Ok, so I may have just this second finished writing one blog, but I may/may not (definitely have)
consumed two entire packets of mentos strawberry and lime sweets and I may/may
not (definitely am) experiencing the most innocent of highs, and am therefore
unusually motivated to churn out more...(I stopped there, went to bed, and
lived in a psychedelic dream world for 8 hours).
Thankfully I have
been saved from having to stay true to my glucose-induced productivity by none
other than Sir Robert Booth, who has managed to rustled up this little number,
without actually rustling anything at all. Not even any dry leaves:
Before you get
excited, this isn’t Polly.
This is Rob
Booth, educated at the too-much-spare-time and
nothing-else-to-spend-his-money-on academy of culinary arts and the
Iknowmorethanyou Postgraduate School of Taste. Welcome to my first ever guest
blog post. Drink it in.
My initial blog
concept was thus: my spiced sweet potato and orange soup, Boards of Canada’s
track ‘Aquarius’ and Anthony Burgess’ famous novella ‘A Clockwork Orange’ were
to be clubbed together in an attempt to enjoy some Gregson style success. In
case it isn’t apparent the underlying theme of this combination is the colour
orange. I had grand intentions of waxing lyrical on ideas of perception and
synaesthesia, as well as documenting that particular frequency of light’s
relevance to my lifelong struggle with disability¹. Unfortunately, Polly has
already done Burgess’ book on this blog, and not knowing any other worthy books
featuring the word ‘orange’ in the title I was left at somewhat of an impasse.
Abandon the idea? Go home to mother weeping for what could have been? No,
instead, I’ve lazily chosen to carry over 66% per cent of the aforementioned
motif and then, having arbitrarily chosen a text, offer a limp and tenuous
segue in order to stimulate some semblance of thematic coagulation, in the
meantime abandoning all designs on a meditation on the colour orange,
exchanging it with this frankly unnecessary meta-ramble. It is a shame my career
in blogging must start on such a contrite note but I offer you, in order of
edibility;
1. Spiced sweet potato and orange soup.
2. ‘Aquarius’ by Boards of Canada.
3. Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes.
Spiced sweet
potato and orange soup.
I’m a big fan of
soups. In fact, for someone who still possesses the ability to masticate
effectively, obsessively so. They’re cheap, quick, tasty, vegetarian and I like
the fact my hand blender looks like the hypothetical appendage of a
hypothetical Robot Wars entrant designed by Sir Jonathan Ive. Orange and sweet
potato season is drawing to a close and this soup is seasonally schizoid in
it’s taste and appearance; at once indelibly a thick, hibernal root vegetable
soup with a hint of warming spice, yet it’s vivid hue and sweetness make very
much a soup for a still sunny spring evening. It’s nice ‘n’ veggie. It’s also
vegan if you lose the dairy. This comes out pretty spicy so cut down on the
capsaicin if that’s not your bag. Here’s the recipe, if you’re a stickler
for quantitative exactitude prepare to be disappointed. Just taste it as you go
along;
Serves two as a
main meal with lots o’ good bread
· 1 knob of butter
· A glug of olive oil
· An onion.
· Two smallish carrots, or one big boy.
· 1 LARGE free-range sweet potato or two
small-ish ones.
· A ½ thumb of fresh ginger
· A teaspoon of good chilli flakes
· Half a vegetable stock cube
· A teaspoon of paprika
· A pinch of cayenne pepper.
· 150ml-ish of orange juice.
· Cream to finish. And a couple of
coriander leaves if you are so inclined.
Chop the onion
and carrot roughly and the ginger in to little chunks. Peel and dice the sweet
potato evenly. Get the pan lubricated by heating the butter and olive oil with
chilli flakes, add the onion, fry for two minutes then get the ginger and
carrot in for 8 minutes or so on a gentle heat until softening slightly.
When soft chuck in the sweet potato and paprika and cayenne pepper, mix it up
for a bit then cover with water, with a supplementary inch or so. Add the stock
cube when the water comes to a boil then simmer somewhere between gently and
violently for 15 minutes or until the sweet potato becomes tender. Taste,
season accordingly with salt and pepper then stir in the orange juice and
continue to simmer for a couple of minutes. Taste again (use a clean spoon if
you’re sharing, please). If it meet yours specifications take it off the heat
and blend to the consistency of your liking, I like mine velveteen. Reheat,
bowl up, stir through some cream and add a coriander leaf or two if you’re
serving it to someone with aesthetic sensibilities.
‘Aquarius’ by
Boards of Canada
Consume this soup
whilst listening to this curious nugget from Boards of Canada’s ambient canon.
From that seminal album what they did 15 years ago. The link between this song
and orange being the persistent utilisation of a vocal sample saying that most
unrhymable word. It’s also quite useful if you’re learning to count. Turn it
on. Eat soup and let the oscillating approximation of melody aid your sensory
experience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg-iKP0zI9Q
Camera
Lucida by Roland Barthes.
Roland Barthes’
appreciation of orange and all orange fruit is well documented in literary
circles. Throughout his lecturing career he would dedicate the last hour of
allocated contact time before Christmas to a workshop style lecture, in which
he’d instruct his students on the best way to convert a tangerine and some oil
in a to a lo-fi scented candle. This choice has nothing to do with the fact
this is the last book I read credible enough to boast about having done so on
the internet to nobody. Starting as a meditation on the spatial and temporal
implications of photography and spiralling delicately in to a delicate eulogy
to his deceased Mother. Thus it would be very disrespectful to spill soup on
it. So don’t.
¹ Colour
blindness.
