The Botany of Desire

Apples, Tulips, Cannabis, Potatoes - The Botany of Desire. Photo courtesy of pbs.org

I'm a big fan of Michael Pollan and if you're reading this blog you probably don't need an introduction. I've read his wonderful book The Omnivore's Dilemma, but haven't got around to The Botany of Desire. Imagine my joy to find that PBS in California has made a documentary version of the book! It's feature length (about 2 hours) and really fascinating. I highly recommend watching it.

The Botany of Desire - PBS

The film is split into four parts, exploring how food fulfills human desires:

Apple - Sweetness
Tulip - Beauty
Cannabis - Intoxication
Potato - Control

I learned so much:

- About the real man behind the myth of Johnny Appleseed
- That apples came from Kazakhstan
- That apple seeds produce bitter apples and almost a random selection of genes and that the only way to guarantee sweet ones is to graft
- That tulips are from Afghanistan
- That some tulips were worth the equivalent of millions of dollars in Holland in the 17th c. (I hope I got the century right...)
- That cannabis makes those crazy buds only if there are no male plants - sexual frustration
- That marijuana only got stronger by crossing two varieties to make it easier to grow inside - a response to the crack down on outdoor growing in the States in the 1990s.

etc....

Watch it!

Who forgot the cranberries?

OK, I forgot the cranberry sauce. I know, I know. Pathetic. I even told people I had made it from scratch and then just completely forgot! I blame the pomegranate martinis.

Yes, Thanksgiving was a smashing success. I cooked a fruit-themed seasonal winter meal for 11 and they pretty much licked the plates.

Le Menu

Pomegranate Martinis made from freshly crushed pomegranate juice from Iranian pomegranates bought in west London. The colour was spectacular. Far better than the Turkish ones on sale and huge.

Stewed quince and dolcelatte salad from the new Ottolenghi cookbook, Plenty. It's a superb salad and I highly recommend it if you want to impress guests. So simple and tasty - an totally in season.

Italian Christmas Turkey from a recipe that my family uses every year. It's out of the excellent cookbook, Italian Cooking in the Grand Tradition. The stuffing features chestnuts, walnuts, fruit and sausage.

Brussels sprouts with pomegranate and basil. This is a recipe from an Ottolenghi holiday special in the Saturday Guardian magazine about two years ago. One of my guests proclaimed that brussels sprouts had never tasted so good - and she's a picky eater. It's got a maple syrup, pomegranate molasses and lemon rind dressing. The key is to cook the brussels sprouts at very high heat - braised. The only aspect of these that is out of season is the fresh basil.

Roasted mixed root vegetables including carrots, sweet potato, purple potato, normal potato, and parsnips with garlic, olive oil and rosemary.

Cranberry sauce (but I forgot to serve it)

Torta di noci, a flourless Italian walnut cake.

Butternut squash 'pumpkin' pie, made from scratch and so delicious.

Hot, spiced apple cider with ginger, cinnamon and cloves.

Delicious!

Cider (Sidra)

I’m just back from a cycling tour in the regions of Asturias and Galicia and plan to devote a few posts to my culinary experiences. First, a drink.

In Asturias, where we were only for about a day and a half, I had the feeling they were really into their cider – hard cider (5-8% alcohol), know as natural cider (sidra natural). We spent our first night in a fishing village called Cudillero and the streets reeked of cider. I think the fact that they’d just had a fiesta didn’t help matters, but the peculiar way of pouring the cider was the main culprit.

When we ordered our cider, what made its way to the table was quite a large, green bottle, but only one glass. The reason for this, we were told, was that you have to share the glass, and the bottle. We weren’t allowed to pour it either. Only one waitress knew how to do that – see photo. This takes away some of the natural bitterness of the cider and gives it a bit of air (it tends to be a bit flat). The ‘shot’ they give you to drink in one or two gulps is called a culín (little butt). Each person gets a quick drink and then you have to wait until they come back to give you another.



It’s a messy process, though our waitress was pretty good. Inevitably some gets on the ground, hence the smell of cider everywhere. Once we were thirsty and just poured a bit for ourselves. When the waitress saw, she came over, shocked, dumped it out onto the ground (we were outdoors) and poured it properly for us.

In the Basque country (especially somewhere like San Sebastián) they have similar cider. In bars it is shot out of a barrel of some sort and the cider has to be caught in the glass. The Spanish Pig (who was my traveling companion) recently went to an event at a sidrería in Navarra. They also had cider shot into the glass, but this time straight from the barrels used to preserve it (photo).



According to my guide to Asturian gastronomy (produced by the Principality itself), the Asturian cider is made from three different types of apples combined – sour, bitter and sweet. It’s quite dry and has a wonderful, almost smoky taste and should be golden in colour and can be a bit cloudy.

This site looks interesting if you’re hunting down real cider and they have a special link for Spain: http://ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

A mighty fine meal: 24.02.08

The photos say it all. A guest over to dinner provides extra incentive for dishing up something visually impressive. Of course, this meal also tastes great and it’s pretty much all seasonal stuff.

Starters: munching on some hard, Spanish cheese and salchichón.
Wine: 1995 Chateau des Bertins, Cru Bourgeois, Medoc (Bordeaux)
Salad: Endive, radicchio, pear and dolcelatte cheese salad (dijon, olive oil and balsalmic vinegar dressing). Did you know that endives and radicchio are both types of chicory?
Main: Roast chicken (stuffed with Italian sun-dried tomatoes and a selection of fresh herbs from the garden)
Bread: from our new breadmaker! More on that later...
Dessert: Marisol’s apple custard tart (one of our moms’ recipes, using Bramley apples)

Yummy.