Feasting on Art

In honour of the 4th of July, I put together a small selection of nostalgia inducing recipes. I am travelling back to the States in three short weeks and after two years away, I am feeling pretty sentimental! Sunday is the 4th of July and perhaps one (or all) of these recipes will inspire a few Independence Day menus. I will be celebrating with my closest ex-pat friend here in Sydney and if my oven was not still broken the chocolate chip cookies would be at the top of my ‘to make’ list. Happy 4th everyone!

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The day Ozoz’s package from the Netherlands arrived was a very exciting one, not only because of the delicious caramel cookies but  also the beautiful cookbook filled with the things I love. Ozoz writes the food blog Kitchen Butterfly and is one of the most dedicated bloggers I read, posting every other day. She kindly sent me a copy of the cookbook Dutch Culinary Art which she first wrote about on her blog back in December after meeting two of the three writers. The book is filled with traditional recipes introduced by sweet little anecdotes about their origin and history. Dispersed throughout are opulent still lifes and pleasant kitchen scenes. Ozoz’s blog is more than just a record of recipes and culinary delights, she provides useful travel guides as well as everything you would need to know about food before visiting the Netherlands. I only wish I knew about her blog when I lived in the UK and frequented the ‘Orange Country‘ – her affectionate name for the Dutch countryside. Thank you again Ozoz for the beautiful book and for working with me on this collaboration!

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

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When I moved to Australia 8 months ago I did not foresee my palate-lag. I arrived 4 days before Thanksgiving and promptly made a big traditional dinner. Never mind the fact that it was 80°F, humid, and the food sat in our stomachs like a heavy brick. Throughout the Australian summer I made chili and soup, the warm and hearty dishes I typically craved in December and January. Now that we are in the middle our our southern winter I can’t stop myself from daydreaming and craving barbecues and fresh fruits. This little dish is my attempt to get over my palate-lag with the BBQ taste made inside on the stove top, perfect for a winter supper.

Severin Rosen, Still Life with Strawberries, (c. 1848-1870)
40.6 x 50.8 cm, oil on fabric, 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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