The Dark Path

I’ve just read Thomas Merton’s Dark Path by William Shannon.  William Shannon takes Merton’s writings and life experiences to provide a field book for the apophatic spiritual path. The apophatic tradition begins with the premise that God or Truth can never be captured in language, and can therefore only be described by what it is not. Apophatic mysticism is found within all of the religious traditions and seeks a direct experience of the divine reality, beyond the realm of our ordinary minds or senses. This divine union is the goal of all seekers, and is the only solution to the riddle of life and death. Nothing else we can say, do, think, or become will satisfy the need we feel so desperately to know that “all shall be well” and that our doubts, fears, and perceived inadequacies are all, in the end, unfounded.

This book gives an overview of Merton’s major writings on contemplative prayer.  I wasn’t sure I liked it at first, but was captured by the chapters on The Inner Experience, a book which in part compares the contemplative to the existentialist.  As Merton was a ‘rip roaring Trappist’, his path and views are invariably rooted in Christianity.  Yet I was able to strip away the religious references and find much food for thought rooted in his writings and thoughts on contemplation, views on the darkness and his ‘discovery’ of Zen Bhuddism and Eastern mysticism.  Ironically though, and as Merton himself wrote (here I paraphrase) one doesn’t learn about contemplation by reading about it, but by direct experience of it.  But one who has been there can have an ‘Aha’ experience when reading that which is so difficult to put into words and at which Merton is so eloquent.

“The darkness becomes an atmosphere of breathless clarity, in which we find peace and the deep night becomes the brightness of the noonday sun in which we find the one our heart desires.”     – Thomas Merton

According to the apophatic way, in order to engage the spiritual source with the most intense intimacy, at the moment of union the mystic suspends all beliefs and disbeliefs. Taking an empty mind and an open heart, she steps over the mystical threshold and crosses into the realm of the unimaginable. This crossing into the state of complete surrender is the way of the apophatic mystic.

Once again, I am beckoned into the darkness.  I am coming to know it as a friend and willingly heed its summons.  I can look back on a time when I was literally dragged very reluctantly, heels dug in, into a dark night, but somehow stayed in it and came out the other side much richer for the experience.  It is so tempting for the uninitiated to try and avoid a dark night at all costs or to cling on to the first piece of flotsam drifting past just to make it end sooner!  But the price that we pay for avoidance is not finding the treasures in our depths.  A dark night is the subject of one of my next fibre art pieces.  I wrote a poem just when I was coming out of it and will use screen printing to put it into the piece.

Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire

Posh Burgers

OK. This is it. My absolutely favorite #1 of all time cookbook. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child. This was the cookbook that I cut my teeth on and used to teach myself how to cook ‘real’ food. Classic French cooking is where I began. When I cook, I instinctively reach for butter, cream, fresh herbs and I can sauté, deglaze and flambée with one hand tied behind my back.

The first edition was published in 1961 and the authors aimed to produce “a cookbook for the servantless American cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, time schedules, children’s meals, or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat. . . . No out-of-the-ordinary ingredients are called for. In fact the book could well be titled French Cooking from the American Supermarket. . . . Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere, with the right instruction. Our hope is that this book will be helpful in giving that instruction”.

Some classic French baking is also included, but baking got a much more thorough treatment in Volume 2, which was published in 1970. Taken together, the two volumes are considered one of the most influential works in American cookbook history, and Child in particular has long been accorded near-universal respect in the cooking world, in part due to these books’ influence.

We had a copy when I was growing up and my parents used to dabble in gourmet cooking from time to time. Both of my parents cooked, but it was mainly Southern food (Dad) or ‘healthy’ food a la Diet for a Small Planet and Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit (Mom). I never got into making what I consider ‘real’ food until my mid 20’s when I started co-habiting in my first serious relationship. My neighbors moved to Florida and gave me their copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the following is the first ‘real’ food recipe I cooked, using my $69.99 nine-piece set (lids included) of non-stick Farberware cookware.

I stupidly gave the book away several years ago during an over-enthusiastic cull, but managed to get a copy from The Strand Bookstore in New York City when I was there in 2005.

