Feasting on Art

While completing a mental inventory of the refrigerator during my walk home, I began to reminisce about the flavours of the stacked tortilla torta from a couple of weeks ago. Clicking through my art archives, the two images below caught my eye, specifically because they are works by Rivera not painted upon a wall. Looking at them together inspired a shrimp taco recipe with a grape tomato, radish and spring onion salsa. The flavors are fresh and bright, helped with a squeeze of fresh lime to finish. In her essay Roadside Diners in issue 6 of Jamie Magazine, Alice Waters reminisces, “we engaged in a favourite pastime: adding recipes to our fictional cookbook Everything Tastes Better with Lime.” The line resonated with me and I began playing the same game, buying limes by the dozen to squeeze over everything. Out of 84 recipe posts on this blog, almost 20% include a finish with fresh citrus. In the case of the Mexican recipes, the splash of lime really makes the dish sing.

(Left) Diego Rivera, The Boy with the Taco / El Niño del taco, 1932
lithograph, 43.18 x 30.16 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(Right) Diego Rivera, The temptations of Saint Antony / Las tentaciones de San Antonio, 1947
oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm, Museuo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City.

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This is a flexible and forgiving recipe with any number of ingredients and combinations culminating in a delicious meal. My previous recipe for chipotle chicken enchiladas could be easily adapted for this torta and using my pumpkin mole would be divine. Assembled in a cake pan, this dish produces dramatic results when sliced to reveal the numerous layers and using sour cream ‘icing’ as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the original purpose of the baking dish is a clever way to cut the heat. Although this is a vegetarian dish, it produces a very filling dinner that is excellent reheated the next day. Just as Rivera highlighted local produce in his mural, this tortilla ‘cake’ is the perfect vehicle to play up the versatility of vegetables.

Diego Rivera, Detroit Industry: East Wall (detail), 1932-1933
fresco, variable dimensions, Detroit Institute of Art

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I feel like this recipe needs to come with a bright red warning, Spicy! Beware!! When my boyfriend had my enchiladas for the first time his cheeks began to sweat and I found that I am becoming more like my father in that I like my food very spicy. I have provided suggested substitutions to keep the flavor but loose some of the heat or you could add a nice dollop of sour cream to mellow out the flavors (even better with a squirt of fresh lime juice!). Chipotle chilies are hard to find here in Australia and I have yet to discover a local source. I do know that this store based in Melbourne has them in stock and will ship them to those of you in Sydney. I am lucky my friends and family can easily buy cans of them at the grocery store in the States so I am able to stock up when I have visitors. The smoky flavor of the chipotle chili is what really makes this dish one of my absolute favorites!

Diego Rivera, Woman Grinding Maize, 1924
encaustic on canvas, 106.7 x 121.9 cm, Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City

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