philosophy and a recipe

On the subject of food I'm with Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin, Raymond Blanc and generations of people who until the recent past, understood that food not only needed to be grown well but eaten well. That if you want food you go to a garden or a farm, if you want a piece of machinery you go to a factory. There is no such thing as a factory farm, its an oxymoron at best and an abomination at worst.

Pollan is interesting because he serves to remind us that food is not simply about health and nutrition, but about culture.

To reduce food to a nutritionists point of view, is to be guilty of the same reductionism that reduces everything to the sum of its parts and never sees the beauty and integrity; the consciousness of what is before us.

I really don't intend to write about the morally bereft ways of companies like monsanto, organo phosphates, terminator seeds, GMO's the poisoning and destruction of water tables, the stupidity of monoculture and the ills of globalization ( if you need that kind of eduction there are plenty of informed sources)I'm writing with all that as a given. Therewith I set my stall out.

Food is so much more than the chemistry lesson of fats, carbs, proteins bla yawn bla. Even as I write it i feel the energy drain from my solar plexus and a fog of indifference come over me. Food is joy, art , sustenance, pleasure , generosity, wealth and the cornerstone of culture. I once thought that God or Consciousness was that cornerstone, but the truth is that consciousness abides as an ever-present reality, food however is something we actively participate with, enjoy and co-operate around on a daily basis. Neem Karoli Baba understood this, he was always feeding people.

I'm staggeringly lucky to live in Northern New Mexico just outside Taos at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, looking out across to the peaks of Truchas and Penasco to the south, the great mesa to the west and far peaks of the Blancas to the North. Its a lively buzzing town with cosmopolitan mix of Pueblo Indians, Spanish settlers, Mexicans, Anglos, a vastly disproportionate number of fine artists of all kinds, and eccentrics from everywhere.

The land is not simply given to monoculture and ranching, but is richly planted with Orchards of cherry, apple and apricot. Kitchen gardens are fairly common and most people with even a little land will keep one. Chickens are also often kept and a few people like my friend Sabina keep an organic goat herd producing fabulous raw cheese, milk and kiefer.

I'm going to post recipes as I go, because cooking is one of my great pleasures. It is effortless and a daily joy. I try and keep my food pretty seasonal, but I'm not especially fastidious about this. Despite the fact that I like nothing better than pottering around the kitchen the whole day, I work a 9-5 and dont make a gazillion bucks. So I'm like most working people. Much of my cooking is a 30- 45 minute meal made fresh every evening.

Today was a bit of a proto-fluish day so I made a chicken curry. It wasn't my usual recipe, but i cant stop tasting it as it cooks mercifully the rice is now on

so I'm only 20 mins away from eating with impunity.

When you cook a chicken try and cook with bones and skin. ( That's what helps create the stock and the flavour) boneless, skinless chicken may sound easy, but its always a little weak.

Anyhow here goes, this is a variation on a butter chicken, somewhere between that and a korma.

1 chicken- cut off the legs, wings and breast and save the carcass for a stock or soup.

2 med onions finely chopped

3 med cloves of garlic - minced

1 inch of ginger- minced

4 thai / indian chillies sliced lengthwise )keep the seeds.

3 or 4 med tomatoes nice and ripe ( riper the better) diced small.

The spices:

2 tsp garam masala

1tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

( teaspoons are heaped not flat)

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp turmeric

handful of raw cashews ground

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of live tangy full fat yogurt

fry the onions, sautee till nice and soft

add the ginger/ garlic and chillies

after a couple of mins add the chicken pieces

fry for a few mins then add spices

fry the spices till you begin to smell them well

( dont burn though)

add the tomatoes fry all together for another couple of mins

Put everything into a slow cooker/ crock pot or on the stove top on a low heat

Add yogurt, cream and ground cashews.

Let cook for at least 4 hours in a slow cooker or for 1 and 1/2 hours on the stove.

Serve with white basmati rice or naan or whatever you like.

Share and eat slowly.