If you know someone who has to eat gluten free, you know how drastically their eating lives have changed. