28 June 2021
PART 1 | THE WELCOME
Aaron Cezar: Welcome to our latest home delivery of Family Lunch!
While Delfina Foundation hosts the most international residencies in London each year, we also have a long history of supporting local artists and thinkers through our UK Associates programme. During the pandemic we increased our commitment to UK-based artists, offering professional development, curatorial and research support, workspace, and financial bursaries.
Since May, we have had the pleasure to work with Harun Morrison, Shiraz Bayjoo and Khairani Barokka as UK associates for our Collecting as Practice programme. While our spring programme draws to a close and our current international residents return home, we will continue working with these three artists until the end of the year, culminating in special commissions.
Ahead of these outcomes, you can get a taste of their work through Harun Morrison’s current exhibition at Eastside Projects, Shiraz Bayjoo’s ongoing solo show at Clerkenwell Gallery and Khairani Barokka’s (Okka) recent launch of a commission for Wellcome Collection. You can also catch past UK associates across the UK too, including: Kathrin Böhm at The Showroom; Cooking Sections at Tate Britain; Sonya Dyer at Art Night; Laura Wilson at The Collection; and Gary Zhexi Zhang at Bloc Projects.
For this home delivery our artist presentation video features our UK associate Okka, who introduces her practice, which centres disability justice as anticolonial praxis. During her engagement with us she is exploring archives in the UK that are remnants of colonisation or reflect neo-colonisation, especially in relation to her native Indonesia. Rose Lejeune, who is working alongside our team as Associate Curator on our Collecting as Practice thematic programmes, shares a recipe for a summer vegetable risotto, “perfect for […] this classic London rainy June”.
Part 2 | The Food
Summer vegetable risotto – Rose Lejeune
Our associate curator for Collecting as Practice shares this dish; bright and full of summer flavour and colour, and yet still comforting.
This risotto is perfect for today’s weather – which is a classic London rainy June day – as its both bright and full of summer flavour and colour, and yet still comforting.
I used the last of the spring asparagus, including some wild asparagus which looks almost like wheat stalks, with yellow courgettes and fresh peas; podding them is a pure summer activity. Leftovers should, without question, be turned into arancini to be had with a little spritz in the park when the rain stops and the sun comes out…
Serves 2
100g unsalted butter
220g risotto rice
600g peas in their pods
1 small yellow courgette finely diced
200g asparagus (stalks finely chopped)
20g fennel seeds
150g grated pecorino
½ lemon zested and juiced
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
First, remove the peas from their pods and place in a bowl, retaining the shells. Place the pea pods in a pan with 1.5 litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes, remove from the heat and strain the broth. In the meantime, dice the courgette and asparagus set aside together with the podded pods.
Take a large, heavy bottom sauté pan with high sides and melt 60g of the butter on a gentle heat. Add the rice and fennel seeds and gently toast the rice for a few minutes being careful not to let it burn.
Using a ladle, add enough of the pea-pod stock to just cover the rice, gently stirring at a low simmer. Continue to add stock a little at a time as the rice soaks it up, stirring all the while. After around 20 minutes the rice should be just cooked and holding it’s shape, but it’s a matter of preference how soft you like it.
Now add the remaining butter and vigorously beat into the rice for 2 minutes, next stir in the lemon juice, zest and 100g of the pecorino.
Finally add the vegetables with a final splash of stock to loosen the rice, stir and cook for a further 3 minutes until the vegetables are just cooked.
Season with the salt and pepper and serve immediately topped with olive oil and the last of pecorino.
Part 3 | The presentation
Khairani Barokka – UK associate, Collecting as Practice 2021
Our UK associate artist introduces her practice, which centres disability justice as anticolonial praxis, and reads from her recently-published poetry collection, exploring colonialism, environmental injustice and resistance.