Julie Green, Mississippi 23 July 1947, 2011
Cobalt mineral paint on kiln-fired ceramic plates, 22.8 x 22.8 x 2.5cm
Fried chicken and watermelon served to a 15-year old and a 16-year old boy.

I examined Green‘s series in an essay titled ‘Last Supper’ in the September issue of Ceramics Monthly. She graciously provided a recipe for the blog and of the dish she stated the following:

“Emotions surrounding capital punishment are often complex and conflicting. I will choose a simple menu, perhaps the saddest of all the final meals because it was served to a 15-year old and a 16-year old boy.”

Last Supper, Ceramics Monthly, September 2011, p.42-45

{Fried Chicken Legs}

Recipe provide by Julie Green, “This is close to grandmother’s electric skillet fried chicken recipe, adapted from Marilyn’s Deep South Fried Chicken on Allrecipes.com”

Yield: 2 servings

1 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 or more chicken legs

Heat the shortening in a large, cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. In a brown paper lunch bag, combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Shake two chicken pieces in the bag to coat, and place them in the skillet. Repeat until all of the chicken is coated and in the skillet.

Fry the chicken over medium-high heat until all of the pieces have been browned on both sides. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. Remove the lid, and increase heat to medium-high. Continue frying until chicken pieces are a deep golden brown, and the juices run clear.

To serve with watermelon: Select a melon that makes a hollow sound when thumped, and has strong variation between dark and light stripes. Slice and serve cold.

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1 Year Ago: Colour Red – Claude Monet – Steak Tartare

2 Years Ago: Julian Opie – Green Beans with Red Onion & Mustard Vinaigrette

[1] Feinstein, Jon, email interview, 29 September 2010.
[2] Ibid.

Jon Feinstein, 16 Grams, 2008,
digital c-print, 50.8 x 50.8 cm, edition of 10 + 2 APs.

Through this series, Feinstein highlights his interest in our “attraction to things that we know are ‘bad’ for us.”[3] In his book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser argues that at this point in history, we are conditioned from childhood, through branding and advertising, to seek out fast food. Entire marketing strategies were developed to establish life-long consumer loyalty from childhood. It is through these associations that as educated adults, aware of the health concerns associated with the consumption of fast food, we continue to eat it. Schlosser continues by reasoning that aroma and memory are linked and that a scent has the ability to “evoke a long-forgotten-memory”, with childhood foods leaving “an indelible mark”[4] causing adults to consume them without exactly knowing why. This could explain Feinstein’s observation in relation to the Fast Food series, “I noticed that even after making the images, free of branding, gloss etc, I still felt myself drawn to eat fast food occasionally. Similarly, as disgusting as many of the images are, when they are exhibited people often describe the photos as making them hungry.”[5]

[3] Ibid.
[4] Schlosser, Eric, Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal, New York City, Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 123.
[5] Feinstein, Jon, email interview, 29 September 2010.

This text is excerpted from the November 2010 article, ‘Fast Food through the Lens of Still Life Photographers‘ published in Curator.

{Pork & Chipotle Sliders}

adapted from the June 2009 issue of Gourmet

Yield: 6 sliders

500g ground pork
1 chipotle chili, minced
1 teaspoon adobo sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
6 small brioche buns
1 large tomato, sliced
1 small avocado, sliced
handful of fresh cilantro
limes, to serve

Mix the pork, chipotle, adobo sauce and garlic in a small bowl. Form in to small patties (the same diameter as the buns) and about 1/2 inch thick. Place a griddle or large frying pan over high heat and once hot, gently fry the patties until cooked through – around 30-45 seconds on each side.

Assemble the sliders with the patty, tomato, avocado, fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime before serving.

