The Eye of the Beholder, Finding Beauty in Imperfection

Eric always “leans” toward great food…

The holidays are here.  Suddenly, upon us is the excitement, joy and often overwhelming expectations that go with entertaining, gift giving and cooking. I love this time of year, when my passion for people and food finds many outlets at home and work. As a chef, many people assume I am up for days upon days cooking. I do prepare in advance and I make a great spread.  However, over the years I have found ways to ease my work load and expectations for creating the  “perfect” holiday meal.  One of my favorite sources for easy, yet exciting cooking and inspiration is the innovative cook book author, food writer and educator, Eric Gower, “The Breakaway Cook”. I had the pleasure of cooking with Eric this week at Macy’s.

Plated food

The food was exciting: Eric’s “Breakaway” approach stems from his years of living in Japan.  He utilizes staples from the world’s great culinary traditions plus local, preferably organic produce and meat, with supporting roles from the judicious use of excellent salts, fresh herbs and spices, citrus, ginger, and good oils, always stressing simplicity, ease, and powerful flavors above all else.  Simply brilliant.  He made two sensuous, seasonal produce dishes, full of knockout aroma and taste with hints of the exotic. “Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Saffron Bread Crumbs” and “Fuyu Persimmon Cumin Salad” took vegetarian fall flavors to a new level. Eric adds a “global flavor blast” and crunch to oven roasted potatoes with a simple “whirring” of left over bread and a pinch of saffron in a spice grinder.  Then he took the often over-looked persimmon, the firm Fuyu variety, and simply tossed it with fresh ground spices, herbs, slivered jalapeños and pomegranate arils. Guests were thrilled to have a better understanding of how to use the persimmons.  This brightly colored seasonal fruit is seen all over northern California hanging like bountiful holiday ornaments on bare branched trees.

If you are unable to watch the video below, please follow this link to open it in a new window.

Eric Gower making Fuyu Salad

The biggest moment of the day was a magnificent concept he described as I was peeling and cutting the persimmons. Unlike most culinary experts, he asked me to cut them slightly uneven, explaining that the varied shapes would enhance the dish by providing texture and interest. It is Japanese aesthetic called “wabi–sabi”, he explained, which roughly translates to “beauty in imperfection”. Suddenly, I had a word, or a concept that described so much of what I find beautiful. A hand made porcelain cup with a small crack, a wooden dining table with an edge of bark left intact, rice paper with a torn edge… and food made very simply. At that moment, Eric saw my face and caught me with a tear in my eye, I was so moved. “That really got to me”, I explained. “On Tuesday, I adopted a cat from the Persian rescue. She was passed over for 11 months; no one saw her amazing beauty. I did. I now have a name for her and I now know why she is my cat. Her name is Sabi.”

"Sabi" the root of wabi-sabi, is “beauty or serenity that comes when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.” The perfect name for a one-eyed cat…

Join me in bringing the concept of wabi-sabi into your heart, mind and kitchen and have a marvelously, magnificently (imperfect) holiday…