the look on his face says it all…..photo courtesy Guy Wolff
I love the look on Guy Wolff’s face in this picture. To me, it says happy inspiration in it’s purest form. But, what exactly is at the core of a true artisan? Is it vision, is it instinct? Is it the person who works tirelessly and consistently, at ungodly hours, all the while being flooded with ideas? Is their energy different than others? Their outlook? Pierre Hermé is an artisan. When I read the intro to Dominique Ansel’s book, I said to myself, he is an artisan. Sim Cass is an artisan. And, Guy Wolff is definitely an artisan.
I am heartened for the sweeping out of the remnants of Winter. I am elated for the pending arrival of Spring. Many thoughts come flooding in during the earliest moments of the daylight. I get my inspiration in these moments. I must be related to the birds, I think, as they begin early.
At six am today, on the Create Channel, there is (yes, I’m writing as I am watching) a show about 3 vintners, yet another area for me to pour myself into, pun intended. I am adding more to the list than I am subtracting these days, with a net bounty blooming continuously.
ar·ti·san
ˈärdəzən/
noun
a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.
synonyms: craftsman, craftswoman, craftsperson; More
(of food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients.
“local artisan cheeses” (definition courtesy Google)
I love stories about artisans – small-scale food makers, wine makers, cheese makers, farmers, orchardists, bakers, chocolatiers, and the craftsmen as well – carpenters, cabinetmakers, carvers, potters, painters, garden designers, architects and visionaries of all kinds.
I allow myself an instant to consider if I might be one, too. What do I make? I do invent my own recipes and experiment with shapes, sizes and flavors. Maybe I will hope to be an artisan one day too. I feel as though I could be an artisan with the camera and with the word. But, an artisan is a specialist, an artist. We shall see – maybe someday.
Often there is someone behind the scenes in the creative endeavors in a person’s life. Someone who prods or initiates the impetus behind the creative process. In my heart, I know my Dad and my Mom were the great inspirers of many, if not most of my endeavors – my Dad, by virtue of his intensely-sensitive palate and eye, for the garden and other visual things, and my Mom by virtue of her irrepressible love of baking. Sadly, they are both gone from this earth. But, they continue to work their magic, in my heart and in my mind, every day. I am never without them. When I step into the garden, I can feel my Dad there – and when I work on perfecting flavor profiles, I can feel his influence and incisive nature. I have no doubt that he had the heart of an artisan. And, when I step into the kitchen, I am never alone.
These days, I have Ryan around occasionally. He is the uber-picky-palate in our house in the current generation. Sometimes this is incredibly annoying. But mostly, I can see that his instinct is so overtly strong, in the visual and culinary senses, as to not be repressed. His instincts are fully saturated, valuable and spot-on — it’s actually scary sometimes, as I find him well along the road in front of me, without effort or thinking………. It is that incredible gift of “knowing” that has been sent along the genetic trail. It’s hard to believe, but undeniable.
The other day, we were talking about the two round scones I baked earlier this week (he sees them on Instagram). Ryan seems to have gotten the idea that a scone must be round in order to be a scone. Knowing that I often, for simplicity’s sake bake mine in a large round, cut into wedges, he emailed me from Ireland two years ago with a photo of a “real scone” that he was in the process of eating with his friends while on a junket to Dublin. How insulting, I told him. But, I chuckled knowingly, under my breath.
He is quick to dismiss many of my flavor iterations and experiments. However, I am dumbstruck over his overall infatuation with the flavor of pistachio. He rambles on a lot about it – pistachio gelato, cake (he taunts me about the one from Magnolia), and, after tasting my Key Lime-Scented Madeleines, he said, “why didn’t you make pistachio?” Do I need to tell you who else was obsessed with the flavor of Pistachio? My Dad. It’s uncanny. Why? Because my Dad passed years before Ryan was born and his interest in this flavor emerged, on its own in just the last few years.
Pistachio, however, is a very difficult flavor to work with. It is extremely delicate and understated. How do you bring it out so as to recognize it convincingly and freshly? This is a tough nut to crack, so to speak.
a perfect morning in my sunny kitchen
As there is nothing I love better than baking in my sunny kitchen in the early morning, here is one for this morning. And, as I love experimenting with opposites on the color wheel:
THE PISTACHIO-MEYER LEMON SCONE WITH BLUEBERRIES –
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar,
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda,
2 eggs,
1/2 cup buttermilk,
1/4 tsp almond extract
generous 1/4 cup juice of fresh meyer lemons,
1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios
1 cup fresh blueberries 1 /4 cup muscavado sugar
egg wash
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a separate piece of parchment paper, mix together the ground pistachios and muscavado sugar. Set aside. Set aside.
In the bowl of your food processor, whir together the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add butter and pulse 8-10 times until the butter pieces resemble small peas. Move mixture to a low wide bowl. Make a well in the center.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, meyer lemon juice and pistachio extract. Pour 2/3 of the wet mixture into the dry. Working with a dough scraper, gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet, adding more wet, as needed. When the dough begins to hold together, finish kneading with your hands. Move the dough to a lightly floured board and gently press or roll into a rectangle about 1 1/4″ thick. Cut out with a 3″ cutter. Working with a pastry brush, brush a scant amount of egg wash on sides and top of each scone. Roll the sides in the pistachio/muscavado sugar mixture. Place each scone on the baking sheet. Sprinkle a scant amount of the pistachio/sugar mixture on top. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until browned and crunchy. Remove from oven. Cool slightly and drizzle with glaze, if desired.
Glaze: 1/2 – 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, 1/8 tsp almond extract, 1-3 tsp meyer lemon juice; whisk together until you get a smooth thin glaze. (note: I have a bottle of pistachio extract, but I don’t like it – it’s cloying)
It’s nice to have someone around you who “gets it”. But, don’t tell anyone I said that……..
Wishing you a lovely, Spring-is-on-the-horizon day! 🙂