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1 Year Ago: Pablo Picasso – Chipotle, Chorizo & Dark Beer Fondue

2 Years Ago: Henri Fantin-Latour – Pistachio Rose Water Macarons

Left: Pablo Picasso, Vase, Bowl and Lemon, 1907,
oil on panel, 62 x 48 cm, Galerie Beyeler, Basel
Right: Henri Matisse, Still Life with Blue Tablecloth (detail), 1909,
88 x 118 cm, oil on canvas, The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Picasso‘s Vase, Bowl and Lemon – illustrated above left – was painted the same year he joined a premoninant Paris gallery that championed the work of Cubism. It is also the same year he completed Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a painting that is often considered a reactionary work to Matisse‘s Le bonheur de vivre, painted the year prior. Through Le bonheur de vivre, Matisse gained notoriety as a leader of the Modern Arts and although Picasso was 12 years his junior, Picasso gained via Les Demoiselles – according to art critic Hilton Kramer – the “role of avant-garde wild beast.” Considering the two paintings illustrated above, their shared aesthetic is evident. Whereas Picasso applied the techniques of Cubism to his work, Matisse looked to the Fauvists with both artists using a similar palette to construct the blue interior with a simple arrangement of lemons and vessels.

{Sweet & Sour Chicken}

As a nod to the sweet & sour relationship between Matisse and Picasso as well as the aesthetic influences from Asia, this sweet & sour chicken recipe is a modified version of the takeaway classic.

adapted from Chinese Food Made Easy

1/4 cup cashews
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 chicken tenderloins
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup pineapple
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce
handful of rocket, to serve

Preheat the oven to 210C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. With a motor and pestle, mash the cashews with the salt and chili until finely ground.  On a large plate, pour out the nuts and begin pressing each chicken tenderloin into the mixture ensuring that there is an even coating on each piece. Lay the chicken on the baking sheet and once each tenderloin is covered with the nut mixture, slide them into the oven for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Meanwhile, add the lemon, pineapple + juice and soy sauce into a small bowl. Puree with a hand blender and transfer to a small saucepan. Cook over high heat for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Season to taste (you may need to add more pineapple juice if the lemon is particular large to balance out the sourness).

Wash the rocket and place a small amount on each plate. Top with chicken and drizzle over the sweet & sour sauce. Serve warm.

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1 Year Ago: Bartolomeo Bimbi – Sour Cherry Turnovers with Goat Cheese

2 Years Ago: Giuseppe Arcimboldo – Crespelle with Bacon & Mushroom Ragu

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Still Life with Vegetables, 1976
oil on board, 24 x 34 cm, Private collection

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was recognized for his cubist work but spent the majority of his career concerned with the Greek landscape. He was considered one of the foremost proponents of Greek Modern Art and spent a large part of his career studying ancient Greek and Byzantine art.  Still Life with Vegetables was painted soon after Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas became a member of the Athens Academy, the highest ranking research institution in the country. In the work above, created late in his career, the curving lines of the vegetables are echoed with the loose brushstrokes used to delineate form. The painting embodies the duality often found in the art of Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, his desire to represent his subject in academic detail while embracing expressive emotion.

{Cabbage-Wrapped Meatballs}

Yield: 2 servings

8 cabbage leaves
600 grams ground beef
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons parsley
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 large egg
1 teaspoon butter
2 shallots
½ brown onion
1 clove garlic minced
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 can diced tomato

Boil 2 cups of water and place in a large bowl. Add the 8 cabbage leaves and set aside.

In a large pot with a lid, add the ground beef, dried thyme, rosemary and parsley and cook for 5-10 minutes until the meat has browned over medium-high heat. Mix in the Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool in the large pot.

Drain the cabbage leaves and clear a work space on the counter. Mix the egg into the cooked ground beef. Divide the beef mixture among the eight cabbage leaves. To wrap the meatballs, place a cabbage leaf flat on your hand and spoon the meat into your palm. Wrap the edges of the leaf around the meat and secure with 1 or 2 toothpicks. Repeat with the remaining 7 leaves and set aside.

In the same pot used to cook the meat, melt the butter. Add the shallots and onion and cook for 4-5 minutes until golden. Add the garlic, cook for an additional 30 seconds before adding the white wine vinegar. Cook until the sharp smell of vinegar disappears, 1-2 minutes and stir in the can of tomatoes. Add the 8 meatballs wrapped in cabbage leaves to the bottom of the pot that contains the sauce and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes with the lid on. Serve immediately.
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1 Year Ago: Antoine Vollon – Parmesan Mustard Shortbread

Raphaelle Peale, Still Life with Steak, c.1917
oil on panel, 33.97 x 49.53 cm, Munson Williams Proctor Museum of Art

Visual characteristics of the slab of raw beef in Raphaelle Peale’s Still Life with Steak are repeated within other elements of the composition. The curve of the cabbage is mimicked by the curve of the fat and the veins of the leaf are also found in the white threads of sinew of the beef. By using the same visual language to represent the steak and cabbage, Peale is able to connect two seemingly disparate objects. According to Alexander Nemerov in his book The body of Raphaelle Peale: still life and selfhood, 1812-1824, Peale included the cabbage in the position where a skull would be found in a vanitas painting – a play on the phrase ‘head of cabbage.’

