Pears, Peter, White

Peter (AKA Mr. Souvlaki for the Soul) is my flickr/blogging/photographer friend. We met in a flickr photography group years ago and have been chatting over email ever since. He's in Australia, I'm in NY, and neither of us ever had occasion to be in the same part of the world until recently. Despite this, we've had a regular, lovely dialogue over email for years, chatting about blogging, photography, seeking advice on client challenges, photography equipment and of course, gossiping and talking about nothing at all. Even though we never met in person, I felt a real friendship with him. When my son was born, he sent a beautiful baby blanket from Donna Hay's store, knowing what a huge fan of her I am. It was very touching to say the least. A few months ago his "day job" took him to New York.  I've never had the experience of having a virtual friend become an in-person one and it could have been incredibly strange to meet face-to-face.  But it wasn't - in fact - it was comforting to see that he's exactly the same person live as on email - and exactly who I expected him to be.

Fortunately he's been in town twice since and we've been able to have short visits each time.  It's been fun getting to know him better.  He does different work than I do, with a different approach and it's been nice learning from each other.  I don't know that many photographers, and it's always wonderful to spend time with someone who shares the same passion.

Just after Christmas, Peter was in town and brought gifts not only for me, but also for my husband and son - so sweet.  Mine was a copy of Donna Hay's latest.  I could not wait to get my hands on it!  There are so many simple, great recipes in there that I didn't know where to start.  The poached pears grabbed me because they are winter-inspired and also because they are not poached in the typical wine, but rather in a vanilla syrup which preserves their color and makes them a beautiful white-on-white which is always such a nice, graphical aesthetic, isn't it.  In fact, maybe it's because the cityscape is a snowy one but I've been loving all things white on white lately.  It's soft and comforting, isn't it?

Thanks, Peter, for the book - I am really going to enjoy it!

Poached Pears ("Vanilla Pears") from Donna Hay's Fast Fresh Simple
(serves 4)

2 cups water
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
4 firm brown pears, peeled, halved and cored
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream to serve

Place the water, sugar and vanilla bean and seeds in a deep frying pan over medium-high heat and bring to boil.   Add pears and simmer for 3 minutes each side or until just tender.  Serve with some of the poaching syrup and vanilla ice cream/whipped cream.

Bright beet and potato fritters and a little photography news

I fell in love with Donna Hay’s beet, sweet potato and potato fritters in Issue 38 because of the beautiful color and unusual texture of the fritters (enhanced, of course, by the wonderful way they were photographed). The fritters are formed by (according to Donna’s method) running a zester over the length of the potatoes and beets to cut them into thin strands. A rather laborious process to say the least, but I found an easy shortcut that I am so in love with I’m thinking about new dishes solely for an excuse to apply it: the Benriner turning slicer.

This low-tech but amazing gadget slices vegetables into a single long strand (or other shapes) in seconds. I sound like a commercial, but really, it’s quite nifty. I opted to leave out the sweet potato, as I am not a huge fan of them, and instead used half beet and half potato. I had all 300 grams dissected in a minute, and beautiful deep red and pink (the beet colors the potato) fritters not long thereafter. This is such a beautiful and clever approach that it gives me all sorts of inspiration: a breakfast version with a poached egg on top. A rendition with onion. A version with celery root and potato.

The fritters are seasoned with sumac salt, a mix of sea salt and ground sumac. Sumac is a middle eastern spice that I was not previously familiar with. It has a pleasant lemony taste that is a nice counterpoint to the beet and potato. It’s really not necessary, though, simple sea salt and pepper would work well too, and perhaps a sprinkling of chive on the top.

(excerpt from Joshi Camera Magazine)

On a completely different topic, I want to share some exciting news: this month, I am featured in Joshi Camera magazine, a Japanese photography magazine for girls. The article is about 25 female photographers. I am very proud to be one of the four Americans selected for this edition. I received my copy late last week and was so pleased to see how beautiful the magazine is and what wonderful company I am in. I have a two page spread right at the beginning of the article. The other Americans are Amy Sandoval, whose child photography I enjoy, Paula Swift, and Brenda Acuncius.

(excerpt from Joshi Camera Magazine)

I’m posting the cover and my two pages here, but if you live near a Japanese bookstore have a look at the others. The photography is really wonderful. (p.s. if anyone speaks Japanese and can let me know what they wrote here, I would love to know! I assume it's a translation of the questionnaire I responded to but I would never know!).

