iEat Green - Mary Mattingly- SWALE

​Mary Mattingly is a visual artist living and working in NYC. Most of her art is centered on environmental, food, and water related issues. One of her most recent projects is "Swale", a collaborative floating food forest for New York. Swale is dedicated to rethinking and challenging New York City's connection to our environment. Built on a 130-foot by 40-foot floating platform, Swale contains an edible forest garden open to the public. Functioning as both a sculpture and a tool, Swale provides free healthy food at the intersection of public art and service.

 

Mattingly grew up in an agricultural town where the drinking water was polluted. That framed her understanding of water as a precious resource that needed to be protected. Swale came out of a need to connect with New York's waterways and public land in order to better care for it, and by proximity each other. Swale is a tool to advocate for policy change, because not everyone in NYC has access to healthy food. Since marine common law is different from New York City's public land laws, Swale can pave a pathway to create public food in a public space.

 

In 2015, she completed a two-part sculpture, “Pull” for the International Havana Biennial with the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de la Habana and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Mary Mattingly’s work has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, the Seoul Art Center, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York Public Library, deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, and the Palais de Tokyo. With the U.S. Department of State and Bronx Museum of the Arts she participated in the smARTpower project, traveling to Manila. In 2009, Mattingly founded the Waterpod Project, a barge-based public space and self-sufficient habitat that hosted over 200,000 visitors in New York. In 2014, Mattingly participated in an artist residency on the water called WetLand, launched in Philadelphia and being utilized by the University of Pennsylvania’s environmental humanities program.

 

Tempeh Puttanesca with Fire Roasted Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Capers, and Olives

 

2- 8 oz. packages of Tempeh, cut in half, then in quarters, then sliced horizontally to make each quarter   

thinner  (you should have 8 pieces from each 8 oz pk)

1 organic onion, cut in half, then sliced into crescent moons

1 lbs. organic baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

1 can organic fire roasted tomatoes

2 cups assorted cherry tomatoes

¼ cup small capers

¼ t. red chili flakes, optional

1 cup organic calamata olives, sliced

2 Tbs chopped garlic,

¼ cup, chopped Italian parsley, stems removed

Fresh herbs, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme and basil

¼ cup white wine

Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive oil

Cover the bottom of wok with olive oil. When oil is hot, add the onions, and cook for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and mushrooms, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.  

Meanwhile, steam the tempeh for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper and sprayed with olive oil. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes until light golden brown.

While the tempeh is cooking, add the can of fire roasted tomatoes to the wok. Then add the cherry tomatoes and white wine. Add the red pepper flakes, if desired.

Add the herbs. I used 3 sprigs of thyme, 2 small sprigs of rosemary, 6 sage leaves, ¼ cup of fresh basil, and 2 Tbs. of fresh oregano. Cook at high heat for a few minutes, allowing some of the liquid to evaporate and flavors to meld, then reduce the heat and add the olives and capers. Season with salt and pepper.  Remove the sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Add the chopped parsley and cook for a few more minutes to bring the flavors together. Serve with your favorite grain.