In the past couple of months, Inspiraculum has gotten quite a few hits a day from the search term ‘mastering the art of french cooking’ as I cook so many of her recipes.  I’m not the only one eagerly awaiting the release of Julie & Julia, a film about the cook Julia Child and a New York based blogger, Julie Powell whose lives intertwine although they are separated by time and space.

To ease the wait (6 more days) I made Bifteck Haché for dinner tonight.  AND I used the newest addition to our cook’s studio, an ad hoc work surface from IKEA.  Originally meant as a fold-away table for a very tiny kitchen, Steve and I attached it to our kitchen shelf unit for a baking station and just extra counter space whenever we need it.

Ta-da!

Bifteck Haché À La Lyonnaise

[Ground beef with Onions and Herbs]

Shock is the reaction of some Americans we have encountered who learn that real French people living in France eat hamburgers. They do eat them, and when sauced with any of the suggestions in the following recipes, the French hamburger is an excellent and relatively economical main course for an informal party. Serve them with the same types of red wines and vegetables listed for steaks.

I sauteed and set aside some sliced mushrooms at the beginning which I added to the sauce at the end.

For 6 hamburgers

• ¾ cup finely minced yellow onions
• 2 tbs butter

Cook the onions slowly in the butter for about 10 minutes until very tender but not browned. place in a mixing bowl.

• 1 ½ lbs. lean ground beef
• 2 tbs softened butter
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• ½ tsp fresh thyme
• 1 egg

Add the above ingredients to the onions in the bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly. Correct seasoning. Form into patties.

• ½ cup flour spread on a plate
• 1 tb butter and 1 tb olive oil, or sufficient to film the bottom of a skillet

Just before sautéing, coat the patties lightly in the flour. Shake off any excess. Place the butter and oil in the skillet and place over moderately high heat. When you see the butter foam begin to subside, indicating it is hot enough to sear the meat, sauté the patties for 2 to 3 minutes each side, depending on whether you like your hamburgers rare, medium or well done. Arrange the hamburgers on a serving platter and keep warm for a moment while finishing the sauce.

• ½ cup beef stock, canned beef boullion, dry white wine or vermouth, red wine or ¼ water.
• 2 to 3 tbs softened butter

Pour the fat out of the skillet. Add the liquid and boil down rapidly, scraping up the coagulated pan juices, unitl it has reduced almost to a syrup. Off heat, swirl the butter by half-tablespoons into the sauce until it is absorbed. Pour the sauce over the hamburgers and serve.

Steve made these -

Rosemary Sautéed Potatoes

• 7-8 potatoes
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• Salt to taste
• Butter
• Olive oil

Heat the butter and oil in a wide frying pan.  Slice the potatoes about 1/8 thick.  Arrange in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and the rosemary.  When golden brown, turn and season and cook them on the other side.  Drain on paper towels before serving.

Steve and I bought a mixed case (6 reds and 6 whites) of ‘New World’ wines from Best Cellars, an online wine merchant based in Devon.  There are four bottles of wine each from Chile, South Africa and New Zealand.  It’s a really good way to try something new and have a good selection to pair with whatever’s on the menu.  Since they’re nearby, we’ve been to their shops in Ashburton and Chagford and they really know their stuff.  We just tell them what we’re planning to cook and how much we want to pay and they make a couple of recommendations.  Tonight we had a bottle of Pinot Noir from the Tabali Encantado winery in Chile.  A great taste of red fruits softened by oak, but not as heavy as a Cab or Merlot.

Perfect Chocolate Cake with non-Newtonian Frosting

I made this cake for my birthday party a few weeks ago.  It came out a bit funny looking and I’ve been reluctant to blog about it.  In the brigade de cuisine I am more of a pâtissier, a pastry chef, than a boulanger, a baker, and definitely not a décorateur, a maker of show pieces and specialty cakes.

The thing was though, that everybody loved it.  Once they closed their eyes and opened their mouths, they were transported to that place a moist, luscious, not-too-sweet chocolate cake takes you. Anyhow, my lovely friends are the types of people who see beneath the surface.

I think of the chapter from The Little Prince where the fox asks to be tamed and they become friends. In our lives we ‘tame’ many people. And people also ‘tame’ us. . . At the beginning a person is indifferent for us, but when we ‘tame’ someone things completely change. We start thinking on that person, we are expecting their arrival, we remember them when we see something related to them, and so on. It is really great to be ‘tamed’, to have people who really care for us, and people to care about.

