Feasting on Art

I regret to admit that I am not adventurous when it comes to ordering from a menu. I tend to visit a restaurant because I have a craving for a particular meal and so, I cannot be easily dissuaded to impulsively try something new. Since my first taste of Phở I have yet to discover a dish to tempt me away. The savory broth coupled with the sour lime juice and heat from the sliced chili makes for a light yet filling soup that was so readily consumed last March that it is often referred to the period that we were ‘Phoed-out’. The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipe is from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

Frédéric Bazille, Soup Bowl Covers, 1864
oil on canvas, 22 x 35 cm, Private Collection

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My partner introduced me to dim sum and so he was naturally pleased to find out my recipe this week was for prawn dumplings, especially when only last week I made congee. This is my very first Daring Cooks challenge so I have to admit that I had the recipe before the painting. If my food budget was a little higher I would have splurged and made lobster dumplings but I opted to work with prawns and to save my pennies for a visit home. The dumplings are a bit fussy to make and very time consuming. I had leftover filling and made it into a hot and sour soup (recipe at the bottom of this post).

Utagawa Hiroshige, Lobster and Gray Prawn (from the series A Variety of Fish),
Edo Period 19th Century, colour woodcut, 25.2 x 36.7 cm, Tokyo National Museum

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This is a post of firsts. It is my first non-western recipe and painting, it is the first painting by an anonymous artist, the first work to not feature a still life and because of this, the first one to not have a recreation. Beyond all of the firsts, it is an opportunity for me to learn about a section of art history with which I am not overly familiar. Chicken congee is a dish that my partner fondly remembers from his childhood so I was more than happy to make it for him. It is a warm and filling dish that is perfect for the current frosty weather that has recently enveloped Sydney.

Anonymous, Mother Hen and Chicks, Sung Dynasty
Ink & colour on paper, 60.8 x 32.8 cm, current collection unknown

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