Remy: [sighs] I have *got* to teach you about food. Close your eyes.
[Emile obeys; Remy holds out piece of cheese]
Remy: Now take a bite of thi...
[Emile snarfs the cheese]
Remy: [whacking him on the head] Ack! No, no, no! Don't just hork it down!
Emile: Too late.
- Remy and Emile (Ratatouille)
Okay, so this isn't exactly a recipe - but I just love this scene so much that I always make up a bit of a cheese and fruit platter to nibble on whilst I'm watching!
A good cheese and fruit platter should be relatively simple, and only consist of a few good cheeses and fruits so that the flavours don't become too complicated and muddled.
Tips for a simple and tasty cheese platter.
Choose a few distinctly different cheeses to feature on your platter. I like to go with a sharp, vintage Edam, a soft and creamy Camembert and something a bit unusual like a flavoured goats cheese.
Arrange your fruits so that they are perfectly sized for a single bite - you don't want to be cutting up fruit in the middle of your movie!
Adding a mixture of fresh and dried fruits is always a good idea - everybody loves some dried apricots on the side!
Carefully select a small portion of 'extras', like crackers or some nuts, to nibble on in between cheeses. I generally prefer to find unusual flavours of these, like cranberry crackers or honeyed cashews - so that you don't feel obligated to add them in to your fruit and cheese combinations (remember - they're the star of this platter.
But the best tips of all is definitely:
Style it for you! A platter is just a disassembled combination of nibbl-y bits that you can put together however you like - nobody else has to put them together the same way as you so don't worry about creating something to suit everybody else's tastes - as long as you provide a bit of variety there will be something for everyone to enjoy!
That's it for this almost-recipe!
In honour of it being Ratatouille's eleventh Anniversary today, I've also decided to include a few quirky facts from behind the scenes of the film down below (just for those of you who are still as obsessed with this movie as I am!)
Remy (Patton Oswalt) has 1.15 million hairs rendered, whereas Colette (Janeane Garofalo) has one hundred fifteen thousand hairs rendered. An average person has about one hundred ten thousand hairs.
In France, where the film is set, the film broke the record for the biggest debut for an animated film.
The animation team worked alongside chef Thomas Keller at his restaurant French Laundry in order to learn the art of cooking. Mr. Keller also appears in a cameo role as the voice of a patron at Gusteau's.
I just love how much detail and knowledge Disney and Pixar put into their movies!
As always, if you have any comments, queries or suggestions - I'd love to hear from you! You can find my details on the 'Contact' page - or find me on instagram or facebook!
Until next time!