North by Northwest Dinner for Two

Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint star in Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest

Happy Valentine's Day! Perhaps you're looking for a romantic dinner for two? Look no further--I've made a menu based on the 20th Century Limited's Dining Car, which was featured in North by Northwest (1959), which would be a pretty good Valentine's Day movie choice, as well. There's train travel and adventure and romance and spies and national parks! What could be better? North by Northwest airs Saturday, February 16th, at 11:00 p.m. CST on TCM. It's also available on DVD.

Clockwise from top left: Olives ("Assorted Relish") and Iced Tomato Juice;
Trout au maître d'hôtel, Parsley Potatoes, Broccoli Polonaise; prepping trout for baking;
Romaine, Orange and Avocado Salad

20th Century Limited Dining Car, North by Northwest

Luckily for this food blogger, we know from the film that both Cary's and Eva's characters have the trout. I was able to find two real-life 20th Century Limited menus. And guess what? Trout is on both of them! Too bad Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) doesn't get to stay long enough for dessert, because it sure sounds yummy!

1949 20th Century Limited Menu from Theodore Barber and Company
Click to enlarge

Trout au maître d'hôtel

1/2 lb cleaned trout
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 lemon slices
Fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 375˚ Fahrenheit. Cut off a piece of aluminum foil and a piece of parchment paper large enough to wrap up your piece of trout. Place parchment paper on top of aluminum foil.

Open up trout on top of parchment and season well with salt and pepper. Top with butter and lemon slices. Fold trout back in half then fold in the sides of the foil and parchment to make a packet.

Bake trout in the middle of the oven about 15 to 20 minutes, or until flesh is just opaque. Be careful not to overcook. Add parsley to serve.

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Parsley Potatoes

1 lb boiling potatoes, peeled, rinsed and quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt and pepper
Fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Boil the potatoes in salted water, for about 15 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain.

In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Just as the foam starts to subside, stir in the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper then stir in the parsley.

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Broccoli Polonaise

1 lb broccoli, trimmed into florets and rinsed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon thyme leaves

Boil or steam broccoli for 5 minutes then drain.

In a small skillet or saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When the foam has almost completely subsided, stir in the breadcrumbs and keep stirring until the breadcrumbs are nice and crisp. Remove breadcrumbs from the heat and season with salt and pepper and stir in the thyme.

Pile the broccoli on your plates then top with the seasoned breadcrumb mixture.

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Romaine, Orange and Avocado Salad

1 romaine heart, torn into bite-sized pieces and washed
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried French or Italian herb mixture
1 orange, sectioned
1/2 avocado, cubed

To make dressing, whisk together 1 teaspoon of juice from the lemon, reserving the rest, and the tablespoon of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and herb mix. Pour the remaining lemon juice over the avocado cubes to keep them from turning brown.

In a mixing bowl, dress the romaine with the salad dressing. Divide between bowls and top with orange sections and drained avocado cubes.

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This post was originally a guest post, but the owner of that blog switched domains and didn't carry this post over. This dinner is too good to not be out there on the internet.

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