(excerpt from Joshi Camera Magazine)

Beet and potato fritters with sumac salt (adapted from Donna Hay issue 38)
Serves 8

For the fritters
150 g beet, peeled
150 g (floury) potato, peeled
¼ cup rice flour
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Vegetable oil for shallow frying

Sumac salt (or chopped chive)
¼ cup sea salt flakes
1 tablespoon ground sumac

Combine sea salt and sumac to make sumac salt. Set aside.

Run a zester over potato and beet to create long strands, or, indulge in the Benriner turning slicer. Combine sliced beet and potatoes with egg, flour, salt and pepper (mix well).

Heat ¼ inch oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Spoon ½ cupfuls of beet and potato mixture into frying pan, flattening slightly and frying for ~1 minute on each side until golden and crispy. Remove from pan, drain on paper towel and sprinkle with sumac salt or chive and additional salt and pepper to taste.

Baked (not stirred): risotto

I’m a big fan of risotto but not really a big fan of hovering over the stove and stirring and stirring. When I saw a recipe for baked risotto in Donna Hay’s issue 33, I had to give it a try. After all, I’d be willing to make a few texture-related trade-offs if it meant I could throw Arborio rice and chicken stock in the oven and end up with ready to eat risotto 40 minutes later. The recipe did not disappoint. I’ve gone from making risotto, well, almost never, to having it as a side dish fairly frequently. DH suggests a number of flavor combinations: pancetta, sweet potato and sage, prawn artichoke and lemon, and spinach feta and pine nuts to name a few. The possibilities are endless: the only thing to decide when adding ingredients is whether the add-ins need to be precooked, cooked along with the risotto, or stirred in afterwards.

My favorite is an adaptation of her mixed mushroom risotto. I’ve discovered a new ingredient which makes the risotto outstanding: truffle salt! You can certainly make it with regular sea salt but the truffle salt adds another dimension and is worth the splurge!

Mixed mushroom and pea baked risotto (adapted from Donna Hay Magazine, issue 33)

10g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
300 g mixed mushrooms (I like button mushrooms, shitakes, and brown mushrooms) – quarter some and slice some to vary the texture
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
4-4 ½ cups chicken stock
1 cup sweet peas (defrosted if frozen, blanched if fresh)
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
2 T coarsely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
40 g unsalted butter to add at the end
plenty of sea salt and cracked black pepper
truffle salt

Preheat oven to 355°F

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter, oil, garlic, and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are golden (add in the parsley after the first few minutes).

Place the rice, stock, and mushroom mixture in an 8.5 x 12 in (10 cup capacity) baking dish and stir to combine. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. If using, sprinkle with truffle salt. (note: Donna Hay shows her baked risotto with slightly more liquid than I prefer. I have been using 4 cups vs. her recommended 4.5 cups of chicken stock: adjust to your preference. The amount of liquid required will also very based on your add-ins).

Cover tightly with foil and baked for ~40 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from oven, stir in peas, parmesan and second quantity of butter. Taste and adjust seasonings (you will likely want to add an additional generous amount of sea salt/truffle salt and pepper). Serve immediately.

When life gives you peppercorns: make salt and pepper lotus chips

O.k., so hopefully that title made you laugh. But it's the truth. For the past two Christmases, my sister's mother-in-law, who is very lovely and generous, has sent me the most amazing little gifts a foodie would adore. Two years ago, I received four different exotic sea salts and a little wooden case to store them in. Last year, I got an assortment of nine peppercorns, ranging from the more common (black pepper) to the most exotic (Sichuan peppercorns) (incidentally, did you know they were banned in the U.S. until fairly recently?). What's one to do with all these wonderful peppercorns? Well, lots of course. And the obvious would be a wonderful peppercorn-encrusted tuna or perhaps a steak with pepper sauce. And then I thought about pepper oil - wouldn't that be neat? But then, of course, flipping through Donna Hay, (and sorry to be boring given that she produced the last recipe too) there it was: salt and pepper lotus chips.

If you can find lotus root, you're in business. I managed to find some in the local Japanese grocery store (and of course, got sucked into a cartload of other items while I was there). Then, it's just a matter of slicing them thinly, frying them in some vegetable oil, and tossing them in a wonderfully fragrant spice mixture of salt, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chillies and star anise. They are very beautiful and delicate-looking and they pack quite a punch.

P.S. I'm contributing a series of photographic kitchen tours (in Manhattan) to Apartment Therapy's great kitchen-related site, "the kitchn." Check out the first one here.


