di Zaira
(4 people)
FOR THE CAKE
FOR THE SALTY CARAMEL SAUCE
INSTRUCTIONS
The thin glasses of the window vibrate at every blast of wind, shaken as the treetops heavy with rain. The look lingers a bit through those branches and then gets lost far away until it reaches the sea line which is barely visible, between the fast passing clouds.
It's like a dance, the rain. It lightly and gracefully hovers and then it rages with powerful energy.
I touch the cold window glass with my fingers, it's fogged by my breathing and I enjoy - for the first time after months - a quiet moment.
The rain always comforts me, it brings a sweet sensation of slowness, the same you can feel while tasting something really delicious.
Sometimes it happens that ideas are born by pure chance or coincidence, moments, sudden inspirations, weird things, foolish things... things. I turn the look from the gusts of rain beating on the window to a feeble glint that comes from a darker corner of the kitchen. An English dessert fork in blackened silver I have left there for years - being it too pretentious amongst the others, all too common - brings random thoughts to my memory.
I haven't got many ingredients at my disposal, mostly poor ingredients as sweet potatoes and red beans - that I love so much to eat in winter - and my supply of dark chocolate that never lacks on my cupboard wooden shelves.
The soft light, the English fork, the pouring rain, the crackling wood stove and that bare dark table are my inspiration.
The clock's ticking even more slowly, the warm steam fills the kitchen with an intense sweet smell... a pinch of salt might be a good idea, it could work!
I get back to the window with my small plate in my hand, sinking the fork into the humid texture of the cake, muddy and dark like the wet earth - and I don't even notice that the rain has stopped.
I'm Zaira Zarotti,
Photographer and Visual Storyteller, author of the blog The Freaky Table.
To me, the ephemeral beauty of daily simple things, amongst which food certainly plays an important role, are the pretext for personal soul searching and a visual study. Food is sustenance, but it's also culture and it represents us much more than we can imagine. To me, there is no limit to imagination when pulses in the kitchen are concerned. Today, even more then in the past, legumes are the ethic proteinic response to everyone's food needs, without wastage of massive resources for the benefit of few. They hold memories of ancient wisdom and new buds of awareness. They represent a sustainable and respectful future.. and the Earth is grateful.