Letting our past guide us
and a recipe for cod with romesco sauce that marries two cultures and traditions deliciously
I’ve been reading a lot about the future lately.
Coming from a time-stand-still life, we’re trying to imagine what tomorrow and the day after that - and then the year after that - will look like. In this singular moment, all of us are racing to get to the future as quickly as possible. But the rules are different depending on your starting position. Some of us have already sailed past the finish line, while others of us are at a saunter, and even more haven’t made it off the block.
We’re stumbling towards tomorrow without a clear destination. And we might just find ourselves running in circles.
A lot of smart people are trying to help. They’ve created useful guides for the new normal, the future of work, how to WFH or break out of our Covid bubbles. There’s a focus on forward momentum, on disruptions, and pivots, and looking ahead, moving on. Technology is paramount in all of this. Things will never be the same, they gently warn. Get with the program.
But what if it’s the past that holds the key to our future?
Letting the past guide us
I’ve been thinking about this idea a great deal after seeing the 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent, directed by Ciro Guerra. It’s the story of an Amazonian shaman, Karamakate, who takes two journeys thirty years apart with two different scientists, both of whom are searching for the same sacred healing plant.
Slow, sinuous and dreamlike, the beautiful black and white film weaves themes of the conflict between cultures, and as Guerra says, what happens when different spiritualities come together, clash and have dialogue. Perhaps more deeply, it is about our sense of place in the world, how our innate knowledge and the wisdom of the past guide us, and what we can both learn and teach as we move through this earth.
We think of the past as something that’s behind us and the future in front of us, but for many Amazonian people, it's the opposite. The past is in front of you because the past is what you can see and what you can know. You walk towards it. Past and future are in a constant dialog. Shamans see a simultaneous multiplicity going on, which is extremely close to the way that quantum physicists understand time. It's fascinating to see the parallelisms you can draw between the most advanced science and the thinking of Amazonian shamans.
Ciro Guerra, director
In our hurry to get on with things, are we leaving the past behind too quickly and without much thought? There’s been hard-earned wisdom that we’ve gained, or perhaps newly rediscovered. In making our world smaller, we’ve actually unearthed an infinite world - if we have opened ourselves up to its possibilities.
Will we immerse ourselves in nature still? Continue to have dinner together every night? Do puzzles, read books, pursue new hobbies? Make space for silence? Make room for grace and kindness and balance?
Keeping the dialog going with our past, and even more deeply, with what we hold dear, will help us.
Be a vagabond of dreams
Embrace of the Serpent reminds us that we fit into a greater whole, and helps us realize that we’re all connected to one another and to everything. Most of all, Karamakate reminds us that we need to dream, to hear, to honour our ancestors. These may seem like abstract notions, far removed from our sometimes harsh reality. But they can lead us, as Karamakate did, down the river of knowledge to greater wisdom.
Karamakate: “How many edges does this river have?”
Evans: “Two.”
Karamakate: “How do you know that?”
Evans: “There is one and there is another; one plus one equals two.”
Karamakate: “How can you know that?
Evans: “Because! One plus one equals two.”
Karamakate: “Well, you are wrong. This river has three, five, a thousand edges. A child can understand that easily, but not you. The river is the anaconda’s son. We learn that in our dreams, but it’s the real truth, more real than what you call reality…Hear the song of your ancestors. This is the way you are looking for. Listen for real. Not only with your ears.”
Karamakate teaches Evans that to be a warrior, a man must go into the jungle and leave everything behind, guided only by his dreams: “He has to become a vagabond of dreams. If he comes back, he is ready to face anything.”
This notion of leaving everything behind is metaphorical, of course. By urging Evans - and us - to use our dreams as our compass, he also urges us to let go, have trust and move forward, even as we walk towards our past. It’s a journey that has as many sides and paths as the river. I’m ready for it.
Cod with romesco sauce
serves four
There’s a tiny spot in Newfoundland and Labrador called Fogo Island. The full story of Zita Cobb, Fogo Island and Shorefast is the subject for another post and another time. It is too rich to truncate in a sentence or two.
What connects it to my musings is how Cobb’s vision ties past and future together in an inextricable skein, with the understanding that metaphors illuminate history. The noble cod featured in the recipe below hails from Fogo Island (you can order Fogo Island fish here).
Pairing it with a romesco sauce seems fitting. Romesco is a rustic red pepper and almond sauce from Catalonia, typically served with fish, although it might find itself on poultry, meats and vegetables, or as a delicious dip for veggies. With infinite variations, the unifying feature is its earthy flavour.
Its origin is ambiguous. Maybe Roman, perhaps Moorish. I imagine that in some distant past, there was a convergence of Spanish fishing expeditions to a dot on the map called Newfoundland, and that this dish may have found its way onto tables long gone. In reclaiming Newfoundland’s cod heritage and teaming it with an equally ancient tradition, perhaps we can claim a bit of the past and point the way to a better future.
Ingredients
¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
1 cup (3.5 oz, 94 gr) almonds with skins on, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 oz, 23 gr) fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup (8 oz., 225 gr) canned cherry or diced tomatoes, with their juices
1 cup roasted red peppers (5 oz., 150 gr) chopped; you can use sweet pickled red peppers as an alternative
I large garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon chili pepper flakes
½ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika or pimenton
2 tablespoons (30 ml) sherry vinegar
½ salt or to taste
1 cup (250 ml) fish or chicken stock
4 cod fillets, about 6 ounces (170 gr) each
Heat oven to 450°F.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and sauté for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Add breadcrumbs and sauté for one minute or until golden. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Place almond mixture in a food processor along with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, tomatoes, red peppers, garlic, chili pepper flakes and paprika. Process until the mixture is smooth, then blend in vinegar and salt. Taste and adjust for seasoning, adding salt, more vinegar or paprika as you desire.
Spoon 1 tablespoon of sauce over each cod fillet. Place remaining sauce in a baking dish just large enough to hold the cod in a single layer, and stir in the fish stock. Place the cod on top of sauce. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until fish juices are just appearing and the cod cod flakes.
The romesco sauce can be made ahead one day ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
As always, thanks for reading, subscribing and sharing.
Wowza! I’ll have to try that! Thank you EP!