Cooking in the desert

In the kitchen with Georgia O’Keeffe

Article

No. 9 • March 2018

Georgia O’Keeffe elevated food to an art form, drawing inspiration from her rugged surroundings and the red beets from her neighbor’s vegetable garden.

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) chose the deserts of New Mexico as the backdrop for the second chapter of her boundlessly creative life. She purchased Ghost Ranch, transformed the place in her own unique way, and drew inspiration from the colors of the natural world around her. Color was everything to O’Keeffe: “The most beautiful thing on Earth and what makes life worth living.”

It’s no surprise, then, that among her cookbooks, a self-typed recipe for borscht (beet soup) was discovered. Beets, deep purple when cooked, become a soup of vibrant magenta once made into borscht—a color that also appears in O’Keeffe’s oil paintings of landscapes and enlarged flowers, such as Music – Pink and Blue No. 2 (1918) or Red and Pink (1925).

Fig 1. Georgia O'Keeffe | foto Robyn Lea

Fig 2. Robyn Lea, Ingredients for borscht

For 4 to 6 people
4 large beets
3 liters of water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 lemons
3 egg yolks
4-5 tablespoons sour cream
fresh chopped dill
freshly ground black pepper

Cut off the beet greens, rinse them under cold water, and cook for about an hour in plenty of water with some salt and with the lid on the pot. Once cooked, transfer them to a colander to cool. The skin will come off easily then. Grate them finely.

In a small pot, warm a quarter of the cooking water, stir in the sugar, and stir until it’s dissolved. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, slowly pour the warm sugar water into the yolks, stir the mixture until smooth, and add the juice of two lemons.

Take a large bowl, pour in the egg mixture, add the remaining cooking liquid, and then the grated beets and sour cream. Stir until everything is well combined. Season with salt and pepper. You can serve it warm, but it should ideally chill in the fridge for at least two hours. Garnish with fresh dill, sour cream, and freshly ground pepper.