But, as the Little Prince had to say goodbye to the fox, we all say goodbye to each other. Our paths don’t walk together any longer, we have to live different lives and our beloved creature is not with us anymore. Only his or her memory lasts, the good times we spent together.

When it came time for the Little Prince and the fox to say ‘Goodbye’ the fox made a present of a secret.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This cake that I made was a recreation of a favourite childhood birthday party cake that came from the local bakery in West Covina, California.  Chocolate sponge, filled with sliced bananas and freshly whipped cream and frosted with chocolate buttercream.  The recipe is from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant

Perfect Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup/140 grams cocoa (unsweetened)
• 2 cups/500 mls boiling water
• 2 ¾ cups/385 grams plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup/225 grams butter
• 2 ½ cups/350 grams sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.  Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.  This is where I made my first fatal mistake.  I should have lined them with parchment paper.  So you do this. Line them with parchment paper.

Combine the cocoa with the boiling water, stirring until smooth.  Cool completely.

Sift together the dry ingredients.  In a large bowl beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients alternately with the cocoa mixture to the creamed mixture.  Blend just enough to moisten the dry ingredients.

Pour the mixture into the cake pans.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then remove the cake from the pans to cool completely before frosting.  Parchment paper will make this so much easier and the cake won’t have to be patched back together when it comes out in bits.

Luscious Filling

• 1 cup/250 mls heavy (double) cream
• ¼ cup/35 grams powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Whip all of the filling ingredients together until stiff.  Chill.

Non-Newtonian Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

When I was in Digbeth this past weekend, I met Steve Coxon, writer and dabbler in non-Newtonian fluids.  In recent experiments at the Spotted Dog Laboratory*, Steve assisted in the making of a substance that seems to conform to the laws of a solid whilst in a bowl. However when it is lifted from the bowl in either one’s hand or a spoon, the substance becomes semi-liquid!  This explains my butter cream frosting.  What I thought was a mistake is a non-Newtonian frosting.

For a full explanation, including what do do if you fall into a pit of quicksand.

• 6 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate or 7/8 cup/140 grams unsweetened cocoa powder and 6 tablespoons/90 grams of butter
• 1 cup/225 grams butter
• ½ cup/125 mls heavy (double) cream
• 2 ½ cups/350 grams powdered (icing) sugar, sifted

Sift the sugar (along with the cocoa powder if you are substituting for the baking chocolate).

In a medium saucepan, melt the baking chocolate and the butter.  If you don’t have baking chocolate, just melt all of the butter. Stir in the cream until smooth.

Remove the pan from the stove and place it in a large bowl filled with ice.  Using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat in the powdered sugar until the frosting holds a stiff shape.  Chill.

Contruct the cake when all the parts are cool.  Spread the filling between the layers, adding sliced bananas, and the frosting on the top and sides.

At this point I was hoping that my butter cream frosting would save the day and patch everything together, however, its non-Newtonian properties presented some, shall we say, design and aesthetic problems.

Keep the cake cool until it is served.

Pretty good with strawberries and why not some more cream?

* pronounced lə-ˈbär-ə-t(ə-)rē – we are in the UK after all.

Life Unchained

I just read the book America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip In Search of Non-Corporate USA. It’s written by the British comedian, Dave Gorman about his trip across America in which his goal is to purchase gas, food and lodging only from independent businesses.  Try and not give any money to The Man™.  For the most part he succeeds and has written a really entertaining book.

At the end Gorman muses that he has encountered the small worlds of the many different people who run these Mom & Pop businesses and that it is these very people who make these unique places exist in the first instance. And he reflects that they are becoming more and more rare as America and indeed the whole world  becomes more corporatised and globalised.

“It’s a shame because these places – the good and the bad – are truer to the American spirit than anything the faceless, bland and acceptably average corporations have to offer.  The chains offer us a world in which average things are guaranteed . . . I’d rather live in a world in which fabulous things are possible.  I’ll take a rollercoaster instead of a train.”

He finishes with the realisation that he hadn’t just worked out what he wanted America to be, he also discovered what he wanted himself to be.  To live his life with passion, to aim high and make mistakes, to be a rollercoaster and not a train.

