ECLAIT VOYAGER : July 2015

I first came across Foujita's name when I was casually browsing the history of Fauvism and Pablo Picasso. Who is this highly talented (and well-known avant-garde of Montparnesse), only now long forgotten?

- Foujita in his studio Wikipedia

After studying art in Japan, Foujita arrived in France in 1913 and befriended with some of the most well-known artists today like Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

He achieved great success in his early years that he eventually made enough money to install an expensive bathtub with hot running water and that his models often came by for free showers.

Autoportrait - Tsuguharu Foujita

Foujita's unique painting style, largely influenced by Japanese prints, emphasized more on line than color, that was a sensation to the Western art circle. Drawings of women and cats upon a simple white background, with powerful, unbroken strokes.

Thoroughly inspired by his simplistic and strong approach on line and structure, I wanted to create a recipe based on this, and what better way than making the Croquette (Korokke in Japanese) for breakfast?

The Korokke was introduced in Japan around the early Meiji Restorations and is very similar to the French form of Croquette, a fritter filled with potato and vegetables. For my recipe, I've used sweet potatoes instead, a perfect Western meet Asian rendition, just like Foujita's paintings.

[Ingredient] Makes about 8 croquettes

2 Medium size sweet potatoes

30g of Minced meat

1/5 of an onion

Pepper

Salt

1 egg

10g of flour

10g of breadcrumb

Olive oil

[Preparation]

Steam the sweet potatoes, mash it up and leave it to cool

[Procedure]

Cut the onion into small dices
Stir fry the onions until semi-transparent and flavorful
Add in the minced meat and stir fry
Add Salt and Pepper
Once the above is ready, add this to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix well
Prepare 3 different dishes with flour in one plate, beaten egg in the next and the breadcrumbs stationed in the third plate. Set up this station so that you can work your way from left to right.
Roll the sweet potato mix into a small size bowl, and throw it back and forth with your hands to get rid of excessive air.
Damp the sweet potato ball into the flour, dust off any excessive flour and damp it into egg and then the breadcrumbs. Shape and the flatten the ball as needed.
Once this is done, heat the oil in a flat pan and you can test the temperature of the oil by adding a little piece of breadcrumb. When it starts sizzling (and not oil is not yet blacken), this is the right temperature (about 170C -180C) to put the croquette in.
Fry until its golden brown on both sides.

Hope you enjoy! If you have an artists that you absolutely adore and would love a recipe whipped up for it, let me know :)