The first time Scott Hicks walked into the busy kitchen of Fiamma Osteria in Manhattan, he was overwhelmed.

“There was so much going on ... huge boiling pots ... fires ... heat. And the noise ... It was total chaos!” the director of the new film No Reservations says.

As Hicks began visiting other high-end kitchens and spending time with Michael White — then Fiamma’s executive chef — he began to better understand the pressures that fine-dining staffs always work under. He also realized that all those people shouting orders and all that frenetic activity is efficiently orchestrated by the kitchen’s executive chef.

“It was a real challenge to understand that,” says the Academy Award-nominated director of another film overflowing with frenetic energy, 1996’s Shine.

“I wanted to learn every nuance of a restaurant kitchen because I would be recreating a world,” says Hicks, an accomplished cook who lives in the tranquility of his own vineyard and lavender farm in the Adelaide Hills of Australia.

When Hicks set about creating a menu for the fictitious 5-star French restaurant 22 Bleecker in his film, he called upon Lee Anne Wong, executive chef at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan.

Hicks would arrive at the institute and be treated to an array of delights most of us only dream about — seared diver scallops with saffron emulsion, pan-roasted quail, potato and truffle ravioli and black-truffle jus, butter-poached lobster with creamy lobster nage ...

But while the enthralled director was tasting each day’s creations, waxing rhapsodic about the pure poetry of Wong’s creations, all property master Diana Burton was thinking about was butter.

In the film, executive chef Kate Armstrong (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) is an unsmiling über-chef who comes alive each morning only after she’s tightly affixed her apron and shouted a few orders to her staff.

In one of the scenes where she’s administering one of her haughty tests to the new sous chef hired when she left town to pick up her recently orphaned neice, she asks, “What’s the most important ingredient in French cuisine?”

Never one to be nonplussed, Nick (Aaron Eckhart) rattles off, “Butter ... butter ... and ... butter.” He’s stoked that he knows the answer.

After all, his specialty is Italian cuisine, which Kate looks upon with disdain.

So while Hicks was mulling over which of Wong’s creations would look just as exquisite on camera as it tasted in the dining room, Burton says she was picturing the butter in the dishes quickly breaking down into a “gnarly pool of sludge” under the hot lights of the camera.

And then she breathed a sigh of relief.

“I (realized we) could (use olive oil to) get the same effect and not poison everybody,” Burton says wryly.

Taste the tastes, smell the smells

Butter was only the beginning. The experienced prop master, fresh off a season serving manicotti and canolli to Tony Soprano, realized there are camera-ready tricks around almost any dish.

But Burton had another problem to solve.

Hicks wanted the actors to be able to savor the flavors of each on-camera dish so they would know how Kate’s signature saffron sauce with the elusive mystery ingredient — kaffir lime — really tastes, and how a $2,200 per pound truffle really smells.

Hicks wanted his Academy Award-winning executive chef and Oscar-nominated sous chef to play their roles with authenticity.

“In the film, when I was begging Kate to tell me the secret of her saffron sauce, I felt a sense of urgency because I had just tasted it and it was soooo delicious,” says Eckhart, who plays the flippant Nick.

Burton knew that after she served the religiously recreated dishes to the stars, her job would then be to produce those same items no less than 15 times. It wouldn’t matter what the on-camera dishes tasted like, she says. They just had to be piping hot and look beautiful.

So Burton diligently gathered quail, lobster and truffles from the finest purveyors in New York — even though they would essentially become props under the hot lights. When they finished filming a scene, she retired the comely comestibles to the background tables at the restaurant.

“Nobody ever ate that food. It’s just too dangerous,” she says solemnly.

But Burton did create real food for the “diners” at the ficticious 22 Bleecker. That’s why they had those satisfied smiles on their faces, Burton says.

Intensive training

To look like they felt at home in an upscale kitchen, Eckhart and Zeta-Jones spent months in the kitchens of Josiah Citrin, chef/owner of Melisse, a French restaurant in Santa Monica, and with chef Michael White at New York’s Fiamma Osteria.

The pros showed Eckhart how to keep his knuckles back so he wouldn’t cut his fingers, and how to bend his knees so his back wouldn’t give out after long hours working on the unyielding cement floor of a professional kitchen.

“I practiced at home — fun things like sautéing popcorn in a pan so it jumps,” Eckhart says. “It seems like the hardest job in the world because you have to be so precise. Catherine is definitely the better cook; she loved buzzing around the kitchen. Of course, she’s the executive chef,” he says with a chuckle.

Zeta-Jones, who barely knew where the kitchen was before making the film, spent long days with White in his kitchen. She also waited tables at Fiamma on a busy Saturday.

“She’d take out a dish, deliver it to the table and then come running back into the kitchen for more,” says White. “Sometimes she’d be annoyed. ‘Some people are so rude,’ she’d tell me.”

But not everybody was rude to the lovely imposter.

