Feasting on Art

Sometimes the lack of a complicated recipe puts a block on all of my writing efforts. I wonder if it is necessary to share a sandwich recipe so simple that essentially it reads, bread, butter and cucumber – assemble. These dainty finger sandwiches were first made by my friend Mel who lined them up on their edges to make a pattern of bread, bread, butter, cucumber, bread, bread, butter, cucumber…. The combination of fragrant butter and crunchy sour cucumbers was utter perfection. So simple yet so satisfying. I added flakes of sea salt to my sandwiches to give a bit more texture and found that if made in the evening and stored in the fridge overnight, become even better the next day.

Luis Meléndez, Still Life with Cucumbers and Tomatoes Together with a Knife and other Kitchen Utensils upon a Wooden Table, 35.5 x 48cm, oil on canvas, Private collection

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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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Adriaen Coorte, A bundle of asparagus, 1703
30 x 23 cm, oil on canvas, Fitzwilliam Museum

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Although I have not been very adventurous with the ingredients in the original Daring Kitchen challenge recipe, I did take many liberties with the proportions and the processes. Octopus is a very finicky ingredient that is very easy to overcook and turn into a rubbery mess. If cooked correctly it is succulent and yielding to the bite and is the perfect accompaniment to the paella-like dish. The original recipe called for only 3TB of the sofregit sauce leaving a rather large portion that would not be used in the conceivable future. To remedy this, I added all of the sofregit and reduced the amount of stock required so the rice would not become soupy. It is a delicious but filling dish that had me craving a Spanish siesta.

Luis Meléndez, Still Life with Tomatoes, a Bowl of Aubergines and Onions, c. 1771-1774
Oil on canvas, 36.8 x 49 cm, framed Derek Johns, London

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This still life was requested by Liz at Zested and what a challenge it ended up being!! I had a very hard time figuring out how to work the cabbage into a recipe with the melon (not to mention stringing up the quince and cabbage for a photo!). I finally decided that although I like a bit of sweetness in a salad, the melon was a bit too sweet and by pickling it I was able to give the curtido an extra vinegary punch. It is not a traditional Spanish dish, its roots are in Latin America, but by including some typical Spanish flavors like lemon, oregano, and paprika I was able to give a Spanish feel to a fantastic dish.

Juan Sánchez Cotán, Still-life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, c. 1600
oil on Canvas, 69 x 85 cm, Museum of Art, San Diego

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