Summer Small Plates

It's no secret that I could easily live on small bites. It's definitely my preferred style of eating. Casual, relaxed and the the opportunity to try just a little bit of everything. Why would I eat any other way? Here in Vancouver we are having some very warm days, particularly this last week. So no way do I want to put on the oven. We're still waiting for our own tomatoes. They continue to show promise and we've harvested them in twos and threes but we are still not quite at salad production levels yet. So I thought we'd practice with some nice store bought, local,  mini San Marzanos and make a nice Caprese. The basil was freshly harvested from our own garden.

We picked up some Bocconcini at Zara's in the Granville Island Public Market and while we where there took the opportunity to purchase some of their delicious pasta. Ravioli stuffed with Butternut Squash seemed to be all the rage in the last few years and even though we seem to see it everywhere I can't get tired of this combination.

I simply cooked the pasta in water in a shallow pan for about 3 minutes and then drained the water and removed the pasta. In the same pan I melted some butter and threw in some sage leaves and then added the pasta back to the pan and tossed for 2 minutes or so. Luxurious and delicious.

No stop to Granville Island would be complete without a visit to Oyama Sausage Company.  The thing I like most about this place is when standing in line you can meet someone from every country that ever made a sausage. Some Spanish Serrano and one of my all-time favourite charcuterie items Rosette de Lyon made this meal complete.

What are your favourite summer dishes?

Garden Harvest

Here we are on the 30th of July and the garden is starting to show fruit. We've already had some bountiful harvests of lettuce but our first tomatoes are starting to appear. Along with the beautiful basil, we'll be enjoying a nice salad soon.

Coming Soon: Meringues

I'm preparing for another cookbook review which will appear soon over at cookthatbook.com. I'm tackling Classic Artisan Baking by Julian Day. So far I'm loving this book but I won't say any more other than to give you a glimpse of today's project: meringues.

UPDATE: (Oct 17, 2012) The review is now complete. Check it out here.

Beautiful Eggs

Having some fun today with a new lighting set up. I think eggs might be one of favourite things to photograph.

Strawberry Custard Tart

When I was sixteen I worked in a bakery. Among the specialties were some tiny strawberry tarts filled with bavarian cream, topped with strawberries and a strawberry glaze. I thought of this immediately when I was deciding what to do with all those strawberries. I made a larger version with a pâte sablée from a book I'm currently in the process of reviewing for  Cookthatbook.com. It uses almonds, flour, butter and an egg and I love the richness it brings.  I made a custard with egg yolks, milk, and a bit of flour and then arranged the strawberries on top. Although I made a glaze, ultimately I decided to use just a drizzle.  The custard made this rather gooey and delicious.

Good things come to those who wait

This past week, as part of my role with Cookthatbook.com, I got the opportunity to sit down to chat with Mourad Lahlou, acclaimed chef of Aziza in San Francisco. Chef Mourad was in Vancouver to promote his new book, Mourad: The New Moroccan. Chef Mourad is both a nostalgic and innovative chef who speaks from the heart and is equally passionate telling stories about his grandmother making couscous, as he is talking about a Japanese technique he is employing his kitchen. I was inspired!

I won't reveal all of our chat just yet as the full interview will be running soon on Cookthatbook.com, but I thought that in the meantime, I'd share my efforts with you with preserving lemons, an essential ingredient in Moroccan cuisine. In 4 weeks time, I should have a beautiful ingredient to use in my cooking.

UPDATE:  My interview with Mourad Lahlou is now live right here. And my review of Mourad: New Moroccan can be found here. Enjoy!

Style me hungry

This weekend, I was lucky enough to take part in Clare Barboza and Becky Selengut's food styling workshop in Seattle. Clare is a Seattle-based documentary food photographer whose style I have been attracted to for a while now. She has a way of capturing the story behind the food that I really admire.  Becky Selengut is a chef, cookbook author, and teacher with a very quick wit who makes delicious food. The combination was fantastic and made for a fun and inspiring day of styling and photography.

We talked about colour, texture of props, and how to style food for camera using natural techniques. Then there was lots of time to explore and plan and execute your own shots. Clare has a fantastic studio with tons of natural light which gives me serious studio envy. She also has a fantastic 'wall-o-props' (check it here) which makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. So many possibilities!

I  really wanted to create a farmhouse atmosphere and found some great rustic, antique props to work with. Here is one of the shots I made, of some seriously yummy, sweet and savoury, butternut squash beignets, prepared by Becky. I'm getting hungry just thinking about them again.

Bring on the Recipes!

I met the lovely and creative Jasmine Bradley back in February when we both attended a food photography workshop with the amazing Clare Barboza in Seattle. It was then that I found out about Jasmine's fantastic website Cook that Book, where she has turned her love of cookbooks into a useful resource for all of us by providing interesting and useful real world reviews of the cookbooks we all covet. So when the chance came up, I was very honoured to have the opportunity  to work with Jasmine and contribute to her great site.  My first review will be of Donna Hay's Seasons - a book I've spent a lot of time with in the last year - to the detriment of my waistline. Here are a few of the shots from my review.

.

Please check out the full review here.

We've got some exciting books coming up so please check back soon.  Also, if you have a favourite new cookbook, please share!

Learning from Others

Hi all, I haven't posted in a while and lots has been happening so I'll thought I'd just do a quick post with some of my photos from the last month or so.

Among these are some photos that I took when I recently had the great fortune to spend the day taking pictures with the lovely Clare Barboza and a group of avid food photographer students at Clare's food photography workshop in Seattle, WA.  Clare is a Seattle based documentary food photographer and spending the day with her was truly a joy. We have so much to learn from each other. I was so struck how of the 7 people in the workshop, not one of us had the same shot, even though we all had access to the same props and subject matter.  It truly goes to show you the importance of vision. Thanks Clare for a truly magnificent day.

The food was  prepared by Seattle chef Becky Selengut and I can tell you it tasted as good as it looked!

Additionally, I'm including some photos from some of the things I've been baking and cooking lately.