After she presented one customer with his order of lamb, he looked up at her intently and remarked, “You know, you look a lot like Catherine Zeta-Jones.”

Cool as a cucumber, the spurious server retorted, “You know, I get that all the time.”

“With a straight face, Catherine demurely walked back into the kitchen — and cracked up,” White says.

►This recipe is from Lee Anne Wong, executive chef of event operations at New York City’s French Culinary Institute. It is chef Kate’s signature dish in No Reservations.

Kaffir lime leaves are available at Asian markets and sometimes at Santa Fe’s natural-food grocers.

Scallops with saffron sauce

(Serves 4)

For the scallops:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons lemon pepper
• 16 sea scallops or bay scallops, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or more, if needed
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

For the saffron sauce:

• 1/2 cup very finely chopped shallots
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
• Pinch of saffron threads, toasted and crushed
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• Salt and white pepper to taste

Prepare the scallops: In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, oregano, thyme and pepper. Roll scallops in flour mixture until lightly coated on all sides.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil over high heat. Add 4 scallops to the pan at a time and sear on all sides (about 2-3 minutes for each side). Remove scallops from pan and place on a plate in the oven to keep warm until ready to serve. Repeat 3 times until remaining scallops are cooked. Toss with parsley and lemon juice.

Make the saffron sauce: In a heavy saucepan combine shallots, lime leaves, and wine. Over medium high heat reduce to 2 tablespoons.

Add saffron threads and cream to pan and place over medium high heat. Whisk in butter, a piece at a time, adding the next piece before the last one has completely melted, stirring constantly. Do not allow mixture to boil. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Pour sauce over scallops before serving.

The next recipe is adapted from No Reservations property master Diana Burton, who based it on one her great-grandmother brought from Naples, Italy.

Quick linguini sauce À la Nick

(Serves 6)

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups coarsely chopped yellow onions
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 cups ripe, fleshy tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons dry red wine or to taste
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut in thin slivers
• 8 ounces locatelli or Parmesan cheese for grating
• 12 ounces linguine

In a large stainless or enamel frying pan, heat olive oil over high heat. Lower heat to medium; add onions and sauté until transparent, approximately 1 minute. Add garlic, bay leaves, oregano and tomatoes; sauté until soft, about 20 minutes. Add wine, red pepper, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes more.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until al dente — tender but still firm.

Drain pasta. In a ceramic bowl toss linguine with sauce. Just before serving sprinkle basil leaves over the top. Pass 1 cup freshly grated cheese separately.

Nick’s tiramisu

(Serves 6)

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 8 eggs, with yolks and whites separated
• 1 pound mascarpone, at room temperature
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups espresso coffee, cooled
• 2/3 cup brandy
• 30 lady fingers
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, grated
• Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted, for garnish

Mix sugar into the egg yolks, blending well. Add mascarpone, a little at a time and mix until smooth. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Set this aside as well.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the beaten egg whites. Be sure to fold gently — no energetic mixing.

Spread about 1/3 of the cream mixture in a 9-inch round baking dish or serving bowl.

Mix espresso coffee with the brandy.

Carefully dip a lady finger into the espresso and place it in the baking dish on top of the cream mixture. Top with grated chocolate.

Continue dipping and laying lady fingers side by side to cover the bottom. Place another 1/3 of cream mixture on top of soaked lady fingers. Cover this with another layer of espresso-soaked lady fingers. Top with remaining cream mixture and grated chocolate. Dust final layer with grated chocolate and cocoa powder.

Chill for at least 21/2 hours before serving.

(Recipe adapted from Taste: One Palate’s Journey through the World’s Greatest Dishes by David Rosengarten, Random House, 1998)

Find director Scott Hicks’ recipe for seafood risotto and more No Reservations film and food photos at www.santafenewmexican.com.

The last recipe is from film director and australian native Scott Hicks. He suggests serving it with a watercress salad, crusty bread and a glass of either Mr Riggs Riesling or Yacca Paddock Dolcetto — wines from his own vineyard.

Scott Hicks’ Seafood Risotto
(Serves 6)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Olive oil for cooking
• 3/4 pound peeled green prawns
• 1/2 pound calamari rings
• 1/2 pound salmon cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 pound cleaned scallops
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley, divided
• 1 quart fish stock
• 12 spring onions, sliced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 11/2 cups white wine
• 6 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

In a large frying pan sauté garlic in olive oil. Add the seafood and simmer briefly, just until shellfish is opaque. Add 1/4 cup parsley at the last minute and set aside.

Bring stock to a boil and keep warm.

Sauté onions until lightly golden; add the rice, stir and “toast” until the rice turns a pale gold. Add wine and stir until it is absorbed.

Add fish stock a ladle at a time; stirringconstantly until stock is absorbed. About halfway through, add chopped tomatoes

Add seafood with the last ladle of stock. Simmer for two minutes, then add the sour cream, Parmesan and the rest of the parsley.

Serve immediately.