{Steak Salad in a Lettuce Leaf with Fresh Herbs}

Yield: 4 servings

1 red chili
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 pound lean porterhouse steak
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 small head butter lettuce
handful fresh mint
handful fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 lime, juiced

The night before serving salad, thinly slice the red chili and place in a small bowl with the cider vinegar. Let sit overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.

Prepare the steak by removing fat and place in a bowl. Pour over the rice vinegar and cover with the Chinese five spice and brown sugar. Rub the spice & sugar into the meat on all of the sides and let sit for 20 minutes. Place a dry frying pan over high heat and begin to cook the steak, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and let rest on a cutting board.

Clean the lettuce and herbs. Place one large lettuce leaf on each plate; add herbs and the pickled red chillies, dividing the portions evenly among the lettuce leaves. Thinly slice the steak and add to each salad.

Mince the ginger and mix with lime juice. Drizzle 1 teaspoon over each salad. Roll the lettuce leaf around the salad and eat with hands.

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1 Year Ago: Louis Comfort Tiffany – Pumpkin Chipotle Tartelette

Claude Monet, Still Life: Quarter of Beef (Nature morte : le quartier de viande vers), c.1864
oil on canvas, 24 x 33 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris

As a leading artist within the Impressionist movement, Claude Monet’s paintings are associated with dreamy landscapes and pastel colours. Before his redundant paintings of haystacks, churches and waterlilies, his work was closer in appearance to his contemporary, Gustav Courbet, whose Realist manner was concerned with the common ‘plebeian’ life. The cut of beef depicted in Monet’s Still Life: Quarter of Beef is an inexpensive and tough piece, typically consumed by the lower class. The garlic would be used to flavour the meal – perhaps in a stew – and the earthenware jug confirms the working-class nature of the tableau. To mimic the paradoxical nature of the colour red, the painting of a plebeian meal is paired with a quintessentially posh recipe for steak tartare. The dish was served in the early 20th century under the name of steak à l’Americane without the egg yolk (also left out of my recipe) and with a side of tartare sauce. Over time, the fare evolved to become an assemblage of raw, minced (not ground) beef, season and topped with a raw egg yolk. Typically the beef is marinated in citrus juice, a Mexican technique that begins to cook the meat and kill off any bacteria. Steak tartare can be served with a variety of accompaniments, a number of which are suggested below.

{Steak Tartare}

adapted from French by Damien Pignolet
serves 2

1 c lean rump, trimmed of sinew
½ lemon, juiced
few splashes of Tabasco sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
drizzle of olive oil
1 tsp lemon zest
1 TB chives
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper

garnishes:
¼ c cornichons
¼ c chopped parsley
3 TB capers packed in salt, rinsed
½ red onion
3 TB pickled onions
seeded mustard
anchovy fillets
horseradish crème
lemon wedges
toasted baguette slices rubbed with garlic

Finely chop the rump steak with a clean knife. Do not pass through a mincer otherwise the texture will be like mush. In a bowl, combine with the lemon juice, Tabasco, Worcestershire, olive oil, lemon zest, chives, salt and pepper. Place the marinated meat in a refrigerator to set for two hours.

Toast the baguette and rub each side with a sliced piece of garlic. Finely chop the garnishes and set out with the steak tartare formed into a small mound on each plate. Serve with the toast slices, squeeze of fresh lemon and garnish.

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The Colour Project

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

The Swedish-born artist Claes Oldenburg is known for his sculptures of everyday objects ranging from spoons to hamburgers. The public works are often interactive and were initially scorned before being embraced for their playfulness. In addition to the colossal sized sculptures, the objects also appear in soft-form and were originally sewn together by Oldenburg’s ex-wife. Oldenburg moved to the United States in 1936 and many of his works pay homage to the foods associated with New York City. The pizza in Flying Pizza from the New York 10 portfolio appears twisted and distorted, a characteristic of his sculptures when they are reincarnated from a hard to a soft form.

