You Are Invited To “A New Era” For Downton Abbey!
As a huge fan of the TV series and first film, I was excited to see the trailer for the new “Downton Abbey” film, which opens everywhere today!
Take a look:
As part of my “Dinner And A Movie” series, I decided to cook Downton-style, and I had just the cookbooks to help me!
The “Unofficial” Downton Abbey Cookbook!
First thing about this book, as you can see, the cover goes to great lengths to point that that this is not an officially sanctioned cookbook, but it’s still a terrific collection of recipes that evoke the “Downton Abbey” era – with dishes from both “Upstairs” and “Downstairs” – yes, the staff would have traditional fare like “Toad In The Hole” and “Bubble And Squeak”, while the family upstairs in the formal dining room would feast upstairs on “Squab with Fig Foie Gras” and “Lobster Newburg”, which is described this way in the cookbook:
“This modern and spicy entree would be different from what most Edwardians would expect – just like Lady Sybil’s own personality!”
Jessie Brown Findlay played Lady Sybil Crawley, a free spirit who fell in love with the family Chauffeur – spicy indeed!
Time to see if we can match it!
Sybil’s Seafood Newburg!
So that’s the recipe as presented in the cookbook, let’s get this “Dinner And A Movie” feast going!
“Spicy” Indeed!
The key to the color and richness of this dish is the Paprika, so I brought out the authentic stuff that Alex and I bought in Budapest last fall…along with three of my favorites: garlic, garlic and garlic!
The first step is making the roux for the sauce…I combined my garlic along with shallots and butter and sautéed them in a pan:
I added my Paprika, which was mixed with curry powder, nutmeg and flour, and added the two together, also adding tomato paste, sherry, etc as the recipe states…once I had my Roux smooth, I added the rest of the liquid to give it a smoothness and body…
Time For The Lobster!
Next up, time to prepare the seafood that will go in this dish, beginning with these Lobster Tails…I also added Shrimp AND Scallops as well!
While the recipe called for boiling the seafood, I chose to put it all raw in the sauce – except for the Scallops, which I seared in butter over high heat for several minutes to give them color:
Add all of the seafood to the sauce and let it simmer until the Lobster and Shrimp are cooked – meanwhile, make some buttered noodles to ready:
The last touch: ladle a lot of that rich seafood sauce over the noodles and add a sprinkle of fresh parsley – and guess what? It’s time for a feast!
Well, I loved the rich decadence of the sauce – real Hungarian Paprika just can’t be beat – and virtually ANYTHING over butter noodles is. a winner for me!
There’s my “Dinner And A Movie” recipe from the “Unofficial Downtown Abbey” Cookbook – I plan to dig in and try a few other recipes as well…
Recently I shared this recipe for “Tampopo!”
This “dinner and a movie” celebrated the power of ramen noodles!
Click here for recipes and a look at this terrific, delicious movie!
Of course, making food from a film is only as good as the movie itself – but don’t worry, this one delivers!
These “eggs in a hole” come courtesy of Cher and Nicolas Cage – click here for the recipe from the classic comedy “Moonstruck!”
Food and Hollywood have a very long relationship – and here’s a legendary restaurant that’s been part of both for more than 100 years!
Musso & Frank serves the best food in town to the biggest stars in the world!
See why by clicking only story here:
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Let me know if you are going to try this Seafood Newburg recipe!
Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Books / Media, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Pictures, Food Porn, Movies, Recipes, Wacky Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
That looks delicious, John. I love scallops.
Best wishes, Pete.
Indeed Pete, so do I – and I am a big fan of the “Downton Abbey” series and movies as well so a tasty weekend on tap for me!
I’ve haven’t had anything ‘newberg’ in many, many years, and this looks delicious. love your huge pile of seafood and your array of paprika.
Yes Beth, it’s a style that has gone the way of the real butlers of Downton Abbey! Thanks for commenting!
Hi John, This is a very adventurous recipe for the British in that time period. I assume the upper classes were more used to exotic food than the middle and working classes. This looks very tasty.