A Recipe for David Bowie

Kitchen Wishes’ Tribute to a Life of Art and Beauty

David Bowie is no more.
The news took us — like the rest of the world — by surprise.

For many of us at Kitchen Wishes, the White Duke wasn’t just a great musician.
Bowie was a signpost, a torn-out page from the handbook of existence.
The embodiment of possibility.

He taught the world that turning emotions into art isn’t only possible — it’s necessary.
He showed us the infinite ways we can invent worlds that didn’t exist before.

Bowie used lateral thinking, painting, music, cinema, and theatre to create a total work of art — and in doing so, he painted with an endless, multicolored palette: his own unique gaze on the world.

That concept of life as art applies to every passion, every act of creativity, every form of desire —
in our case, to the kitchen, and in particular to our constant search for new, curious ways of thinking about catering, wedding planning, and the invention that comes from food.

So the idea of creating a recipe to thank the Duke came naturally.
As devoted fans, we wanted to use our craft to remember him — by creating something new.
Something that didn’t exist before.

For us, that felt like the right way to say goodbye —
because, quite simply, it’s our way.

The Recipe: “Black Star Risotto”

This dish was born while listening — deeply — to Bowie’s final, magnificent farewell:
his latest album, Blackstar.

A complex, dark, and profound record, painted in deep shades —
a farewell to the world from the brightest star ever to cross the sky of contemporary music.

Black Star Risotto

Ingredients

• 300 g Vialone Nano rice
• 2 leeks
• 2 purple carrots
• 2 bunches of Tuscan black kale (cavolo nero)
• 60 g goat butter
• 200 g cannellini beans
• Chili pepper
• Ginger
• Cardamom
• Salt

Preparation
Remove the stems from the black kale.
Place the stems in cold water with a small piece of ginger, a cardamom pod, one purple carrot, and the green tops of the leeks.
Boil for one hour.

Steam half of the kale leaves whole; finely chop the rest and cook them slowly with chili and goat butter.
Blend the cooked kale and chill for half an hour to let the butter firm up.

Sauté the cannellini beans with leek and small pieces of the remaining carrot; add a ladle of kale broth and blend until creamy.

Toast the rice well in a pan with leek sauté, deglaze with red wine (preferably Dolcetto), and cook with the kale and carrot broth.

To serve, place the whole kale leaves on the plate, add the cannellini cream, and layer the hot rice on top with the kale-butter mixture — it will melt into the risotto as you eat, creating a natural “mantecatura.”

Decorate with thin, raw slices of purple carrot — sharp and pointed, reaching toward the sky.
Enjoy while listening to Blackstar.

A Few Notes

Black kale has a deep, pungent flavor —
like the almost painful introspection of Blackstar.

Ginger and cardamom recall the oriental musical spices woven throughout the title track.
The purple carrots — their color unexpected and contrasting — pay homage to Bowie’s constant search for surprising, disorienting combinations.

The dense flavor of the kale is hidden within, suggesting a layered tasting experience that evolves with every bite —
just as Blackstar reveals something new with every listen.

The plating follows inner inspiration rather than convention — escaping the usual presentation rules.

Using some typically Tuscan ingredients (cannellini beans, black kale) is, we admit,
a small campanilistic tribute to Bowie’s love for Florence and Tuscany —
where he debuted his first Italian tour, The Glass Spider (1987);
where he exhibited his art at the Stazione Leopolda;
and where, most of all, he was married.