Cinema, Cuisine and Cocktail: "The Color Purple"

I've always wondered why "The Color Purple" doesn't have the following a movie like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has. Can you imagine? People going to Midnight Showings of the movie dressed like Shug Avery, Celie, Sophia..... People spraying water guns in the air when the little boy tells Harpo, "It's gonna rain on your head!"... And of course a theatre full of women reciting Sophia's speech to Celie with Oprah.

I've always wanted to have a "Purple Party"... invite my nearest and dearest over, everyone dressed in purple, while we enjoy a great meal and watch "The Color Purple". Of course, the meal would have to have a purple theme, too!!! So here's my menu...

Provençal Herb-Marinated Roast Chicken

Recipe Courtesy of My Recipe

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 4 1/2 ounces meat)

Ingredients

2 (3-pound) roasting chickens
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
Cooking spray

Preparation

Remove and discard giblets and necks from chickens. Rinse chickens with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Place chickens on a cutting surface. Split chickens in half lengthwise. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breasts and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.

Combine rosemary and remaining ingredients except cooking spray. Rub mixture under loosened skin and over breasts and drumsticks. Place chicken halves in large zip-top plastic bags; seal and marinate in refrigerator 4 hours or up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 500°.

Remove chicken halves from bags. Place chicken halves, skin sides up, on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 500° for 30 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into meaty part of thigh registers 175°. Remove chicken halves from pan; cover and let stand 15 minutes. Discard skin.

Purple Potato Salad

Recipe & Photo Courtesy of Adventuresome Kitchen Blog

Ingredients

2 lbs baby purple potatoes (any color will do, really)

1 lb bacon, fried crispy (reserve 3 tbs bacon fat to saute kale)

4 cups kale, finely diced

1 cup chives, diced (if you harvest with the purple flowers, reserve the flowers for garnish)

Mustard- to taste- approximately 1/3 cup

Mayonnaise- to-taste- approximately 3/4 cup

Directions

In a large pot, boil potatoes until they are tender and can be pierced by a fork- approximately 15-20 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. If you have potatoes that are golf-ball sized or larger, halve and quarter them. Place all the potatoes in a large serving bowl. Add crumbled crispy bacon. In the pan you fried the bacon, toss the kale until it turns bright green- about 2 minutes. Pull the kale from the heat before you think it’s ready- it will keep cooking. Toss ingredients gently with a large spatula or spoon. Add mayonnaise and mustard to taste, gently tossing until all potatoes are uniformly covered. When adding ingredients to taste the idea is to add enough of the ingredient that you can taste it, but still taste all the other flavors in the dish- this will be a different amount for each person. Add chives and toss gently again. Garnish with purple chive flowers and serve.

Beet-Orange Salad

Recipe Courtesy of Food Network Magazine

Directions

Boil 1 pound beets in salted water until tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Drain, then peel and slice into wedges. Toss in a serving bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, 2 tablespoons chopped chives or scallions, and salt and pepper. Add 1 bunch arugula and 2 segmented blood oranges and toss.

Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Blackberry Martini

Recipe Courtesy of Food.com

Ingredients:Servings:
4

For the Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

For the berry puree
2 cups blackberries
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup creme de cassis (or berry brandy)

For the garnish
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
4 lemon wedges

For the Cocktail

1 cup gin (or vodka)
2 tablespoons triple sec
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:Prep Time: 15 minsTotal Time: 35 mins

1 In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water.
2 Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved.
3 Remove from heat and cool.
4 In a food processor or blender, combine 1 tablespoon sugar, the berries and the cassis (or brandy) and process till smooth.
5 Rub the rims of 4 martini glasses with lemon.
6 Spread the superfine sugar on a saucer.
7 Twirl the rims of the glasses in the sugar.
8 Place glasses in freezer.
9 Add gin (or vodka), Triple Sec, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the cooled simple syrup and 1/4 cup of the berry puree to a shaker filled with ice.
10 Shake vigorously.
11 Strain into chilled glasses and garnish with lemon and, if you like, a whole berry in each glass.