Salt and pepper lotus chips (from Donna Hay Magazine, Issue 37)

2 tablespoons sea salt flakes (note: I thought perhaps they were a tad salty, consider reducing this and adding additional salt in the end to taste)
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
4 small dried chillies
3 star anise
vegetable oil for deep frying
1 kg (2 1/4 lb) fresh lotus root, peeled and thinly sliced (note: keep slices in acidulated water until frying: they turn color easily)

Place the salt, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chillies and star anise in a small frying pan over high heat. Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes or until aromatic. Remove from the pan, place in a small food processor and process until combined. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large deep saucepan over medium heat until hot (~350 degrees F). Deep-fry the lotus root slices in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden and crisp and drain on absorbent paper. Place the chips in a bowl with the salt mixture and toss to coat. Serves 8.

I'm submitting my peppercorn photo to this month's "Click" event which has a theme of "metal". Feel free to jump over and vote after all the entries are received on March 30th.

Burst of color and flavor: red curry with tofu

Maybe it’s the continuation of winter that’s making me long for crisp, bright vegetables with lots of color. I’m also finding myself cooking simple, quick meals and cutting corners wherever possible. Browsing through Donna Hay’s latest magazine, my exact thoughts were responded to from the other side of the world in the form of a quick, zippy dinner: red curry with tofu.

I know tofu is not for everyone. It’s really not the star of this meal anyway. It could easily be omitted or replaced with some sliced chicken or beef sautéed with a little salt and pepper. If the star of this little drama is a flavorful red curry paste and coconut milk sauce, then the unexpected plot twist is how quickly it all comes together. In fact, the first time I made this, I picked up two takeout cartons of jasmine rice from the local Malaysian restaurant and didn’t even make the rice. How long did it take me all together? Ten minutes at most. In a fraction of an hour, we had a spicy, crunchy, (mostly) healthy meal that was incredibly satisfying. Not only is it rather scrumptious, but also it’s quite pretty on the plate. Have a try.

I’ve adapted the recipe by adding a trick I learned from Thomas Keller’s tomes: to blanch the vegetables prior to cooking. You can certainly skip this step, but it’s what helps the vegetables retain their vibrant color. It’s quick to do, and you can blanch everything ahead of time if you like and the throw everything together in a few minutes when you are ready to cook the meal.

Red curry with tofu (adapted from Donna Hay magazine, issue 37)

If desired, blanch (30 seconds in heavily salted boiling water, plunge into ice bath immediately. If not blanching, slice vegetables and proceed):
1 handful green beans, ends trimmed, cut into ~1-2 inch pieces
1 sweet red pepper, julienned

1 brown onion
1 Tbs red curry paste
2 cups cooked jasmine rice
1 cup coconut milk (light works fine)
200g chopped firm tofu (I like silken)
salt

garnish:
1 scallion, sliced thinly
Thinly sliced red chilli pepper to taste
1 handful bean sprouts
Optional: mint leaves

Cook onion with 1 tablespoon red curry paste in a little vegetable oil (note: I like to slice the onion in half lengthwise and then slice thinly along the grain). Add 1 cup coconut milk and 2 cups jasmine rice and stir until well combined. Add 200g chopped firm tofu, green beans and red pepper and cook until warmed through. Season with salt to taste. Top with chopped red chili, bean sprouts, mint and scallion.

Lemon and garlic chicken

I was lucky to spend my friend Alison’s last day of maternity leave with her. We decided to cook dinner together and, even more fun, grocery shop at one of my very favorite New York places, Essex market.

Essex market is a 65-year-old covered market in New York’s Lower East Side that was originally opened to get pushcarts off the crowded streets. The market has been shaped by the population of the neighborhood’s inhabitants and the city’s history, initially catering to the Jewish and Italian residents, then adapting to a new Puerto Rican population and, in the 1970s, suffering a decline as supermarkets and other shops with street fronts offered a more convenient and popular way to shop. The New York City Economic Development Corporation assumed direct control of the Market in 1992 when a previous effort to develop and reinvigorate the market failed. The market has been in a state of transformation and resurgence, and over recent years, a spate of off-beat gourmet shops have moved in alongside some of the more traditional Hispanic green grocers and market stalwarts like the fishmonger and butcher.

The market is a wonderful, eclectic place full of high-quality products and great buys. Apart from the dreaded schlepping of groceries home after an excursion, I love any excuse to roam around and shop the small stores, grab lunch at one of the small counters outside a restaurant outpost, or just check out the interesting ethnic products on offer. I love the experience of dealing with shop owners directly and love that each shop is highly specialized. Some of my favorites include Formaggio Essex, an outpost of a Cambridge, Massachusetts Italian gourmet store, Saxelby Cheesemongers, run by a young and very passionate foodie who largely sources local cheeses, and the main Hispanic grocery store that sells the largest avocados I have ever seen.

