26 February 2021
PART 1 | THE WELCOME
Aaron Cezar: Welcome to our first Family Lunch of 2021!
In response to the prevailing pandemic, we continue to seek out ways to come together. Amidst the UK’s current lockdown, we have taken the chance to reconnect with many alumni-artists, including Haegue Yang (2004), who wrote this reflection from Seoul, and Manauara Clandestina (2020), who was recently in conversation with Victoria Sin about the impact of the pandemic on their practices and communities.
We decided to use this ‘home delivery’ of our Family Lunch to revisit the work of another alumni-artist, Taus Makhacheva, who was in-residence as part of our Politics of Food programme in 2015. While Taus’ work explores our complicated past and contemporary condition, it often employs humour to create an amusing and imaginative take on complex subjects.
This month, our recipe comes from our very own Gillean Dickie, Delfina’s Director of Operations. We pride ourselves on having a multi-talented team, and Gillean is a good example of this, having worked as a producer on notable projects with The Otolith Group, Tomas Saraceno, and Alexander Mir, among others. Here she offers a recipe for her own take on lockdown comfort food.
Part 2 | The Food
Spring Greens with Mackerel – Gillean Dickie
Our colleague shares a quick seasonal lunch recipe from her working-from-home repertoire.
If I had to choose one dish to eat every day, it would be fish, rice and some sort of green vegetable, invariably with chilli involved.
Recently, in lockdown, I’ve been cooking this super simple and adaptable recipe that came from a friend. My version combines currently-seasonal, earthy, spring greens with smoked mackerel and tempered Indian spices.
As well as with rice, this could be served with a dahl or bean dish, yogurt raita and also salsa or pickles.
Serves 4 alongside rice/side dishes of your choosing
Spring Greens, roughly chopped and washed in a colander
2 fillets of smoked mackerel
Pinch of asafoetida
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
Vegetable oil
Squeeze of lemon (optional)
Heat a little oil in a largeish pan and when it gets quite hot add the asafoetida, which should fizz, and then immediately add the chilli flakes and the mustard seeds.
As soon as the mustard seeds start to pop, add the washed greens from the colander. Put a lid on the pan until the greens start to wilt as they steam in the water still clinging to them from washing, this will take a few minutes.
Add flakes of the smoked mackerel and stir gently through the greens.
Squeeze with lemon before serving as desired.
Part 3 | The presentation
Taus Makhacheva – Artist-in-residence, spring 2015
From her studio in Moscow, the artist reflects on a dinner staged during her residency – exploring memory, history and politics – as well as sharing two recent projects.