Horse by Geraldine Brooks Recipe by Paul Cunningham
The Author
Born and brought up in Sydney suburbs to a father who was a big band singer who settled in Australia only because he was stranded during a tour.
Becoming a newspaper sub-editor, he married Geraldine’s mother, a public relations officer with a radio station.
Geraldine attended a Roman Catholic secondary school for girls and then the University of Sydney. Once graduated, she moved on to be a reporter and lucky enough to win a scholarship she moved to America to complete her Masters Degree. It wasn’t long after this she met her husband and changed and converted to Judaism.
Working for The Wall Street Journal she covered stories with her husband and won awards for her coverage.
She has two sons from her husband Tony Horwitz who sadly died in 2019.
Her first book, Nine Parts of Desire, (1984), was based in her experiences among Muslim women in the middle east. It was an international best seller, translated into 17 languages.
More books followed, along with more awards but it was in 2001 when her first novel, Year of Wonders, was published.
Horse, Foodie Book Clubs choice for this month’s read, hit the shelves in 2022 and quickly became New York Times Best Seller going on to win a ton of awards.
Geraldine Brooks
The Book
A discarded painting of a horse joins the characters over three time periods. It’s a book about racing, race and relationships.
This book follows an enslaved groom (1850), Jarret and his bay foal as they grow up and experience life in the American South through the civil war, and beyond.
Another time (1954) sees Martha Jackson, a gallery owner who becomes obsessed with a nineteenth century oil painting of a horse.
Time line three (2019) Jess, a Smithsonian scientist and Theo a Nigerian Art historian, find themselves connected by a shared interest in the horse, one studying its bones, the other uncovering the lost history of the unnamed black horseman always by his side (Jarret).
Partly based on the true story of Lexington, one of the most famous thoroughbreds in American history, and the characters the author brought in to the story to highlight the untold story of how black slaves were used to aid in the profit of white horse owners.
Using three steps in time as a backdrop and heavy research into the real horse, the author compares the changing attituded towards race over the years and the relationships surrounding each of the characters.
Septembers book and chef.
What I Think?
This was a powerful novel filled with human emotions and honest feelings about the moving attitudes of race in America.
I enjoyed the mix of real-life happenings and the fictional stories the characters bring to the mix.
Each of the time lines, although separate, join up the story making the movement from one to the next fluid and not just a tool of writing.
Interested in all of the characters, it was refreshing to see that each time line character wasn’t just used as a filler but had a purpose.
At times, the story left me feeling a little uncomfortable, as it should. The modern-day attitudes towards race and the micro aggressions felt by one of the characters, although personalised highlighted the changing attitudes time had on racism.
Where they real or where they just perceived?
All together a great book, one which I’ve already recommended to others and although it’s not a genre I’d usually choose, I enjoyed the story telling, research and the unexpected ending.
I give it a 4 egg rating
A 4 Egg Rating
Chef
Paul Cunningham made this recipe as part of Foodie Book Clubs Lockdown Lunches made during the pandemic, so I’ve taken the information from there.
Don’t forget to click the link to see his real interview as well as watch Paul cook his dish live for us.
Foodie Book Club YouTube channel.
Chef Paul Cunningham first became interested in food at an even earlier age than most chefs, because Paul’s grandfather was a keen forager of his own ingredients and passed this on to a six year old Paul. It’s this passion for local, seasonal, fresh produce which heavily influences his ingredients-led cuisine today.
He talks about his grandfather: ‘He took me out on the seashore to find cockles and mussels and sand eels and we would walk across Dundrum Bay in our bare feet. He was the one who started all this in me and he’s passed away now, but every year, when I’m out picking honeysuckle, I can still hear him like he was standing beside me. He told me to respect the land and it will respect you back.’
It wasn’t many years later before Paul started as a kitchen porter but was soon learning to cook (at aged 13) in the former Roundhouse restaurant in Dundrum while still at school:
‘I was washing dishes, a mixture of things, I was just happy to get into the kitchen,’ says Paul. ‘I loved the buzz and I still love it today, 20 years later.’ Paul Said
He went full-time in the restaurant as soon as he had finished his GCSEs
Paul had two aunties, Patricia Bell and Theresa Poland, who were themselves chefs and they advised him that every six months, if he felt he wasn’t learning enough, he should move on. So, when the owners of the Roundhouse – Peter Lavery and JJ Lyttle – decided to open another restaurant in Clough, Paul transferred there to work as a commis chef. By then, he was 16.
