Theme your Oscar party with these movie-inspired dishes

At first glance, the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture this year seem to offer little more than a faint whiff of the passion for food that has been portrayed on the big screen in recent years.

There are no indie hits like 2014's “Chef,” the food truck/road trip movie written and directed by its star Jon Favreau; no star vehicles along the lines of 2009's “Julie and Julia,” showcasing Meryl Streep as the irrepressible Julia Child; and no family favorites like 2007's “Ratatouille,” about a country mouse who goes to Paris to become a French chef.

But if you look a little closer, a handful of top movies do offer key scenes that illuminate the pivotal role that cooking plays in nourishing love and intimacy, evoking memories of childhood and serving as a metaphor for life itself.

Since the awards season provides a perfect excuse to throw a theme party - with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood providing the perfect backdrop on the big screen - we have chosen a few of the top 10 Best Picture nominees to help you plan your menu.

1. The main course: Food as love

“Moonlight,” which nabbed eight Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe award for Best Picture, is expected to shine during the 89th annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, as it goes head-to-head with the reinvented, modern musical, “La La Land,” which earned a record-tying 14 nominations.

Many believe the sheer gravitas of “Moonlight,” an African-American coming-of-age drama set in Miami, may overwhelm the retro, escapist romp that is “La La Land,” a light-hearted love letter to Los Angeles.

“Moonlight” tells the story of protagonist Chiron across three periods of his life: as a shy and withdrawn boy with an emotionally abusive mother; as a sensitive teen-ager who realizes he is gay, then goes to juvenile jail for beating up the bully who attacks him; and as a hardened adult making a living from drug-dealing while living in near isolation.

The food scene occurs at the very end of the film, when Chiron returns to Miami to visit his childhood friend, Kevin, the only person who has ever touched him sexually. Now working as a cook at a diner, Kevin prepares a comforting Latin dish, arroz con pollo, in a touching vignette that Bon Appétit has described as “one of the best food scenes of the year.”

Director Barry Jenkins shot the cooking scene in slow motion, dropping out the sounds of the kitchen and inserting the film score. After Kevin forms the rice lovingly with a ring mold and plates the dish, the sound of the knife returns viewers to reality as he chops the cilantro for the garnish.

“Kevin was deliberately preparing this thing out of love,” Jenkins told Bon Appetit magazine. “When you cook for someone, this is a deliberate act of nurturing. This very simple thing is the currency of genuine intimacy.”

Arroz con pollo, a staple that nearly every Latin American associates with their mother or grandmother's kitchen, is an easy, one-pot dish that has as many variations as there are cooks.

“Arroz con pollo ... has provided easy, tasty sustenance for centuries of folks from Taos to Tierra del Fuego,” Chef Rick Bayless wrote in his cookbook, “Mexican Everyday.” “Each prepared, of course, with those inimitable qualities unique to one's own mother.”

2. After dinner: Food as memory

“Lion,” nominated for Best Picture and five other Academy Awards, is a moving biopic based on the autobiographical book, “A Long Way Home,” by Indian-Australian author Saroo Brierley. Considered an underdog for Best Picture, the feel-good film tells the compelling story of the 5-year-old Saroo, who is accidentally separated from his family in India, then adopted by a well-to-do family in Tasmania.

As a young adult, Saroo goes to Melbourne to study hotel management and meets some Indian friends who gather together with food from their homeland. Alone in the kitchen, Saroo is stopped in his tracks by a plate of jalebis, a sticky, fragrant dessert that he coveted as a youth growing up poor in India. Similar to a funnel cake, the dessert consists of pretzel-shaped fried dough dipped in sugar syrup.

This is the film's pivotal moment. The sight and aroma of the jalebi brings back a flood of memories of Saroo's early life. This emotional tsunami eventually leads him on a determined, single-minded search for his roots. Through the help of Google Earth, he finally finds his village and ultimately reconnects with his mother and sister, 25 years after being lost.

Smells can be a particularly powerful reminder of the past. In his famous novel, “In Search of Lost Time, French author Marcel Proust depicts a narrator who is transported back to memories of his childhood as he dips a madeleine cookie into some tea. Ever since then, the ability of odors to cue memories has been known in psychology as the “Proust phenomenon.”

“Research shows that smells are more effective in triggering memories than cues from other senses like sights or sounds,” New York Daily News writer Jeanette Settembre wrote. “That's because scents pass through the amygdala and the hippocampus, brain regions that deal with memory and emotion, and hit the cognitive part last. So when we smell a familiar scent, like cookies baking in the oven, we tend to remember a sensation or feeling rather than facts or concept.”

For a dessert, you could make some jalebis, but frying dough is a hot, messy business. Instead, consider serving warm cups of aromatic chai, made from scratch from good-quality black tea and an array of Indian spices.

3. Dessert: Deflated soufflé

“La La Land,” with its bright colors, whimsical dances and jazzy music inspired by the 1964 French musical, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” offers up a smorgasbord of possibilities for your Oscar buffet.

