Feasting on Art

Trompe l’oeil paintings have a long history within the realm of the visual arts. The French phrase translates to ‘trick the eye’ and it dates back to the Roman era, where it was used to create doors and windows within highly detailed murals. An ancient Greek story recounts a competition between the rivals Zeuxis and Parrhasius, the former painting grapes that appeared so tangible that birds flew down from the sky to peck at them. Parrhasius’ painting won the competition – Zeuxis asked to have the tattered curtains drawn aside to view the painting only to realise that the painting was of the curtains themselves.

De Scott Evans, A new variety try one, c.1890
oil on canvas, 30.4 x 25.4 cm, Columbus Museum of Art

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My favorite recipes are those that intertwine the idea of sweet and savory. When I mentioned to a friend that my next still life painting was titled Mound of Butter she suggested I make shortbread. Updating the typical sweet cookie recipe into a savory biscuit makes the perfect base for a roasted tomato or a slice of spicy chorizo. A baking note: the shortbread should be nearly white when fully baked, overcooking will result in a very dry biscuit. It can also be formed into one of three traditional shapes; fingers, rounds, or a Petticoat Tail (a large circle cut into pointed segments).

Antoine Vollon, Mound of Butter, 1875-1885
oil on canvas, 50.2 x 61 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

 
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Unintentionally the majority of the recipes on this blog have been vegetarian. I find that when I cook for myself I rarely eat meat but my partner is hungry an hour later if there is not a substantial amount of protein in the meal. With the exception of the spring onion crespelles, which contained bacon in the ragu as a flavoring, this the first recipe here on Feasting on Art to feature meat. The still life paintings depicting poultry and game are not the most attractive and I foresee a struggle with my photographic recreations. I managed to come up with a solution for the dead hen but I don’t always think it will be so easy. I hope you enjoy this warm and filling recipe.

Giacomo Ceruti, Still-Life with Hen, Onion, and Pot, c.1970s

Baroque artist Giacomo Ceruti was also known as Pitocchetto, Italian for little beggar, because of his numerous canvases featuring peasants begging. He is known for his realistic style of painting and often placed his still lifes and portraits in front of a dark background. He focused on genre paintings but also worked with still life and religious material. The simple composition of Still-Life with Hen, Onion, and Pot allows the viewer to read into the symbolism of each foodstuff place upon the canvas. Because Ceruti dabbled in religious art it is safe to assume his awareness of Christian symbolism. Typically in Renaissance art, game and poultry were used to represent Christ as a sacrificial victim. Renaissance scholars deduced that onions denoted the pain of causing sin and the corruption of the mind because they caused the eye to water. Within this context the hen paired with the onion tells the story of sin and sacrifice in the life of Jesus Christ.

Tetrazzini is a pasta dish of American origin although it is allegedly named after the Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini It was invented in San Fransisco about 100 years ago by Ernest Arbogast when he was the chef at the Palace Hotel. The dish typically contains non-read meat ranging from poultry to seafood. There is no standard recipe for the dish and it has traditionally been known to contain onions, celery, mushroom and carrots and can be topped with parsley, lemon, almonds, or Parmesan. Some sources cite the origin as being the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City.

{Chicken Tetrazzini}
adapted from Gourmet

2 c chicken stock (recipe below)
6 TB butter
package of mushrooms, sliced
2 TB flour
1 c thick cream
1 TB rice vinegar
one large handful of spaghetti noodles
meat off of half of a chicken, shredded
1/2 c freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Heat half of the butter (3 TB) in a large skillet and sauté the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper. Keep stirring until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated and they are a golden brown. Set aside.

Melt the rest of the butter (3TB) in a small sauce pan with the 2 TB of flour. Cook the roux continually whisking about three minutes. Then in a steady stream add the chicken broth while whisking. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cream, rice vinegar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for an additional 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti until al dente and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a baking dish and drain the pasta.

Toss the spaghetti, mushrooms, and half of the cream sauce together in a large bowl. Add to the baking dish. Make a small well in the center of the pasta and add the remaining sauce along with the shredded chicken. Top with shredded cheese and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and golden on the top.