‘I was loving it,’ he says. ‘I was getting to cook every day and I was learning a lot. As soon as tech became available, I was away to Belfast to enrol and that was even more exciting.’
After about a year, he moved to the Buck’s Head Inn at Dundrum, primarily because he was keen to work with food at a higher level. He was there for about 18 months under head chef, Fergus King:
‘I got on really well with Fergus” Says Paul. “He put a great love for the food in me. Anyone can cook, but he taught me to respect everything that came into the kitchen.’
Opening his own place was always an aim, even back then – it was a dream, but Paul says he knew he was stubborn enough to make it happen:
‘If you want something enough and you work hard to get it, then you will. It’s really up to you.’
A succession of other posts followed, at the Hillyard House in Castlewellan; The Dundrum Inn and Belfast’s Shu restaurant.
Then, at the age of 24, Paul was approached by the owner of the Anchor Bar in Newcastle who wanted to bring him in to run a proposed new restaurant on the first floor We were hampered a bit by where we were, people would have passed about 14 other places before they came to us, but it’s all completely different here,’ says Paul. ‘It sounds crazy but since we came here, business has quadrupled, especially in lunches.’
As for the future, Paul says his priority now is to make sure that Brunel’s meets its potential – he has no plans to open another outlet – although he admits that ultimately, he has dreams of opening his own concept restaurant:
‘I don’t know where but I’m happy not being in Belfast. I can go foraging here for an hour before opening and come back with a bucket of food. I couldn’t do that if I was in the big smoke.’
But you could do that where I live, so if you want to come and stay, I’m all for a day of foraging!
Paul has used one of my favourite foraged ingredients in this recipe and probably one of the easiest to find and know that it’s safe, wild garlic.
If you don’t have any you can forage, I think you can buy it from those popular on line shops.
Those plates, those beautiful plates, well, it’s about keeping it in the family. Made by Pauls talented wife Jennifer, you can find her work on her Etsy shop
And the recipe, Scallops with Wild Garlic Risotto & Brown Butter cooked live for Foodie Book Club Lockdown Lunches was just a joy.
If you missed Paul cooking live, no problem, watch him again on our Foodie Book Club YouTube channel. and you can find Paul on his social media accounts here:
Paul Cunningham
Recipe
Scallops with Wild Garlic Risotto & Brown Butter
Wild Garlic Risotto
2 Shallots – Diced
1 tbsp Rapeseed oil
2 cloves garlic – crushed
2 tsp thyme
1 knob of butter
200g Arborio Rice
100g white wine
600g Hot chicken stock
30g Parmesan- grated
1 tbsp crème freche
80g Peas
2 tbsp Wild Garlic Pesto
Garnish Optional
Hazelnuts – toasted to garnish
Wild Garlic flowers.
Wild Garlic Leaves
Method
In a hot pan, add the shallots and time and sweat for 5 mins until the shallot is soft and translucent
Add the rice and bruise for 2 mins to break up the outer coating
Add the wine and keep it on the heat until the liquid has reduced until dry
Add a little of the chicken stock at a time and continue to cook and add the stock while cooking.
Constantly Stir the stock into the rice and cook the rice until soft but still has a bite
Remove risotto from the heat and add parmesan, crème freche, peas and wild garlic pesto
Test the seasoning and serve.
Scallops
Ingredients
Scallops
Butter
Lemon Juice
Method
Heat a pan and add the butter until melted and foaming
Add the scallops and brown on both sides (approximately 2 minutes on each side), basting with the butter
Once cooked, remove from the pan and let rest
Keep the butter the pan, heat until the butter is brown.
Add a few drops of lemon juice to finish
To Serve
Place the cooked scallops on top of the risotto, and garnish with wild garlic flowers and hazelnuts if using.