Alison and I conferred about recipes at a table by the entrance. and then set off to shop. We picked up cheeses at Saxelby’s, a chicken at the butcher, shallots, herbs, salad greens, French beans and other vegetables at the grocer, and then headed home with shopping bags hanging from every finger. What was on the menu? New recipes from Donna Hay to try of course: A one-pot chicken with lemon and garlic that looked fairly simple, and hey, who doesn’t love a one-pot meal? A baked risotto that, yes, requires no laborious stirring, adding liquids, and re-stirring: just baking. A great green salad. Steamed French beans. Some Rancho Gordo beans slowly cooked with onions, celery, carrot and garlic and a dessert Alison brought from a bakery she likes in Brooklyn.

Lemon and garlic chicken (adapted from Donna Hay)

1 lemon, halved
1 1/2 lb whole chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
12 shallots, peeled
1 head garlic, halved (remove very papery outer layers but keep garlic head intact)
1/4 cup brandy
2 cups riesling
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons tarragon leaves
steamed green beans to serve

Place the lemon in the cavity of the chicken and secure the legs with chicken string. Brush the chicken with half of the oil, sprinkle generously with sea salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining oil, shallots and garlic and cook for 10 minutes or until starting to caramelize. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the chicken and cook, breast side down, until chicken skin releases from the pan and is golden brown. Turn and cook on each remaining side in the same manner. Return the garlic and shallots to the pan, add the brandy and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the wine, stock, and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for a further 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the tarragon and serve with green beans. Serves 4.

Spoon madeleines and an adventure

Continuing my Donna Hay love fest, I’ve been pouring through recent magazines, flagging recipes I want to try, and cooking them when I can. Recently, the magazine featured spoon-sized desserts – a very sweet (pun intended) set of recipes oriented around baking desserts in different types of spoons. There were several I was interested in trying, among them a very simple recipe for madeleines that can be baked in teaspoons or tablespoons. The cake recipe contains only a few ingredients and is quickly whipped up. The challenge for me was finding appropriate spoons. My modern, sleek stainless steel spoons did not seem worthy of such a pretty dessert and I don’t own silver flatware. This led to my adventure – a trip to a prop rental company.

Coincidentally, I live in an area of New York City that is full of photography, theatre and film-related businesses. There are several prop rental companies in the neighborhood, including Prop Haus, a store without a street front that operates largely on word of mouth (no website and hardy any detailed information to be found without visiting). They have two floors, a complete floor of kitchenware and tabletop items and another full of furniture, and they rent items for photo shoots and movies. To my delight, stacked on high shelves, row after row, were any type, style and color of plate, silverware, table linens, glassware, and cookware I could possibly imagine. There was a chest of drawers filled with silverware, antique and new, classified by type, available for the picking. I had a hard time walking out without more items. The price, unfortunately, was a deterrent for the hobbyist like me – antique silver aside, given the prices and the one week rental period, it is more cost-effective to continue to buy props here and there as I need them. For this project, however, I had a wonderful time combing through silverware to find the perfect mismatched assortment of tarnished antique spoons, and of course, I couldn’t help but check out everything else as well! It is truly heaven for the design, photography or food enthusiast.

P.S.
I had a nice experience that came from a kitchen quest earlier this week. I have been looking for a prettier and less expected alternative to conventional ramekins that would make a prettier presentation at the table and think I’ve finally found my answer in Mud Australia baby noodle bowls. I searched for the color and quantity I wanted online and happened to call a store in Maryland that carries the brand. After giving my order information, the store owner realized we had gone to high school together. She has beautiful store as a second career after being a lawyer. It’s always wonderful to rediscover people, and to find people who are following their passion – very encouraging for someone like me who is just starting her own business. To check the store out, click here.

Chocolate spoon madeleines (from Donna Hay)

Makes approximately 15 tablespoons or 30 teaspoons depending on the size of your spoons (I only got 10 out of the largish tablespoons I used)

1 egg
2 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar
2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
30g (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted
confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 355°F. Place eggs and caster sugar in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Fold through the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and butter. Place ~30 greased teaspoons or ~15 greased tablespoons around the edge of a rimmed baking sheet. Spoon the mixture into the spoons until 2/3 full. Bake the teaspoons for 5 mintues or the tablespoons for 8 minutes or until madeleines are cooked. Dust with confectioner's sugar to serve.

