Ocular Lab & Jason Workman
Food hosting for ‘The Brunswick Project’
@ the Counihan Gallery, Brunswick
sixteenth of july two thousand and eleven
a meal for 50 give or take 10 or so
Ocular Lab has a history of hosting, a setting that facilitates a dialogue between participants, where an exchange may or may not happen, where art becomes a discussion.
tahina dip
3 cups of sesame paste (tahina – raw if possible)
6 gloves of garlic
juice of 6 lemons – you may need more – check the flavour
2 teaspoons of cumin
mix all ingredients well – add water to create a cream like texture
chickpea and vegetable tangine
2 garlic heads
1 piece of ginger
8 onions roughly chopped
1 kg of cooked chickpeas
3 hot chillies
2 teaspoon of cumin
2 bay leaves
1 cup of olive oil
1 white wine
½ tsp black pepper
2 tsp of smoked paprika
2.5kg tins of tomatoes
700 gm of tomato paste
750 gm raisins
1 kg turnips
2 kg carrots
2 kg potatoes
1 kg green beans
2 kg pumpkins
2 bunches of coriander
2 tbs of pomegranate syrup
6 lemons
fry onions, garlic and ginger in olive oil. add spices and brown. deglaze with wine. add tomatoes. cook for 1 hour.
rinse and soak chickpeas and cook until tender, drain.
divide the onion mixture into 3 large pots and add cooked chickpeas, carrot, potatoes and turnips and cook for 45 mins.
add raisins, beans, pumpkin and zucchini and cook for 20 minutes
add coriander and the juice from 6 lemons just before serving
to taste add salt, pepper, chillies and cumin.
steamed rice
4 cups of long grain rice
800 ml of water
measurements for a rice cooker – you may need a second serve.
serve with flat bread, marinated olives, fetta, harissa and a collection of favourite pickles.
strawberry guava jelly
2 kg of firm strawberry guavas
2 limes chopped
sugar
soak the fruit over night then boil for 1hour
strain through a sterilized jelly bag for 2-3 hours
for every 500 ml of juice add 325g of sugar
cook slowly for 30minutes and then rapidly for 15mins – use pectin if it does not set
pour into a lightly oiled tray and cool for 24hours – cut and serve
fruit, nut and seed balls
½ cup of the following ingredients
dates, apricots, peanut butte, tahina, honey,
(almonds, pumpkin, sunflower) need to be lightly roasted.
blend all ingredients well in a food processor
mould into small balls and roll in roasted black and white sesame seeds. (1 cup)
mandarins – albert street organic
Dandelion Leaf Pickle
Ingredients
A quantity of young healthy dandelion leaves
1ltr water
20g salt
Method
1. Rinse and soak dandelion leaves.
2. Strain leaves.
3. Mix salt and water to make brine.
4. Pack leaves into a sterilized jar.
5. Cover with brine, place lid on jar.
6. Leave in the sun for 3-6 days.
7. Intermittently push down on the leaves with a clean finger to keep leaves submerged below the brine.
8. If too salty for your taste after 3-4 days, change brine to a 10% salt (1ltr water to 10g salt)
Chickweed Pesto
Ingredients
3 cups fresh chickweed
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
fresh ground pepper
zest from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds
Method
1.Blend all ingredients in a magic mix
2. Place in a jar and cover with olive oil
Lemon Ginger Pickle
Ingredients
Lemons
¼ cup salt
½ tsp Tumeric powder
½ tsp Ajwain (carom seeds)
whole and ground chilies
50mm piece of Ginger cut into juliennes
Method
1. Wash lemons thoroughly.
2. Cut 4 lemons into halves and squeeze juice. Keep juice and skins aside separately.
3. Cut 4 slits on each of the remaining lemons. Place all the lemons and lemon skins in a sterilized jar.
4. Combine lemon juice, salt, turmeric powder, chilies, ginger, mix well.
5. Pour this mixture over the lemons, press down on the lemons in the jar with a spoon. Top up with water if required.
6. Cover with a lid and keep in the sun for 8 to 10 days or until the skins are soft and the skins give way under the pressure of your thumb.
7. Toss the ingredients in the jar occasionally.
(recipe by Sumagabdlur)
