Cosmic Cooking with the Astrologer and the Chef

9. Uranus

Julija Simas (Astrologer) and Peta Santos (Chef)

In our cooperation with Timelords Magazine, we share with you the column "Cosmic Cooking", which deliciously combines the art of cooking with the art of astrology. Serves all. Enjoy!

Uranus was the first planet to ever be discovered, on March 13, 1781, from the backyard and telescope of William and his sister Caroline Herschel. Uranus broke the bounds of the known Solar System at the time, and not only that, it doubled its size overnight. Uranus, after being named Georgium Sidus (George's Star after the patron King George 111) 70 years later was named:

Johann Elert Bode proposed Uranus, the Latinised version of the Greek god of the sky, Ouranos. Bode argued that the name should follow the mythology so as not to stand out as different from the other planets, and that Uranus was an appropriate name as the father of the first generation of the Titans. He also noted the elegance of the name in that just as Saturn was the father of Jupiter, the new planet should be named after the father of Saturn.
source: wikipedia.

Discovered in an era of great advancement in electrical energy, revolutions and rebellions and the first balloon flights, Uranus came to represent all things new, inventive and revolutionary. Today Uranus is known to astrologers as the planet associated with sudden and unexpected changes, the ruler of freedom and originality, radical individuals, movements and ideas. Uranus as the revolutionary modern planet also came to rule over technology, things that are strange and unusual and have never been seen, experienced or done before.

Uranus doesn't come with a handbook of rulerships for things like foods, ingredients, plants or medicines as previous planets do whose associations have been studied for millennia, therefore, we were challenged to be inventive and come up with a dish that would suit a Uranian theme. What may a Uranus dish look and taste like? If a Saturn dish was steadfast and traditional, and Jupiter was plentiful and celebratory, Uranus must be an experiment of sorts, untried, untested, quick and unusual.

In order to honour the radical aspects of Uranus, a few things came to mind. Whatever we cook would have to be original, bright, zesty, perhaps a fusion of unexpected taste and flavour combinations of cuisines, using some unusual methods. Besides coming up with some painstakingly long and experimental cooking methods to the likes of Heston Blumenthal, we thought that instead, we would use some kitchen gadgets, to whizz, to whip, to pulse, which would all mimic the high pulsing and frenzied energy of Uranus, as seen in its glyph. As a ruler of the skies, we thought something air-fried would also fit.

We considered using AI to find us a recipe - very Uranian - by asking Chat GPT "what to cook for a Uranus-themed dish?". Chat GPT came up with something so bizarre that it did not sound like something we cook, let alone eat. So we gave ourselves a challenge that would make our cooking spontaneous and not too thought-out, with no pre-planning or pre-cooking involved. What we came up with was a challenge replicating what you would find on a cooking TV show like Masterchef, where you are presented with a box of selected ingredients and need to whip up a dish using some (or all) of the ingredients in just thirty minutes. We thought that this would very much tick the boxes for a Uranus cook-off - quick, unexpected, on the spot, unknown and unusual ingredients and combinations, no recipe, no research or planning.

Our task was to meet at our favourite market and give ourselves only ten minutes to source and buy three ingredients each that would need to be used in our dish. One of those ingredients had to be something we had never used before or something strange and exotic. When we got back to the kitchen, we would then only have thirty minutes for our dish to be ready and on the table - Challenge accepted!

Peta came back with - Chicken, Purple Carrots, Coconut (strange exotic)
Julija came back with - Avocado, Peanuts and a Bitter melon (strange exotic and I loved the uranium colour)

URANIAN DISH

With our ingredients laid out, we quickly came up with what we would do:

• Use the avocado and whiz it up in a blender.
• Make an unusual crumb for the chicken - using the coconut, and peanut, add turmeric, and lime zest for some unusual flavour combos and whizz ingredients together to then coat the chicken.
• Make a crazy salad with purple and orange carrots, white and red cabbage and other ingredients we have on hand, like curled Asparagus, twirls of green onion, mango and carrot cut stars for decoration.
• Colour some mayonnaise lime green (uranium colour).

Peta prepared all the fresh ingredients, coloured the mayonnaise, and whizzed the avocado, while I whizzed the breadcrumbs together, then crumbed and air-fried the chicken.

We were indeed done at 30 minutes!

SALAD

• 1/4 white and red cabbage, chopped
• 2 purple and 2 orange carrots, julienned
• 4 shaved asparagus spears
• 1/4 cup green onion slivers, curled in water and chilled in fridge
• Mango and purple carrot stars

AVOCADO MOUSSE

• 2 x avocados
• 1/2 lime juice
• Dash of salt

Whizz in a blender until smooth

BLUE and GREEN MAYO

• 1 cup store-bought mayonnaise
• 2 drops of blue and yellow food colouring

Mix with mayonnaise, a drop at a time

CHICKEN and CRUMB

• 1/2 cup panko crumbs
• 1/2 cup crushed peanuts
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon lime zest
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup cornflour
• 750 grams chicken tenders (cut in half for quicker cooking in an air fryer)

METHOD for CHICKEN

1. Put all crumb ingredients into a blender and whizz for 2 minutes.
2. Coat the chicken in cornflour, then egg, and breadcrumbs.
3. Fry in batches in an air fryer for about 8 minutes, turning at the halfway point. (cooking time in an air fryer may vary depending on the machine)
4. Whizz avocados, lime and salt in a blender for 2-3 minutes until mousse-like smooth.
5. Prepare all vegetables
6. Colour mayonnaise

P.S. We didn't end up using the Bitter Melon - it proved to be ever so Uranian that its flavour experience was so intense and bitter that we couldn't find a place for it!

See what you can come up with for your Uranian Dish experience?

SERVE

Pick the most Uranian plater of your choice. Swirl a large dose of the lime-coloured mayonnaise on the bottom of the dish. Arrange vegetables to your liking around the plate. Drizzle with a touch of olive oil. Place cooked chicken tenders on top of the salad. Top with avocado mousse and decorate with mango and carrot stars. Pipe some blue stars around the platter to your liking.

Enjoy!

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Published in: Timelords Magazine, December 2024

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Authors:

Peta Santos and Julija Simas
Peta and Julija long term friends, have cooked together and shred many meals over the past 30 years. Peta Santos, to the delight of many, has been the resident chef at C*I*A Retreats since 2013. When Timelords Magazine began in 2022, and started being populated with regular columns, these two decided to start a Cosmic Cooking Column bringing together both our big loves Peta's for Cooking and Julija's for Astrology. Every few months the Astrologer and the Chef meet to create their next dish inspired by the Planets. See previous issues for all recipes so far. Cosmic Cooking has been picked up and published at ASTRO.com

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