Feasting on Art

The mix of ordered fruit and a rustic, haphazard crust encapsulates the French term, galette. Typically, the crust is made with plenty of butter so when it is baked, it becomes flaky and extra crusty. In France, a galette can be made either sweet or savoury with ham, eggs and cheese, otherwise known as a galette complète. The galette des Rois is eaten on January 6, the Christian feast of Epiphany. To celebrate, a small trinket is hidden in the cake and the finder is named the ‘king’ for the remainder of the day. My galette is made sweet by a fragrant mixture of honey and wine that is first used to make the apples heady and boozy and then reduced to give the cake a beautiful glacé finish.

John Francis, Still Life with Yellow Apples, 1858
oil on canvas, 64.1 x 76.8 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts

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The fluffy egg cake known as a soufflé can be made both sweet and savoury depending on the flavourings incorporated. In French, the word soufflé is the past participle of the verb souffler that translates to ‘to blow up’ – exactly what a soufflé does when it bakes. The method of creation is related to that of a meringue and the dish dates back to the 18th century. Often considered to be a fussy recipe, the soufflé is actually quite resilient and as long as whipped egg whites still retain some air they will not collapse. It is only when the soufflé cools that the dish will slump and so a quick oven to table service is essential. An old kitchen fable states a loud noise will cause a soufflé to fall but according to Howard Hillman in Kitchen Science ‘Though many a cook has blamed the collapse of a souffle on the spouse who slammed the kitchen door, the force of the shock waves from that deed is too weak to pop more than a few air bubbles, if any at all.’

Jean-Siméon Chardin, Still Life, c.1732
oil on panel, 17.1 x 20.96 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts

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Even after making frozen yogurt and jelly, our seemingly never ending supply of wild blackberries still provided enough berries to make a pie. I am writing this from Sydney although the pie was made while home in Michigan. I had a wonderful and relaxing holiday and am thankful to have spent so much time with my family. I love this pie and the only thing that could have made it better would have been cooler weather in which to bake it (and maybe some ginger). It was oppressively humid when I finally slid it into the oven – making the ice cream accompaniment a necessity. I cut down the sugar in my recipe from the original Gourmet instructions to make it a bit more tart. Our berries were very juicy and the pie overflowed onto the baking tray making me glad I used one!

Willem Claesz Heda, Breakfast Table with Blackberry Pie, 1631
oil on wood, 54 x 82 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

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Dating back to 1898, a tarte tatin was traditionally made by caramelizing apples in butter and sugar and baking upside down in an oven. The dish was allegedly created by accident at the Hotel Tatin when the tart was baked upside-down by mistake. I substituted chunks of  apple for thick slabs of juicy tomato and gave my tart a savoury bend with brown butter and balsamic vinegar. At this time of year the tomatoes are a brilliant shade of red and are perfect paired with a soft lump of goat cheese. I am having a great time in Michigan and thank you for all of the well-wishes from the previous post. It will be so hard returning to winter after eating fresh fruits and vegetables from the markets and my grandfather’s garden (not to mention saying good-bye to family and friends again)!

Paul Gauguin, Nature morte aux tomates (Tomatoes and a pewter tankard on a table), 1883
oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm, private collection

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I am excited to be writing from Michigan where I am on holiday for the next couple of weeks. Trading winter for summer has been wonderful, and last night I had the pleasure of testing out a few recipes in my aunt & uncle’s wood-fired pizza oven. It is a beautiful set-up (pictured below) and I am so impressed with his pizza handling skills. I tried to slide the pesto pizza into the oven and lost most of the cherry tomatoes to the fire in the process. The dough we used was purchased from Gordon’s – you could also make your own using this recipe, omitting the rosemary and lemon zest. The cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the pizza crust but in a very hot, wood-fired oven it only took about three minutes.

Claes Oldenburg, Flying Pizza, 1964
lithograph, 43.2 x 56.2 cm, edition of 200

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