Spawned from an earlier outing to see Hobo with a Shotgun and enlivened by an intense bowl of noodles afterwards, I thought it was time to create my own dishes to go with a few hit flicks that stoked the bubbling cauldron of movies condemned to the mainstream masses shit-list. Dishes have been paired with the energy of the film; a taste of the action, a slurp of the sensational and a bite of the best B-movies out there(or at least in my archive). Now there is great debate as to what makes a film a B-movie. In my eyes it has to be a cult classic, something that was never a huge cinema hit, or in general was not highly regarded by the contemporary cinema going audience. Mainly a mixed bag of thrillers, sci-fi and horror, they are prized by a select awesome few. As the articles roll out you’ll get the idea.
Tonights Movie is Intruder (1989)
Directed by Scott Spiegel
A killer is on the loose in the supermarket. You hate the job with a passion, the other people working there range from being a couple of dicks to a pair of beautiful teases. Now to make things worse some whack job is slashing people up and down the cereal aisle. Waiting for death, you might as well have a final meal. A Frito Pie is a quick fixer upper, a real king of convenience. With a nervy supermarket dash, you can easily pick up all the ingredients: a pack of Fritos, a can of chilli(pull tab, you got no time for a can opener), some shredded cheese and if you know where they are pick up some pre-diced onions. Now hot foot it to the staff kitchen. Come on run faster, he is definitely on your ass by now. Don't look back, go, go, go. You made it, lock the door.
Put the chips in a bowl, then the chilli, sprinkle with cheese and throw in the microwave. Did the door handle just move? Fuck man, if the cheese has melted, pull out your last meal from the microwave and liberally chuck those onions on there. Get a fork, he's hacking at the door with his knife. Ok get under a table, close your eyes, take a bite. I know it's hot, but enjoy – this is it my friend……
And…. if you're not being chased by a killer, then you have a lot more time on your hands. The thing with a frito pie is that you can go as nuts as you like with it. Adding wildness where you see fit, garnish it out the ying-yang. I chose to keep the extra-features to a minimum and push all the flavour devotion to the chilli. In this case we are going south of the border for inspiration, so I must re-pronounce it chile. The canned stuff you get in stores all over the world has Mexican roots and I would surmise that the Mole de Coloradito I used as a base here, stomps anything canned and flogged in your local supermarket. Not as intense as your more full on ingredient heavy moles. This sauce is like mole-light.
Made from ancho chiles, garlic, toasted bread, roasted tomatoes, onion, oregano, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns. This is about half the usual amount of things you would put in a more robust mole. With the sauce being milder, I can get away with using minced turkey. Easily injected with flavour from the sauce, while not being susceptible to the gnarlier fry that minced beef takes on. The turkey stays moist and tender, which reflects well when you bite through the crunchy corn Fritos. Add a squeeze of lime and this thing will zing. Diced onions are the norm here, but even without the fear of death, I have put enough onion in the mole and the turkey that I opted out of using it in the final garnish.
For the cheese I went all mellow and melancholy with Keen's cheddar; a chalky burst of shredded cheese pleasure. It has what I would consider a neutral ph balance; an understatedly bold flavour. The heat from the chile should start to melt the cheese, but not completely. I like the contrast of cold cheese and hot chile. Mixing it up above a bed of the crunchy corn snacks. It's all action just like this fright fest of a flick. Eat a Frito Pie before it's too late.