Feasting on Art

“A cooked tomato is like a cooked oyster: ruined.”
Andre Simon, The Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy

As a writer with a penchant for fresh oysters and summer tomatoes, this quote fits squarely into my culinary logic. Personally, a weeknight meal consists of little more than a ripe tomato, sliced, salted and layered on buttered dark bread. Inspired by a painting by a Scottish Colourist, I became preoccupied with preserving the range of tomato colours as well as the summer taste as the season began to wane here in Australia. By braising the tomatoes over low heat for a limited amount of time, this recipe for sweet tomato relish seeks to preserve the fruit while maintaining the flush of summer ripeness.

Francis Cadell, Still Life (Tomatoes), c.1920
oil on board, 37 x 45 cm, Private collection

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I was fortunate to spend the early part of the New Year travelling around the South Island of New Zealand with my grandparents. Under blue skies and surrounded by mountains, I consumed an inordinate amount of quiche. Settled among the meat pies and soggy sandwiches, the towering triangles of vegetable-studded egg always appeared the most appetizing. However, filled with wintry root vegetables, the dish left me longing for fresh and bright summer flavours. Although quiche is typically classified as a French dish, the name is a derivative of the German noun, kuchen, meaning ‘cake.’ This recipe for a quiche filled with sweet semi-dried tomatoes, spindly asparagus and sharp feta is both delicious and aesthetically pleasing. Perched upon a cake platter with a serving knife, the presentation alludes to the etymological origin of the dish.

Paul LaCroix, Still Life with Asparagus and Tomatoes, 1864
oil on canvas, 34.29 x 41.28 cm, 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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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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Dating back to 1898, a tarte tatin was traditionally made by caramelizing apples in butter and sugar and baking upside down in an oven. The dish was allegedly created by accident at the Hotel Tatin when the tart was baked upside-down by mistake. I substituted chunks of  apple for thick slabs of juicy tomato and gave my tart a savoury bend with brown butter and balsamic vinegar. At this time of year the tomatoes are a brilliant shade of red and are perfect paired with a soft lump of goat cheese. I am having a great time in Michigan and thank you for all of the well-wishes from the previous post. It will be so hard returning to winter after eating fresh fruits and vegetables from the markets and my grandfather’s garden (not to mention saying good-bye to family and friends again)!

Paul Gauguin, Nature morte aux tomates (Tomatoes and a pewter tankard on a table), 1883
oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm, private collection

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