Feasting on Art

I am excited to be writing from Michigan where I am on holiday for the next couple of weeks. Trading winter for summer has been wonderful, and last night I had the pleasure of testing out a few recipes in my aunt & uncle’s wood-fired pizza oven. It is a beautiful set-up (pictured below) and I am so impressed with his pizza handling skills. I tried to slide the pesto pizza into the oven and lost most of the cherry tomatoes to the fire in the process. The dough we used was purchased from Gordon’s – you could also make your own using this recipe, omitting the rosemary and lemon zest. The cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the pizza crust but in a very hot, wood-fired oven it only took about three minutes.

Claes Oldenburg, Flying Pizza, 1964
lithograph, 43.2 x 56.2 cm, edition of 200

Read the rest of this entry »

Disaster…the oven is broken! My organisational skills are getting the better of me – I had my next post planned out to the last detail only to be thwarted by my own kitchen! Due to circumstance, the next couple of posts will be devoted to stove-top cooking. I hope to be posting a bit more regularly in the next couple of weeks once my writing job wraps up. There are a couple of exciting collaborations in the works so keep an eye on this space. Sadly I am very far behind with returning comments on blogs and I hope to catch up soon!

Pablo Picasso, Still Life, 1914
Painted wood and upholstery fringe, 25.4 x 45.7 x 9.2 cm, Tate Modern

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is thoroughly stuffed and satisfied. This menu is my attempt to reconcile an American holiday that for me, has suddenly shifted from a typically frigid November to a muggy one (it was 104F on Sunday here in Sydney!). I spent my holiday with a group of my new friends here and for them I am thankful. After a year in Australia (officially as of the 25th!!) I finally feel settled. I am thankful for my now healthy family and even though they are very far away they always find ways to make sure I feel loved and remembered. This year has given me a brand new facet of my life to be thankful for – this blog. It is a space where I continue to learn and study the things I am most passionate about. Thank you everyone for your support and continual inspiration!

{Smoky & Spicy Thanksgiving Menu}

starter
Pumpkin Chipotle Tartelette with Beetroot Jam & Chevre

salad
Green Beans with Red Onion & Mustard Vinaigrette

side
Chipotle Sweet Potato Mash with Fresh Lime

main
Spice-Rubbed Turkey with Cranberry BBQ Sauce

If you enjoyed the recipe for Pumpkin Chipotle Tarteletts with Beetroot Jam & Chevre please vote for it at the Bon Appetit Blog Envy Bake-Off (it is on the 4th page of entries in the pie category.)

Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day as it is affectionately dubbed, is not complete with the glistening roast bird set as the centerpiece of the meal. In 2007 I had the pleasant experience of discovering that the tiny oven in my London flat would not accommodate the giant bird I bought to roast. After a bit of wrestling I managed to sort out a solution but I have since decided that roasting the bird in pieces is much easier and takes a portion of the time. This recipe works just as well with chicken and can either be cooked entirely in the oven or finished off on a grill to enhance the smokey & charred BBQ flavor of the sauce and the rub.

Soren Emil Carlsen, Thanksgiving Still Life, 1891
Oil on canvas, 117 x 106 cm, San Diego Museum of Art

Soren Emil Carlsen was a Danish born artist who was heavily influenced by the work of Chardin. His paintings featured simple objects in muted tones. His limited palette produced moody canvases and he worked carefully to create seemingly haphazard compositions. He was a contemporary of William Merritt Chase and was part of the European educated talent working in America. Unlike Chase whose brushwork loosened to accommodate the Impressionist style, Carlsen’s work remained fairly tight and clean with thick layered brushstrokes.

{Spice-Rubbed Turkey}
This recipe could be substituted for chicken

2 TB brown sugar
2 tsp smoky paprika
1 large clove fresh garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 small turkey, cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the seasonings in a small bowl and rub all over the turkey pieces. Place the turkey in a roasting tray and slide into the oven for about 40 minutes. Occasionally spoon the juices from the meat back over the turkey.

Remove the turkey from the oven and brush on the BBQ sauce. Either return to the oven for another 20 minutes (check the thickest part of the breast for done-ness) or place on the grill (on an area of moderate heat – not directly over the cinders). Roast the turkey brushing on additional sauce as needed until done and the BBQ sauce begins to caramelize upon the meat.

Serve with additional BBQ sauce.

{Cranberry BBQ Sauce}

1 small red onion, chopped
1 TB olive oil
1 jar (250ml) cranberry sauce (alternative use 1 pkg frozen cranberries cooked for 10 minutes in 1/3 c sugar)
1/2 c ketchup
1/3 c hot sauce
1 TB apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
black pepper

Saute the chopped onion in the oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the cranberry sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce and a pinch of black pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until it reaches the desired thickness.

Once cooled slightly, puree with a hand blender. Pass through sieve and serve with the grilled turkey.

This is the fourth recipe in a four part series for a smoky & spicy Thanksgiving.

The dark and dreary interior of the Potato Eaters is a stark juxtaposition to the colour and the flavor of the sweet potato mash. With Thanksgiving being such an important meal in the North American calendar, I felt it was appropriate to include a painting of a familial supper in this series. The subjects of the painting are peasants and although their entire meal consists of a platter of potatoes, there is no unhappiness apparent on their faces. This is Thanksgiving – being thankful for what one has and celebrating the food on the table. I could not think of a better way to celebrate the simple potato than to spike it with a bit of my beloved chipotle and albeit the food visually contrasts the art, the message is still there.

Vincent Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885
Oil on canvas, 82 x 114 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

The Potato Eaters was one of Van Gogh’s first major paintings in the beginning of his career. The peasants are coarse and the colours are muted to produce what he considered a natural work of art although the facial features are exaggerated creating instead a grotesque caricature. In a letter to Theo his brother, Van Gogh writes “I wanted to convey the idea that the people eating potatoes by the light of an oil lamp used the same hands with which they take food from the plate to work the land, that they have toiled with their hands–that they have earned their food by honest means.” Van Gogh submitted The Potato Eaters to the Salon in Paris where it was rejected. It was his first ambitious work and is now considered his first masterpiece which was the artist’s intention during it’s conception and creation.

{Chipotle Sweet Potato Mash with Fresh Lime}

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1 cm pieces
1 TB olive oil
2 TB butter
1/3 c sour cream
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
lime slices & sour cream to serve

Place the cubed sweet potato on a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Toss with your hands before sliding into a 180C oven for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Once roasted, puree the potatoes with a blender and add the butter, sour cream, and salt. Mix into well combined. Stir in the chopped chipotle and serve with a glob of sour cream and a squeeze of fresh lime.

This is the third recipe in a four part series for a smoky & spicy Thanksgiving.