{Pesto, Cherry Tomato, Mozzarella & Parmesan Pizza}

1/2 c pesto
10 cherry tomatoes, sliced
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 c mozzarella cheese
pizza dough

Roll out the dough with a bit of flour and spread an even layer of pesto. Top with mozzarella, Parmesan and cherry tomatoes before sliding into the oven. Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the dough and the heat of the oven. In the wood-fired oven it took about 3 minutes, rotating the pizza once. Serve immediately.

{Arugula, Red Onion Marmalade & Goat Cheese Pizza}

1/2 c red onion marmalade
1/2 c goat cheese
handful of washed arugula, still wet
pizza dough

Roll out the pizza dough with flour and top with the marmalade. Spoon out small globs of the goat cheese and disperse evenly over the pizza. Slide into the oven and when rotating pizza, remove from oven to top with the wet arugula. Return the pizza to the oven to finish cooking, three minutes total in a wood-fired oven.

{Feta, Parsley, Red Onion & Lemon Pizza}

adapted from How to Cook by Lesley Waters

1/2 c feta cheese, crumbled
1 large red tomato, sliced
1 TB olive oil
2 TB red onion, minced
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
pizza dough

In a large bowl combine the parsley, red onion, crumbled feta and lemon juice. Mix and set aside. Roll out the pizza dough with flour and top with the sliced tomato. Drizzle with olive oil and slide into the wood-fired oven for three minutes, rotating once. When done cooking, top with the feta mixture and return the pizza to the oven for 30 more seconds.

{Spicy Sausage & Jalapeño Pizza}

1 fresh jalapeño, thinly sliced
1 sausage, meat removed from casing
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp dried chili flakes
1 c mozzarella cheese
1/2 c tomato pizza sauce
pizza dough

Pre-cook the sausage meat with the chili powder and hot sauce by sauteing in a frying pan. Transfer to a bowl lined with paper towel to draw out the grease and fat. Roll out the pizza dough and spread an even layer of pizza sauce. Top with the mozzarella cheese, sausage and jalapeño. Sprinkle the dried chili flakes over the pizza before sliding into oven. Rotate pizza half way through cooking and remove once the cheese is melted and golden, about three minutes.

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1 Year Ago: Vincent van Gogh – Lemon Poppy Seed Bread & Blueberry Honey Butter

Visit Ozoz’s blog Kitchen Butterfly for a recipe for Pumpkin Ice Cream & Lemonettes.

Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Chinese Tureen, 1662
oil on canvas, 64 x 53cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Willem Kalf was a still life painter from the Golden Age of Dutch art. His work usually features the same subjects, a Chinese bowl (the painting above bears the title of this oft replicated object), damask tapestry, and silverware. The paintings contain a very dark background, isolating the objects on the edge of the table. In the Still Life with a Chinese Tureen the outline of the glass is barely visible, a characteristic of Kalf’s work. Later in his life the artist turned to dealing in art rather than painting. It seemed he always had a business mind because if a composition proved successful he would make multiple versions for clients – perhaps why his body of work is considered to be limited in terms of subject matter.

According to Dutch Culinary Art, Parrot Tongues are “a typical Dutch joke. Actually just leftovers, but presented in a very nice way. The name, of course, brings memories of Roman times when people feasted on tongues of nightingales and larks.” These little ‘tongues’ make for a very delicious appetizer. The sweet pork meat is paired with the sweet flesh of a pumpkin and livened up with fresh lemon juice and vinegary seeded mustard.

{Papegaaientongetjes (Parrot Tongues)}

adapted from Dutch Culinary Art

2 TB softened butter
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1/2 c plain flour
1/4 c pureed roasted pumpkin
1 TB chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt

4 cooked pork scotch fillets, cut into triangles
1/2 c canola oil

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and beat in the egg and milk. Slowly add the pureed pumpkin and flour until a smooth and thick batter forms. Add the nutmeg, parsley and salt to season.

Heat the canola oil in a deep skillet. Once the oil shimmers, dip the pork triangles in the batter and drop into the oil. Because the pork is already cooked the Papegaaientongetjes fry very quickly, 20-30 seconds. Flip and cook the other side golden brown and remove from the oil and dry on kitchen paper.

