Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: And the Oscar for best dish goes to ...

It's Oscars season, which perhaps means gathering (again) to watch the awards, and maybe even planning a menu inspired by the nominees.

Some of the most memorable movie scenes involve food, and there are plenty of them in this year's list of nominated films — from a dinner scene in The Fablemans to hot chocolate in Pinocchio, the nihilistic everything bagel in Everything Everywhere All at Once (and the alternate universe in which people have hot dogs for fingers, though does that count as food?), and spectacularly illustrated dishes and cooking scenes in Turning Red.

This week on the Calgary Eyeopener, we went through a few recipes inspired by some of this year's best movies.

Everything Bagels

The everything bagel plays a key role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, representative of Jobu Tupaki's (played by Stephanie Hsu) nihilism and existential dread.

"If nothing matters, then all the pain and guilt you feel for making nothing of your life goes away — sucked into a bagel," says Jobu Tupaki in the film.

Bagels are in fact wonderfully simple to make at home and require little rising time. To make them everything flavoured, use a pre-blended seasoning mix, or about equal parts sesame seed, poppyseed, dehydrated onion and garlic bits, and about half as much flaky salt.

I've been making bagels for years, and recently morphed my usual recipe with one from my friend Amy Rosen's cookbook, Kosher Style: Over 100 Jewish Recipes for the Modern Cook.

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups warm water
• 1 tbsp active dry or instant yeast
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup honey, divided (or ¼ cup honey and ¼ cup brown sugar)
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 egg (optional)
• sesame or poppy seeds or everything bagel seasoning mix

Put the warm water into a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer, if you have a dough hook) and sprinkle over the yeast.

Let it sit for a minute or two, then stir until it dissolves. If you have instant or quick yeast, you don't need to dissolve it. You can just add the flour and proceed with the recipe. If you're not sure if your yeast is still active, wait a few minutes and make sure it gets foamy.

Add the flour, ¼ cup honey and salt. Stir until the dough comes together and then knead for about five minutes, until you have a soft, smooth dough. You can use the dough hook on your stand mixer or do it by hand.

Return the dough to the bowl, drizzle with a bit of oil if you like and turn it over in the bowl to coat, then cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and pinch the ends together to make a bagel, making the hole larger than you'd like it to be once baked, as the dough will rise as it boils and bakes. Alternatively, poke your finger through a piece of dough and shape it into a ring — however you want to do it.

• Bookmark cbc.ca/juliesrecipes to keep up with all of Julie Van Rosendaal's dishes.

Put them back on the counter or on a parchment-lined sheet, cover with a tea towel and let them rest for 15 minutes.

While you're waiting, bring a large pot of water (at least eight cups) to a boil, and add the remaining ¼ cup honey or ¼ cup brown sugar. Preheat the oven to 450 F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Lower the heat on your pot of water to a simmer and cook two to three bagels at a time for about two minutes, then flip and cook for another minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Crack the egg into a small dish, add about a tablespoon of water and stir with a fork. Brush each bagel with egg wash (if you like — the seeds will also stick to the wet bagels, but an egg wash will make them glossier) and sprinkle generously with sesame or poppy seeds or everything bagel seasoning mix.

Bake one sheet at a time for 15 to 20 minutes, or until deeply golden brown.

Makes: 8 bagels.

Congee

Animators did a spectacular job with the food in Turning Red — the bao, the stir-fry Meilin's dad, Jin, makes in a dream sequence, the congee Ming makes for her daughter — working with cultural consultants to accurately create dishes of Taishanese origin alongside western references like a box of Timbits.

Congee is typically garnished with sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and spring onions. In Turning Red, the ingredients are arranged to make a face, with fried-egg eyes and a slice of mushroom as a nose.

I tried a technique I learned on Instagram to make smaller fried eggs. Freeze a raw egg, then peel and carefully slice it crosswise, then cook the frozen slices in a hot skillet with a drizzle of oil to make tiny fried eggs perfect for the top of congee.

Congee is more about technique and rations — make as much as you need according to how many people you'd like to feed.

Ingredients

• Eggs (if you like)
• Sushi or other short-grained rice
• Chicken or vegetable stock
• Salt
• Sesame oil, for serving
• Soy sauce, for serving
• Sliced mushroom, for serving (optional)
• Green onions, for serving

If you'd like to make tiny fried eggs for your congee, freeze as many raw eggs as you like — one egg will make four to six slices (only about four will have yolk in the middle).

To make your congee, rinse and drain (some people soak theirs for about 30 minutes afterward) as much rice as you like (aim for around ¼ cup per person) and bring to a simmer with about six times as much stock as the rice you started with.

Reduce the heat to low, partially cover the pan and cook for an hour or so, adding more stock (or water) if needed, until the grains of rice are very soft and have split.

It should have the texture of porridge. Season with salt, if needed.

Fry as many eggs as you'd like, or for smaller fried eggs, slice your frozen egg(s) crosswise about ¼-inch thick and cook the slices in a skillet with a drizzle of oil until opaque. Cover with a lid for a minute to help them cook through on top, if needed. 

Top your congee with a drizzle of sesame oil, arrange the eggs for eyes and 1-inch pieces of green onion for eyebrows, finely chopped green onion for hair, a slice of mushroom as a nose and a drizzle of soy sauce to make a smile.

Serve with extra soy sauce as needed.

Serves: As many as you like.