of butter, half of the chopped scallions, smoked paprik and lemon juice to the chorizo. Stir until evenly mixed. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside (can be made a day ahead).

Using metal or wooden skewers, thread shrimp across two skewers, alternating nose to tail and tail to nose (see picture above). Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place chorizo butter in large bowl next to grill. Oil grill and cook remaining chorizo link. Add shrimp skewers. Once nicely charred and pink, flip. Do not overcook. Once pink and charrged on both sides, remove from grill. Using tongs, remove shrimp from skewers and add to bowl with chorizo butter.

Remove chorizo from grill, slice thinly and also add to bowl. Toss gently, melting the butter and distributing chorizo evenly with the shrimp.

Top with remaining chopped scallions. Serve with grilled bread.

Serves 4 (unless it's for Eric in which case it serves 2)