Serve immediately with additional shredded cheese and salt and pepper.

{Homemade Chicken Stock}

Bones from 5 chickens
2 large onions, quartered
1/2 head of celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 TB olive oil
salt & pepper
2 bay leaves
1/4 c pink peppercorns
1 bunch of parsley
6 sprigs of thyme

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Combine the chicken bones and vegetables with the oil in a large roasting dish. Roast until the bones and vegetables are a rich golden brown, about 40 minutes.

Transfer the bones and vegetables and any juices from the pan into a large pot. Add 14 cups of water and the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 4 hours occasionally skimming the surface to remove the scum.

Remove from the heat and strain. Place the liquid back on the stove over high heat to reduce by half.

When done let cool before refrigerating. Freeze in ice cube trays for a quick and easy way to add flavor to soups and pasta dishes. The flavour of this stock is very strong and I often mix it half and half with water to get to the desired measurement of stock. Otherwise all you taste is chicken.

As with my previous two recipes, I made these delicate crespelles for my house guests while they stayed the week with me before their travels. After a rather late night where we enjoyed life a bit too much these were the best hangover cure (except for one of us!). Warm and filling the bacon & mushroom ragu would be wonderful over some warm pasta or spooned onto a crusty crostini.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Vegetable Gardener, c.1590
oil on wood, 35 x 24 cm, Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona, Italy

Italian painter Guiseppe Arcimboldo was know for his portraits but unlike his peers of the 16th century, the faces he depicted were composed of individual objects grouped in a very specific and deliberate way. Out of his body of work The Vegetable Gardener is unique in that it is a double image, first as a simple bowl of vegetables and then a portrait of a gardener as the title suggests. Arcimboldo painted grotesque portraits (in art the noun grotesque is in reference to a style of decorative painting that interweaves human and animal forms with flowers and foliage) and during his life he enjoyed success due to the Renaissance fascination with riddles and the bizarre. After his death his paintings fell out of fashion and was not revived again until the 20th century where it heavily influenced the work of many Surrealist artists (1).

Crespelle is the Italian equivalent of the French crêpe. Like risotto it was the poor man’s food and it was not until late in the 19th century when the Edward the Prince of Wales first tasted them in Montecarlo, that the pancakes became fashionable (2). In addition to folding and eating it like a crêpe, the crespelle is a common ingredient in many popular cannelloni dishes. Instead of stuffing dried pasta, using the light and delicate pancake gives the dish a feathery texture and with the subtraction of the green onions the recipe below could be easily adapted to include a sweet filling like berries with cream.

{Spring Onion Crespelle with Bacon & Mushroom Ragu}
adapted from Delicious Magazine
serves 4

1 c flour
1 1/4 c milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 spring onions, chopped
25g butter, cubed (cube into the number of crepes you plan to make)
1 tsp salt
mushroom & ragu sauce (recipe below)
Parmesan cheese

Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl. Add milk and eggs stirring until smooth. Add chopped green onion.

Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat. Add one cube of the butter, let melt and continue to cook until the froth disappears. At this time add one small ladelful of batter to the hot pan and swirl to cover the entire base. Cook for about twenty seconds or until you can shake the pan and the crespelle comes loose. Carefully flip and cook another ten to twenty seconds on the other side.

Place the ragu on one quarter of the crespelle. Fold in half and then fold again until the crespelle is quartered. Shave Parmeasan cheese over the crespelle and serve hot.

{Bacon & Mushroom Ragu}

1 TB olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
rindless bacon rashers, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 large portobello mushroom, chopped
200g Swiss brown mushrooms, chopped
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Once slightly smoking add the onion, bacon and carrot and cook four about 4 minutes until golden.

Add all of the mushrooms and the spices and cook until tender. You may need to add a tiny bit of water to loosen the mixture up to keep the mushrooms from burning. Cook until the water added evaporates.

Season and keep warm.