Shot in 48 locations, the film depicts two artists - aspiring actress Mia played by Emma Stone and uncompromising jazz pianist Sebastian played by Ryan Gosling - as they fall in and out of love in Los Angeles.

On one of their first dates, the couple stop by Sarita's, a restaurant at L.A.'s Grand Central Market, for pupusas. You can easily pick up some of those tasty hot pockets from your favorite Salvadoran restaurant for an hors d'oeuvres.

But this film is such a treacly bonbon that dessert seems to be its natural station in life, so consider baking up a batch of chocolate soufflés.

During the disastrous dinner scene where the couple get into a fight about their careers, Sebastian rushes to the oven to save what appears to be a giant soufflé from burning, but it is too late. His fragile ego - and the delicate soufflé - are both irrevocably burned as Mia stomps out.

The soufflé is considered delicate and temperamental, just like the character of Sebastian. And as soon as they cool, they tend to deflate. That pretty much mirrors the film's finale, which shuns the happy ending in favor of a more realistic picture of young love.

4. The frozen food aisle

Still hungry? Some frozen fish sticks, clam chowder and ice cream would pair well with “Manchester by the Sea,” nominated in six categories, including Best Picture.

In a pivotal scene from the dour and depressing film, Patrick, a teen-ager trying to cope with the death of his father, breaks down emotionally when some frozen food falls out of the freezer. It reminds him that his father's body is being kept in cold storage until the ground thaws enough to hold a burial.

That pretty much sums up New England, where the winter takes a long time to release its icy grip, and people have a hard time releasing their emotions.

Life and death, love and memories - food encompasses it all. Some argue that it may even be our greatest form of art, since it requires all of our senses - sight, sound, smell, touch and taste - to appreciate.

“Most great art, after all, exists to appeal to one or two senses,” Atlantic Monthly staff writer Sophie Gilbert wrote. “But food works to entice all five.”

___

The following recipe is from Rick Bayless' “Mexican Everyday.”

Red Chile Chicken and Rice with Black Beans

Serves 4

2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

4 (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds total) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

- Salt

11/2 tablespoons ground ancho chile powder, divided use (or smoked paprika)

1 medium white onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1 cup rice

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

11/2 cups chicken broth

1 15-ounce can black beans OR 1 3/4 cups home-cooked black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup chopped green onions OR 1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 to 1 cup salsa or chi potle hot sauce, for serving

Heat the oil in a medium-large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken breasts first with salt, then with 1 tablespoon of the ground ancho chile. Lay them in the hot oil in a single layer. When browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes, flip them over and brown the other side, another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and cool, leaving behind as much oil as possible.

Add the onion and rice to the pot. Stir for several minutes, until the rice turns from translucent to opaque. Add the garlic and the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ancho chile and cook 1 minute, then add the broth and 1 teaspoon salt (a little less if using salty broth). Stir well. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pot. Cook for 10 minutes.

Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Uncover the pot and add the chicken and beans. Re-cover and cook 12 minutes longer.

Uncover, sprinkle the green onions (or cilantro) on top and test a kernel of rice; it should have no more than a hint of chalkiness in the center; if it does, cook for another 5 minutes or so. Otherwise, simply re-cover the pot and let stand off the heat for 5 to 10 minutes to finish cooking the rice in its own trapped steam.

Fluff the rice mixture and serve with the salsa for each person to spoon on.

___

The following recipe is from John Ash's revised and expanded “From the Earth to the Table.” “This soufflé is a little denser than traditional versions,” he writes. “Its greatest attribute, however, is that it can be made ahead and held in the refrigerator for up to a day before baking. Allow a little longer baking time if you are taking it straight from the refrigerator.

Chocolate Soufflé

Serves 8

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus additional for the soufflé dishes

1 cup granulated sugar, plus additional for the soufflé dishes

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, separated

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

- Confectioners' sugar and a fresh puree of strained, lightly sweetened raspberries for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter 8 individual soufflé dishes (4 to 6 ounces) or one 6-cup soufflé dish and sprinkle with sugar, turning the dishes to coat evenly. Set in the refrigerator to chill while making the soufflé mixture.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. (Alternatively, you can melt it in the microwave. Put the chocolate in a glass bowl and heat for 1 minute at half power. If necessary, give it 10-second doses at half power until just beginning to melt.)

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, add the flour, and cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add the milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth and lightly thickened. Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the mixture thickens nicely.

Remove from the heat and gently stir in the melted chocolate, vanilla, egg yolks and orange zest until thoroughly combined. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until they hold soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the granulated sugar and continue to beat until the whites are stiff but not dry. Stir one-fourth of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it and then carefully fold in the remaining whites. Pour the mixture into the prepared soufflé and put on a baking sheet.

Bake individual soufflés for 12 to 14 minutes or one large soufflé for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden skewer tests moist but not gooey.

The soufflés will puff and crack before they are done. Remove from the oven, dust with confectioners' sugar, and garnish with a spoonful or two or berry puree, if using.

Staff writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56.