March Food n Flix

This month's Food n Flix film is  The Quiet Man and is hosted by What's On The List?

plot: A man returns to his family's estate in Ireland and promptly falls for the woman who lives next door. Unfortunately for him, her brother is bitter that he out bid him for a chunk of farm land and refuses to let them marry. After the rest of the town helps the young couple convince the woman's brother, more bad blood occurs when the brother withholds her half of the family money. The brother then goats the new husband into a public fight, unaware his new brother-in-law is a former boxer who killed a man in the ring.

This is a 1952 film starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and is based on a short story.

So my notes for this movie contained: trout, salmon, lamb, Irish stew, "goat cheese", "beets" (there were splashes of red everywhere that just reminded me of beet juice) pub food, baked potatoes, green beans, chops, bread/butter, pot roast, whiskey, beer, "smoked halibut" (more then a few fishing scenes but also a lot of characters just smoking)  "date squares", "tea", "gingerbread"  (the cottage made me think of Hansel and Gretel)  "strawberry shortcake" (the dress the lead female character wears reminded me of it) buttermilk, "powdered sugar" (the horse race on the beach just made me think of it) "camomile tea" (a lot of shots of white flowers mostly daisies) "graveyard cake" (the graveyard scene made me think of Hallowe'en decorations) chocolate gold coins, wedding cake, "rose-hip tea" (there's a big to do over a rose bush) shepherd's pie.

Half the movie takes place with rain and high winds, so all I could think was hot food hot drinks, which is why all the teas. Again, my list is half because of what shows up in the scenes/dialog and half of what it triggered in my mind.

I ended up watching this online. So you will notice a lack of movie case in the photos. 

I went with date squares, because A) the movie is about romance (the "date" part) and B) the movie is about land disputes (the "square" represents the "lots of farm land")  And it was one of my Newfie Grandparent's favourite things (Newfoundlanders are half Irish half British for those outside of Canada)

 Ingredients:

1 and a half cups flour
1 and a half teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
1 and a half cups oats
1 and a half cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound dates
3/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup regular sugar
pinch salt

               

 For the filling, mix the dates, salt, regular sugar and water.

For the crust, mix the oats, flour, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, vanilla.

Spread HALF of the crust on the bottom of the pan, then the filling over it, and the remainder of the crust on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes roughly depending on your oven.

 I have to admit, for such an easy recipe, it took me double the time it should have, because I had to chop the dates. And they were glazed, so just a sticky mess.  Plus, I had to break out the pestle and mortar to break up the brown sugar as it had gotten clumpy.

I do not have any "real" kitchen equipment, no pasta maker, no blender, no food processor. So I end up doing everything the old fashioned way by hand.
Nor do I have a microwave, but that's because I hate microwaves.
The heart shaped pan was just all I had, I dropped my glass one and it broke. But none the less, very cute for the topic...

This goes perfect with a nice hot cup of tea. Which, I was going to make a homemade tea blend for, but didn't have the opportunity to get to the gluten free store to pick up loose teas. Maybe someone will pick up on the idea and run with it?

Okay, as I tell you every time, my photography skills suck, and my food is like me, not beautiful but will keep you happy.

Till next time...