I know that this is only my eighth recipe here on Feasting on Art and like the lemon & orange ice cream this risotto has a focus on citrus flavors. If you are familiar with still life paintings then you will know that the majority of them will feature a lemon somewhere on the canvas. Traditionally citrus fruits represented the wealth of the patron commissioning the painting because they were exotic commodities that required a substantial sum of money to acquire. In an era where artists were treated as craftsmen, the lemon became a test for the artist to demonstrate skill in illustrating the different manipulations of light. The paint was carefully applied to depict the lustrous light glowing from within the semi-translucent flesh of the lemon with the delicately cut peel curled in a long tendril showing a complex perspective (example here). These beautiful fruits will in all likelihood be featured many times here at Feasting on Art but like the 17th century artists, the lemon is a challenge for me to keep looking for new fresh and inspired recipes.

Giovanna Garzoni, Still Life with Bowl of Citrons, late 1640s,
Tempera on vellum, 27.6 x 35.2 cm, J Paul Getty Museum

Giovanna Garzoni was one of the very first female still life painters at at time when it was unusual for there to be female artists in Italy. Common themes in her work were fruits, vegetables, and flowers all painted in a decorative style (1). She enjoyed great success during her lifetime with patronage by the Medici court and according to one writer she could sell her work “for whatever price she wished” (2). Her meticulous attention to detail is evident in the still life above and it is a prime example of natura sospensa (“nature suspended”) paintings that were popular in the court in the 1600s (3). Still Life with Bowl of Citrons shows the way Garzoni would manipulate shapes and textures within the composition. The sharp and rough branches contrast with the smooth leaves and delicate flowers and the shape and texture of the citrons is replicated in the two nuts.

Risotto originated from the north of Italy where there are a multitude of rice paddies and it is one of the pillars of Milanese cuisine. In order to qualify as risotto the rice must be a high-starch, low-arnylose round medium rice grain and cooked in a very specific established process (otherwise the Italians call it a rice dish, not risotto). The best and most expensive varieties of risotto rice are considered to be Carnaroli and Vialone Nano grains and they make the creamiest risottos (4). Italy is Europe’s largest producer of rice and there is documentation detailing the cultivation of rice as far back as 1475. Risotto is a very versatile dish and unsurprisingly each region has its own variation (5). Whether it be with truffles in Piedmonte or seafood in Venice or even the traditional risotto with sauteed eels at Christmas there is sure to be a flavor combination for everyone.

{Garzoni’s Lemon Risotto}
adapted from Nigella Bites
serves 4-6

1 white onion
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 TB olive oil
1 1/2 cups risotto rice
1 litre vegetable stock (recipe below)
zest and juice of 1/2 of a lemon
needles from one sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
1 egg yolk
4 TB grated Parmesan
4 TB heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion into a very very fine texture. Heat half of the butter and the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion for about 5 minutes until it becomes translucent but before it starts to colour. Add the rice and mix to coat in the oil/butter mixture. Meanwhile, heat the stock in another saucepan to the point where it is simmering.

Pour a ladelful of the stock into the rice and keep stirring until it is absorbed. Then add another ladelful and stir again. Continue until all of the stock is absorbed or until the rice is al dente.

Mix the lemon zest and the finely chopped rosemary into the risotto. In a small bowl beat the egg yolk, lemon juice, Parmesan, cream and pepper.

Take off heat when the risotto is ready and mix in the eggy mixture and the remaining butter. Salt and pepper to taste and serve with more grated cheese if you wish.

{Homemade Vegetable Stock}
makes 1 litre

1 TB vegetable oil
2 large brown onions, halved
2 large carrots, quartered
2 parsnips, quartered
2 potatoes, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
12 c cold water
small handful of parsley (left on stems)
10 dried peppercorns
3 dried bay leaves

Heat the oil in a stockpot over medium high heat. Add the vegetables and cook until brown, about 5 minutes.

Add the water, parsley, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Use a slotted spoon to remove any scum that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered. for 2 hours. Remove from heat and set aside for 30 minutes to cool slightly.

Strain through a fine sieve over a heatproof bowl. Discard contents of sieve and cool the stock to room temperature.

Cover the stock with plastic wrap or place in an airtight container to store in fridge. Alternatively freeze in ice cube trays to easily add flavor to soups and stews.