Homemade ricotta

I never considered making my own cheese, after all, people focus their lives on cheese making and it is easy to buy wonderful cheeses. But then I saw how simple it is to make fresh ricotta. Donna Hay had a wonderful piece on ricotta in the October/November issue (my dish above left, her magazine page on the right) and I was very curious to see if a recipe that simple, for something I had previously thought was very complicated, would actually work. Believe-it-or-not, two ingredients later (milk and vinegar), and about 10 minutes total cooking time later, I had a soft and fluffy ricotta that was so fresh and satisfying I couldn’t believe I’d never tried it before! The only piece of specialty equipment required is a liquid thermometer. Otherwise, it is optimal to use a ricotta mold, but the recipe works perfectly well molded in any 1-cup capacity container provided you drain the ricotta well before loading it in and use care when un-molding. Ricotta molds are not the easiest things to find, and after realizing I would have to resort to mail order, I decided it wasn’t that important.

Ricotta (from Donna Hay)

6 cups full cream milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar

1. Place the milk and a candy thermometer in a saucepan over medium heat and heat to 176ºF. Remove from the heat, add the vinegar and allow to sit for 5 minutes or until curds form.
2. Line a colander with fine muslin and place over a deep bowl. Use a slotted soon to carefully spoon the curds into the colander. Allow to drain for 5 minutes.*
3. Spoon the ricotta into a glass or ceramic dish and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week. Makes 1 ¼ cups.

*The reason the curds need to be carefully spooned is to ensure they hold their shape. Pouring the curds straight into the colander will result in the cheese becoming dry and grainy.

I followed the recipe for sweet honeyed ricotta, which includes a honey/vanilla bean drizzling syrup as follows:

Honey / vanilla syrup

1 cup water
1/3 cup honey
1 vanilla bean, scraped
brioche (or other bread) to serve
honeycomb to serve

Place the water, honey, vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook for 12-15 minutes or until thick and syrupy. Strain and allow to cool. Turn ricotta out onto a plate, pour the honey syrup over it and serve wit the honeycomb and brioche.

Apple and almond tart

R and I are just back from a week’s vacation in the Adirondacks and Tennessee. We had a great time and lots of culinary adventures. I’m planning a post with a recipe or two from our travels. In the meantime, I put a teaser of the photos we took and uploaded on to flickr in the bottom right-hand corner of the blog (click through to link to the entire set).

Some time before we left, I decided it was time to get more serious about food photography. I think my photos are fine, but I’ve been interested in really learning more about what makes a great shot, how to use props, and how to get lighting right. I started looking more carefully at magazine photos, researching the topic on the web, and joined a flickr food photography group that hosts a monthly challenge and critique.

In my opinion, the most beautiful and consistent food photography comes from Donna Hay and team. I’d be pretty happy if I could get my shots to look a fraction as good as hers do. I love her aesthetic and love how she sets up simple shots that are full of beauty. Her magazine is gorgeous and inspirational, and her recipes are pretty good to boot! I’ve tried a number of recipes from issue 29, among which is a gorgeous apple pastry that I had to try simply because it photographed so beautifully. It turned out to be delicious too; slightly reminiscent of baklava on the inside with a petal-like topping of apples soaked in sugar syrup. Since you buy the puff pastry, it’s not that hard to make either.

I took my own take on her recipe omitting the pistachios and walnuts and increasing the quantity of almonds instead. The most readily available pre-made puff pastry sheets in the supermarket that I could find is Du Four, which is shaped such that dividing it into two rectangular-shaped pieces, (as opposed to rounds), worked best.

I decided to use the tart as the basis for one of my submissions to the flickr photo group for August’s challenge, diptychs. Having never thought about diptychs in my life I found myself considering every potential shot as a part of a broader composition. It was a lot of fun to think differently and learn about something entirely new. My first submission was entirely sub-par but I got better as the month went on. I’m looking forward to September’s challenge.

Apple and almond tart (from Donna Hay)
Serves 6

2 x 9 3/4 inch ready prepared pastry sheets, thawed (see my note above re: Du Four)

filling

1 cup almond meal (ground almonds) (I ground my own in the food processor)
½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 ¼ oz unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, whisked
2 tablespoons honey
¼ cup pistachio nuts
¼ cups chopped walnuts

apple syrup

2 cups water
2 cups caster (superfine) sugar
4 pink lady apples, thinly sliced (really must use a mandoline for this)

To make apple syrup, place the water and sugar in a small saucepan over lover heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from the heat. Allow the syrup to cool completely then add the apples, set aside.

Preheat oven to 355º F. To make the filling, place the almond meal and sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter, egg and honey and stir well to combine. Fold through the pistachios and walnuts and set aside.

Cut out 2, 9-inch rounds from the pastry sheets. Cut out a 7 ½ inch round from one of the rounds to create a border and discard the center. Place the border on top of the larger pastry sheet. Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Spread the filling over the centre of the pastry and cook for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden.

To serve, remove the apple slices from the syrup, place on top of the pastry and drizzle with the apple syrup.