Oscar Party Food

OSCAR PARTY GOLD

Sunday February 22nd is the 87th Annual Academy Awards.  I have been going to an Oscar Party at a Restaurant/Bar for the past 10 years with my Toronto Film Festival Entourage Team and I will be bringing a few things to make the party a little more interesting during commercial breaks.  A couple of those things are in this blog post.   But if you love the Academy Awards and prefer to stay at home or have a private Oscar Party with friends and family then these Golden Theme Foods might help set the mood at your big Oscar Bash.

Think GOLD like the Golden Oscar Statues that the winners will be taking home and look for foods that fit into that theme.

You can set up a snacking station with homemade or commercial popcorn and even set up a seasoning bar for guests to customize their popcorn toppings.

Suggested toppings include:

Salt and Pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Truffle Oil
Cinnamon Sugar
Cajun spices
Smoked Paprika
You can also make colored sugar like golden yellow to sprinkle on for a sweet taste
Caramel Corn if you are skilled or you can just pick some up.

There is also a local Popcorn Company in Kensington Market called The Toronto Popcorn Company who make popcorn in all sorts of flavours and colours.

You can also scatter about things like Gold Chocolate Coins or the already dressed up in Gold wrapping classic Ferrero Rocher chocolate.

I tried out Chef Lynn Crawford's new Frozen Shrimp line of foods created by Waterview Market with a bunch of different seasoning flavours I decided to choose their Maple Mustard flavour because it has a golden hue and it's kind of Canadian too.  I added a touch of Turmeric to bump up the color a tiny bit.  You can either serve it on a bed of rice or you can skewer them like I did here.

I also made a Fancy Salmon Spread with both Smoked Salmon and poached salmon.

Poach 2 pieces of fresh salmon fillets in a broth that has Onions, bay leaves, salt, lemon, peppercorns, mustard seeds, tarragon, parsley and celery until the salmon is opaque.

Flake the salmon into a bowl with 1 package of chopped up smoked salmon and 2 diced green onions, about 4 pieces of fresh chives, a tbsp of fresh parsley and zest of a lemon and the juice of half a lemon.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add a couple of tablespoons of sour cream and mayonnaise or you can use creme fraiche or yoghurt even.  Chill until ready to assemble.

I added a teaspoon of the salmon mixture onto a Rice cracker and topped it off with Balsamic Pearls that I found at McEwan Foods grocery store.  It's pretty easy and looks very luxurious.  If you have money to splurge you can top with expensive caviar but I bet a lot of people will love the balsamic pearls.

Want to have something a bit more substantial?  Why not eat what the Celebrities eat then.

What do a lot of the Hollywood Stars eat after the Academy Awards if they don't hit the after parties?  Would you believe it's IN-N-OUT Burger.   They love to hit that drive through and inhale an Animal Burger or whatever their favourite is.   Why not make In N Out Inspired Sliders for your party.

I made a Special Sauce with Ketchup, Mayo and Relish.  

I used some mini Ciabatta buns but if you can find mini slider hamburger buns use those.  Brioche buns might be good too.

Cut up some lettuce, I used some butter lettuce that I had.

Slice a great vine ripened tomato and add salt and pepper.

Have some sliced cheddar.

For the hamburger patty use fresh ground Chuck if you can get it or just the best quality ground beef you can get.  Just add salt and pepper to season it before you cook it in a frying pan.

To make it animal style add yellow mustard after you brown each side and let it crust on the burger.

To assemble toast the buns.  I have heard that they toast them on the grill and they get the grease from the grilled meat.  Either way make sure you toast them.  Then spread some special sauce on the bottom of the bun.  Add a slice of tomato and then a piece of lettuce.  Top with a mini burger slider and then add a slice of cheddar cheese.  Add the top of the bun.  Voila... you In N Out inspired sliders.

Another popular Governors Ball food by Chef Wolfgang Puck is his Chicken Pot Pies.  You can make some mini ones yourself and bake them in muffin tins.   I picked up this great Chicken Pot Pie at McEwans grocery store because I didn't have the time to make them myself.  This one was delicious.

And I also made some Golden Sugar Cookies that you could either give out as take home gifts or just have for dessert with some Mocha Ice Cream or something.

I had to search high and low to find some gold sprinkles and found some at Party City.  I also used a buttercream food color paste to glaze the cookie.   I used Butter Baked Goods Sugar Cookie recipe for the cookies. 

So get creative and see what else you can come up with.   I found a small red carpet at Marshalls the other day even that I would have at the entrance to my door to welcome guests.   I have a cheap party runner that I am taking to the bar we are having our party in.   I wanted to take my new little red carpet but think it might get ruined by the street salt and snow around town right now.  

I am also going to set up a Red Carpet for photos that we can pose our hearts out on and take some fun pics.   I did this when we had the party at a friends condo party room in the past and I am glad we did it because I took a photo of my friends husband who has since passed away.  Create memories and take photos so that you have those forever.

And now a few of my Oscar Picks:

Best Picture:  BOYHOOD

Best Actor:   Eddie Redmayne

Best Actress:  Julianne Moore

Best Supporting Actress:  Patricia Arquette

Best Supporting Actor:  J.K. Simmons

Best Director:  Richard Linklater

Best Documentary:  Citizen Four but I lived Finding Vivien Maier.

Best Foreign Film:  Will probably be IDA

I am still trying to figure out the rest of them.. The technical ones are tougher.

Good Luck in your Oscar Pools and hope you have a great time watching the Red Carpet Arrivals and the Academy Awards.

and the Oscar goes to....................