Serve immediately with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a scattering of chopped parsley.

Don’t forget to submit your entry to the recipe contest, only 32 more days until the deadline. The first recipe has been submitted – get in early to get the best spots in the photo gallery!

Frida Kahlo, Still Life, 1942
oil on copper, 64.5 cm diameter, Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City

Still Life was commissioned by the president of Mexico to be hung in the dining room of the presidential palace in the place of honor. Once completed, the painting was revealed at a dinner party where the wife of the president found the painting to be indecent and ordered it to be returned to Frida. The uterus-shaped squash is filled with fertile seeds and dominates the composition. Sitting above the squash on a leaf is a Polyphemus moth – throughout art history the moth was used to denote loss and decay. This breed in particular has one purpose in life, to lay eggs on plants that will provide nourishment for the larvae. This painting presented itself as the perfect segue from Berndt’s botanical illustration as it was composed with scientific exactitude and resembles “illustrations found in medical and botanical texts” (1).

{Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin Mole}

adapted from Bon Appétit

brown onion, sliced into rings
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 slices of multi-grain bread
3/4 c canned tomatoes, drained
3 1/2 c chicken broth
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 c pumpkin, roasted and pureed
8 chicken breasts
coriander
lime wedges

Saute the onions and garlic in a pot over medium heat in a bit of olive oil. Once cooked and soft, after about 4 minutes, transfer to a large bowl. Keep the oil in the bottom of the pot and fry the two slices of bread on both sides. Add the bread and the tomatoes to the bowl and puree with a hand blender. Return to pot.

In the same bowl puree the two chipotle chilies and 1/2 c of the  chicken broth. Add to the tomato mixture in the pot and cook for about 2 minutes before adding the roasted and pureed pumpkin and remaining chicken stock. Cook until reduced to about 3 cups, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile rub the chicken with the adobo sauce from the canned chipotle chilies. Roast in a 180C oven until the juices run clear, about 30 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.

Top the chicken with the mole and garnish with the coriander and lime wedges. Serve warm.

This is the third post in a five part series examining the still life paintings of Frida Kahlo.

Visit Alyson’s blog, Unruly Things, for the recipe for Pear Almond Sticky Buns.

Johann Christian Berndt, Plate 21, 1809-1812,
colour plate of pear varieties from Johann Ludwig Christ’s book, Vollständige pomologie, Royal Horticultural Society

Johann Christian Berndt was a German copper engraver who worked in Frankfurt in the late 18th and early 19th century. He contributed to the botanical book Vollständige pomologie (Complete Pomology) by Johann Ludwig Christ. Pomology refers to the study and classification of fruit (the word poma from the Latin root meaning tree fruit). Pomologic writings date back to the 18th century but it was not until the 19th century that a real interest in breeding new varieties and producing richly illustrated books developed. The plate of pear illustrations by Berndt depicts 15 different varieties of fruit with one revealing a cross section and exposing the pitt. The variations between each fruit are meticulously detailed and demonstrate the way in which the botanical art of this period was an aesthetic climax – the scientific and artistic enthusiasm evident in natura sospensa paintings from the Renaissance manifested in the botanical books of the 19th century.

{Pear, Goat Cheese & Prosciutto Pizza}

2 red onions, thinly sliced
2 TB olive oil
black pepper
sea salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 TB balsamic vinegar

lemon-rosemary pizza crust, divided into three balls
goat cheese
pear, thinly sliced
prosciutto, torn into small pieces

Slice the onions and place in a small pot with the oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Sweat the onions until they are soft and add the balsamic vinegar. Cook on a very low heat with the lid on the pot for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pizza dough and top first with the onion and thin slices of pear. Add half of the goat cheese and bake until toasted, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining goat cheese and torn pieces of prosciutto.

{Lemon-Rosemary Pizza Crust}

2 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 TB olive oil
3/4 c + 1TB warm water
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp rosemary

Pour all of the dry ingredients onto a large countertop. Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the olive oil and warm water. Begin incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet and continue handling and kneading the dough until it is quite elastic. Cover with a towel and let sit for 1 hour.

Punch out the air from the dough and separate into three portions. Roll out on a floured surface with a floured pin and place on an oiled baking sheet. Top with ingredients and bake in a 180C oven for about 20 minutes until golden and toasted. Slice and serve.