Feasting on Art

I first tried out this corn recipe on my Thanksgiving menu this year. The spicy corn, brightened with a squirt of lime, proved to be the perfect foil to the buttery and rich dishes I tend to make. I adapted the recipe from the food blog Orangette which recommends eating with cheddar and toast, which I did and thoroughly enjoyed. For me, the dish recalled happy memories of summers in England where I would purchase corn cobs on a stick and eat them on green and white chairs hired in London parks. The corn was sweet and the butter would drip down my chin. The sweetness of the corn is enhanced by carmelising the kernels in the pan and the chili with the lime makes for not only a wonderful side dish, but a really interesting relish to top a grilled hot dog or as a salsa in a taco. The corn will keep for up to a week in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Charles Ethan Porter, Still Life with Corn, 1885
watercolour on paper, 25.5 x 43cm, Private collection

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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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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

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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

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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!

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