Family Lunch: Home Delivery

As the pandemic continues to keep us physically apart, our tradition of family lunch continues through virtual deliveries

25 March 2021

PART 1 | THE WELCOME

Aaron Cezar: Welcome to our latest home delivery of Family Lunch.

During lockdown, many of us have turned to baking to pass the time and create delicious treats. However, for our alumni-artist Laura Wilson, baking is more than a passion, it has formed part of her wider practice over the last few years. Through archival research, performances, and collaborations, she has been exploring the history of veda bread, which was hugely popular across the UK prior to the industrialisation of baking. Laura participated in our Politics of Food programme in 2016 to explore cultural memory in relation to bread and to chart out ways to revive veda bread itself. On the eve of the launch our open call for the next Politics of Food season in 2022, Laura presents her work around this subject, allowing us to virtually break bread for this month’s Family Lunch.

While nourishing your mind, our Administrative Coordinator Nisha Desai offers a recipe to nourish your body. Nisha’s work runs across our ‘household’ at Delfina Foundation, supporting our artists and team, as well as organising our Family Lunches. Her recipe is inspired by a conversation in our kitchen with Associate Chef Irem Aksu, who coincidentally also features in Laura Wilson’s video.

We look forward to hosting family lunch again in the near future, restoring our kitchen at the heart of many fruitful conversations.

Part 2 | The Food

Wild garlic pesto – Nisha Desai

Our colleague shares a recipe made from foraged seasonal leaves.

Introduction

We know that Spring is upon us as pockets of wild garlic begin to appear in London’s parks. This time for foraging is a rare treat for city dwellers, so off I went with kitchen scissors and carrier bag in hand.

This pesto recipe is inspired by one shared with me by Irem Aksu, one of our associate chefs at Delfina Foundation, this time last year when we first found ourselves in this strange state of the world. A year on it was lovely to revisit it, reflecting on how much daily life has changed since.

The green sauce has many uses; mix with pasta for a main dish or dollop over roasted vegetables as a side to your Family Lunch. If you manage to resist simply eating any leftovers with a spoon, it is wonderful smothered on toast or with eggs. It should keep in the fridge for a week or two, so feel free to double (or triple!) the quantities.

Ingredients

Serves 3-4 as a pasta sauce

100g wild garlic leaves
65g nuts or seeds (I used pistachios, but most would work well here)
Zest and juice of half a lemon (add more if you like things extra lemony)
4 tbsp of parmesan or nutritional yeast (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
120ml (1/2 cup) extra virgin olive oil

Method

Thoroughly wash the wild garlic leaves, then blanch by pouring boiling water over them in a colander. Following this, immediately submerge the leaves in a bowl of ice water so they keep their green colour.

Toast your chosen nuts or seeds in a pan then set aside to cool.

With your hands squeeze the water out of the leaves and place them in a food processor along with the toasted nuts, lemon zest and juice, parmesan/nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Process until finely chopped.

Trickle in the olive oil while the food processor is still running.

Scoop onto your chosen dish or put in a jar and top with a little extra olive oil to keep it fresh.

Part 3 | The presentation

Laura Wilson – UK associate artist, summer 2016

From her studio South London, our former UK associate artist presents her practice, which explores how history is carried and evolved through everyday materials, trades and craftsmanship.