I am deeply indebted to Sarah, she has been an incredible editor and friend; her enthusiasm, patience, painstaking care and hard work are visible on every page of this book.
For seven years I have worked away from home to cook on retreats. I always miss my children, Ian and Sofia, when I am away and I will refrain from telling the sheep story as they find it utterly annoying, but I must thank them for accepting my need to do this job, and for being so understanding when I needed to lock myself away to write.
As I write, a quote from the The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry comes to me: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Only now can I begin to comprehend Saint-Exupéry’s words, and one person has helped me in this process: Simon, my partner of the last twenty years. He and his “child’s eye” have helped me open the natural world to my own eyes, to my heart, to appreciate the perfect beauty of everything around us, which we are usually too shut-down or distracted to notice. He has offered me precious gifts, by helping me move towards a better understanding of who and what I am, towards waking up to my life. He has been fully supportive, not only of my journeys as a Zen cook, but also during the writing of this book. His only advice: put your heart into it.
Finding the Maenllwyd and The Western Chan Fellowship has been like finding my tribe. I bow to the late John Crook and to Simon Child, Jake Lyne, Hilary Richards, Ken Jones, Fiona Nuttall, Sophie Temple-Muir and Eddy Street. Their teachings and extensive support in interviews have helped shape the path I have been walking. I bow too to the long lineage of Maenllwyd cooks, and I will feel forever grateful to Miche Fabre-Lewin and Pamela Butler who inspired and trained me in the early days. I also thank Pete Lowry and Douglas Orton, for giving me encouragement every time I felt that I needed it, but did not dare to ask.
I offer deep thanks to all of the fellow retreatants with whom a great intimacy and rapport has developed through this silent practice.
My friends in Argentina always talk with nostalgia about my parents’ house. They particularly remember the kitchen and the food my mum prepared. My parents gave me an enormous lesson in generosity. Even when there was little money there was always enough food to feed our friends and whoever turned up unannounced. My parents’ philosophy was to cook and offer food to people with love, which they still practice effortlessly.
I thank my sisters Magdalena and Julieta, and Pablo, my brother, for the hours and hours of play and adventures; also for being the best siesta companions and enthusiastic supporters of my cooking.
I married into a family of wonderful cooks. Although their influence is present in each step of my cooking practice, their part in this story deserves its own book. Jane McQueen-Mason, my sister in law, runs a catering company in New York City and I loved working for her when I lived in the US. She made me the foodie I am today, introduced me to some unforgettable dishes, gave me cookbooks and shared her most secret recipes with me. I hope she writes her own book one day. Lucy McQueen-Mason, my mother-in-law, was the best cook I ever met. She had magic hands and she put her heart into every meal she cooked. I have often cooked with Lucy in mind on retreats, and lit candles in her memory, hoping that her wonderful skill with flavours could slip into my food. I owe Lucy my soup-making skills and I miss eating her field mushroom soup on late summer days on the Isle of Wight.
To Alec Lawless, who I met on one of my first retreats. He showed me that taste and smell have ruled the world since ancient times. You are missed.
To Julia Wheater, who has been the source of many great cookbooks, read the first words I wrote for this book and helped me type out the recipes.
To Hannah Davies: writing is a solitary process and sometimes it helps to share with someone else who is also writing. Her loving, critical approach and encouragement have been there to support me when I needed it most.
I met Michaela Meadow when she was a shy little girl who made and sold fairies at the Steiner School fair. I was lucky enough to watch her blossom as she moved to Falmouth to study illustration. The artistic activities of Michaela and her friends have been a constant source of inspiration for my own experimentation on retreats. Michaela’s artwork has always resonated with my inner experience, and I was delighted when she agreed to create the illustrations for this book. Her paintings are directly inspired by each chapter and I am delighted to be working with her.
To Ned Reiter for writing the foreword to this book.
Heartfelt thanks to the courageous friends who read the first draft of the manuscript and gave valuable feedback: Pat Simmons, Hilary Richards, Clive Richards, Sophie Temple-Muir, Titus Forbes-Adam, Hugo Hildyard, Hannah Davies and Simon McQueen-Mason. And to our valued proofreaders: Pat Simmons, Freyja Atkins and Denis Kennedy.
Many thanks to the recipe testing team from Vala, particularly to Linda Broadbent who went far beyond the call of duty and blogged enthusiastically about the dishes in her Veg Box Monologues.
The Maenllwyd and the surrounding landscape of the Welsh mountains were a pivotal place for me to heal and change. Never before have I encountered a space that moved me and spoke to me so intimately. The house harbours a warmth that nurtures the heart. I will be forever grateful to John Crook for sharing his magical place with us.
I was lucky to move to the UK just in time for the gourmet revolution. No other chef has inspired me more than Jamie Oliver. I love his instinctual approach to food, his passion for good ingredients, and his mish-mash of delights. I learned so much just by watching him on television, and every single recipe of his that we tried became a favourite. Above all, his tireless quest to better the diet of people around the world makes him, in my eyes, a true Bodhisattva.
The first time I stepped into Ottolenghi’s restaurant in Islington, I thought, “This is Zen food!” The big plates of salads, composed of grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds and herbs, celebrated not only colour and taste, but a fusion of cultures and methods in one dish. They were wonderful. When I first cooked from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook on retreat, it took me seven hours to prepare a feast for fourteen. Every mouthful was worth it, people moaned with delight in the silence of the refectory, and everyone wanted to know where I had got the ideas from. Some of Ottolenghi’s dishes have somehow become my own.
I would like to thank Cathy Pelly who drowned when she was sixteen and whose memorial stone plays such an important role in my retreats on Bala Brook, and in the chapter “Dancing with Death”.
And finally to the antiquarian brujito in my dream, who gave Ceci the jewel that we will cherish and showed me how wonderful my life has been, is and how magical it could be.
Index of Recipes
Alfajores
118
Aubergine dip
143
Autumn coleslaw
144
Baba ganoush
144
Beetroot cake
80
Beetroot dip
177
Brownies
125
Cappuccino cake
133
Curry
157
Dried fruit compote
94
Flapjack
151
Fresh fruit chutney
160
Gomasio
93
Harira
105
Islas flotantes de Serafina
37
Leek, lemon and spring greens soup 58
Lentil cottage pie
82
Lovage cordial
100
Lovage sauce
99
Minestrone
79
Miso soup
156
Mushroom and lovage stew
101
Quinoa salad
135
Roasted aubergines with pomegranates 141
Sweet potato tagine
60
Vanilla sponge with dulce de leche and coconut 167
V
egan chocolate cake
175
Vegetable stock
216
Vinaigrettes
217
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eISBN 9780857011954
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eISBN 9780857010360
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In memory of my teacher
John Hurrell Crook (Chuan-deng Jing-di)
For my parents, Ian and Anita
and my children, Ian and Sofia
No Guru, No Church, No Dependency by John Crook
is reprinted with the kind permission of his family.
First published in 2012, 2017
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Florencia Clifford 2017
Foreword copyright © Ned Reiter (Guo Ji) 2017
The cover image is for illustrative purposes only, and any person featuring is a model.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the law or under terms of a licence issued in the UK by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. www.cla.co.uk or in overseas territories by the relevant reproduction rights organisation, for details see www.ifrro.org. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978 1 78592 216 9
eISBN: 978 1 78450 502 8
Tales From a Zen Kitchen Page 18