Feasting on Art

When making chipotle sweet potato mash for our Thanksgiving table, I grossly over-estimated the number of spuds needed for the recipe. Left with a very large potato in the pantry, a batch of salty, sweet and sour fries seemed the best solution. By baking the potatoes with a bit of oil, the desired crispiness is achieved sans the overbearing oil taste often found in the deep fried variety. The fries need to be left alone to toast and become slightly blistered in the hot oven.

Unknown, Still Life with Pumpkin, Book, and Sweet Potato, c.1855
daguerreotype with applied colouring, 6.3 x 5.1 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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This recipe was a last minute addition to my Thanksgiving menu last year after landing in Brisbane during a heatwave and realizing that my butter-heavy winter dishes from the Midwest would not do. The salad was delightfully light and refreshing and was the only dish to be finished at dinner. It was not until making the recipe for this post that I was able to experience the pleasure of eating these beans as leftovers – the vinaigrette ever so slightly pickles the beans which gives them an entirely new flavor and texture. I am a glutton for all things pickled and I selfishly gobbled up all of the beans without sharing them with anyone!

Julian Opie, Still Life with Green Beans, Chilli Pepper and Carrots, 2001
lambda print with laminated onto canvas, with a gloss seal, mounted on stretcher, 39 x 65 cm

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To prepare for the fast approaching beach weather here in Australia I have taken up running – even though the very idea is comical to those who know me well. I do not profess to be athletic in the slightest or even very coordinated for that matter (the first few recipes on this blog were made and photographed teetering on one foot with crutches under my arms) but I do give it my best and I feel like I can splurge here and there (milk, butter, cream). This recipe was my little reward for completing my first 10K workout – it is quick, easy, tasty and filling.

Sir William Nicholson, Mushrooms, 1940
oil on canvas board, 34.9 x 45.1 cm, The Tate Collection

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For this post we are back to France and on to another artist. I love art but if I had to declare my love for one artist in particular it would be Édouard Manet. In my undergraduate course I did my entire postseminar work on his still life painting Fish (which should give you some indication of my love for still life painting) where he took the phrase nature morte (French for still life which translates to dead nature) literally. Within my paper I incorporated other works by Manet including Asparagus and A Bunch of Asparagus.

Édouard Manet, A Bunch of Asparagus, 1880
Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (Germany)

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