I find this very poignant for some reason.  Perhaps I identify with the desire to create and live in a world in which fabulous things are possible.  Not following the dots in a cookie-cutter world, but definitely taking the road less travelled, with no maps other than following my heart and recognising the milestones and signposts along the way.  I’ve stopped looking for where I belong, but rather for a place, or even places that belong to me.

Here’s something that I got from this weekend in Birmingham.  An appreciation from nearly everybody that I spent any quality time with of how I see the world.  What’s around that corner?  Why is that thing there and what is it? What’s beneath the surface here?  It makes everyone else stop and take another look.

I think somehow, that the way a person sees and experiences a place or another person, can shape or influence or bring out another facet that was never reflected before in quite that way, on both sides.  And maybe neither will ever be quite the same again from seeing and being seen in a very deep way.

Lasagne con Spinaci e Funghi

This recipe is from a sweet little cookbook that I’ve had for ages, The Best of Italy: A Cookbook, ed. Evie Righter. It looks like a fluffy little coffee table book, but is packed with really good recipes ranging from Antipasti, First and Second Courses, Vegetables and Pizzas to Desserts.

I made lasagne for the first time ever last week. I bought a beautiful porcelain baking dish several years ago with the intention of one day having a big dinner party featuring lasagne as one of the main courses. Last Saturday was the day!

Even thought the recipe may look daunting in length, its various components – the pasta, filling and sauces – if taken one-by-one, are easy to make. Furthermore, it can be assembled a day in advance and cooked the next day.

Lasagne con Spinaci e Funghi

• 2 lbs/1 kg spinach, trimmed and washed
• 2 onions, minced
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb/500 gm mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ cup minced fresh basil leaves
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup minced fresh basil leaves or parsley
• 1 recipe Salsa Marinara (Marinara Sauce)
• 1 recipe Salsa Balsamella (White Sauce)
• ½ lb/250 gm dried lasagne noodles or ¾ lb/375 gm fresh lasagne noodles
• 1 lb/500 gm mozzarella, grated
• 1 ½ cups/165 gm freshly grated Parmesan
• Fresh parsley for garnish

In a large covered saucepan over medium heat, cook the spinach in just the water remaining on its leaves, stirring occasionally, until wilted. Drain, refresh under cold water, and squeeze dry. Coarsely chop the spinach.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onions in 3 tablespoons of the oil, stirring occasionally for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden. Add the mushrooms, oregano, basil, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until the mushrooms are firm and the liquid has evaporated. Add the spinach and garlic and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Set aside.

Make both the Marinara and the Balsamella sauce.

Salsa Marinara

This sauce has a pure, clean flavour and is good on any number of pastas, as a pizza sauce or combined with meatballs.

• 1 onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 lbs/1 kg ripe tomatoes, cored & cut into 1-inch pieces, or 2 x 28 oz/4 x 400 gm tins of peeled, whole tomatoes, drained
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt & freshly ground pepper

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the onion and garlic in the oil, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar and salt and pepper, and simmer, covered for 25 minutes.

Purée the mixture through the fine disc of a food mill into a saucepan. Simmer for a further 15 minutes. Correct seasoning.

Salsa Balsamella

A basic white sauce, similiar to Béchamel Sauce.

• 2 ½ cups/600 ml milk
• 4 tbsp/60 gm butter
• 1/4 cup/60 gr plain flour
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• freshly grated nutmeg

Scald the milk in a small saucepan. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 3 minutes, being careful not to let it brown. Add the hot milk in a stream, whisking, and simmer the sauce for 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg, to taste.

Vegetable filling

Combine the balsamella sauce, spinach mixture and the fresh parsley or basil in a large bowl.

To assemble

Cook the lasagne noodles according to the instructions. Drain and transfer to a large bowl of cold water to which 1 tablespoon of oil has been added (to prevent the noodles from sticking together).

I used fresh Sainbury’s label lasagne noodles. Very simple. They come sheafed with sheets of paper and to cook, simply add boiling water, let sit for 5 minutes and drain off the water. The paper inserts keep it from sticking.

Arrange the cast of characters . . . .

To assemble the lasagne, coat the bottom of an oiled 13-by 10-by 2-inch shallow baking dish with 1 cup of the marinara sauce. Cover with one-third of the pasta, arranging it in a layer over the sauce. Smooth one-third of the vegetable filling over the pasta and sprinkle with one-third of the mozzarella and Parmesan.

Layer half the remaining pasta over the cheese, and top with half the remaining vegetable filling and cheese. Arrange the final layer of pasta and filling and spoon the remaining marinara sauce over the filling. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

At this point the lasagne can be refrigerated overnight, or baked at 400° F/200° C for 30 to 35 minutes, until bubbling. Let the lasagne rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Buon appetito!

Tarte Aux Abricots

Here follows a recipe for a summer fruit tart in the French style from my absolutely favorite #1 of all time cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle and Julia Child. This was the cookbook that I cut my teeth on and used to teach myself how to cook ‘real’ food. Classic French cooking is where I began. When I cook, I instinctively reach for butter, cream, fresh herbs and I can sauté, deglaze and flambée with one hand tied behind my back.

The first edition was published in 1961 and the authors aimed to produce “a cookbook for the servantless American cook who can be unconcerned on occasion with budgets, waistlines, time schedules, children’s meals, or anything else which might interfere with the enjoyment of producing something wonderful to eat. . . . No out-of-the-ordinary ingredients are called for. In fact the book could well be titled French Cooking from the American Supermarket. . . . Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere, with the right instruction. Our hope is that this book will be helpful in giving that instruction”.

Some classic French baking is also included, but baking got a much more thorough treatment in Volume 2, which was published in 1970. Taken together, the two volumes are considered one of the most influential works in American cookbook history, and Child in particular has long been accorded near-universal respect in the cooking world, in part due to these books’ influence.

Tarte Aux Abricots

• An 8-inch partially cooked pastry shell
• 8 to 10 fresh apricots
• Boiling water
• 1/2 cup/100 grams granulated (caster) sugar
• 2 Tb/30 grams butter
• 1/4 cup/27 grams slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/2 cup/160 grams apricot jam + 2 Tb/30 grams granulated (caster) sugar

Paté Brisée Sucrée (Sweet Short Paste)

For an 8- to 9-inch shell

• 1 1/2 cup sifted all purpose (plain) flour
• 1 1/2 Tb/22 grams granulated (caster) sugar
• 6 Tb/90 grams unsalted butter, chilled
• 2 1/2 Tb/37 grams vegetable shortening, chilled
• 6 Tb cold water

Sift the flour into a one cup measure and level it off with a knife. Do the same again with a 1/2 cup measure.

Place the flour, sugar, butter and vegetable shortening into a bowl. Rub the fat and dry ingredients together rapidly with the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into bits the size of small oatmeal flakes. Sprinkle in the cold water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork until the dough holds together. Knead the dough into a ball.

Place on a pastry board and with the heel of your hand, not the palm, rapidly press the pastry by two-spoonful bits down on the board and away from you in a firn, quick smear of about 6 inches. This constitutes the final blending of fat and flour, or fraisage.

Form again into a ball, wrap and refrigerate for several hours until firm.

Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and place into the tart pan, being careful not to stretch the dough. Trim the edges. Line the filled pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and weight it with a handful of dried beans or pastry weights. This weight will hold the pastry against the mold while baking.

Partially bake the shell: Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 400° F/205° C oven for 8 to 9 minutes until the pastry is set. Remove the foil and weights. Prick the bottom of pastry with a fork to keep it from rising. Return to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes more. When the shell is just starting to color and just beginning to shrink from the sides of the mold, remove it from the oven.

Construct the tart

Heat the oven to 375° F/190° C.

Drop the fruit into boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds. Peel, halve and remove the pits. Slice the fruit.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the sugar in the bottom of the pastry shell. Arrange the sliced apricots in a closely overlapping layer of concentric circles. Sprinkle on the remaining sugar and dot with the butter.

Ready to bake

Bake in the middle of preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the fruit has colored slightly and the juices have become syrupy. Slip the tart onto a rack.

Apricot Glaze

Force the jam through a sieve into a small saucepan. Stir in the sugar and cook over moderately high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until thick enough to coat a spoon with a light film and the last drops are sticky as they fall from the spoon.

Decorate the tart with the slivered almonds and spread on the apricot glaze.

Et voilà!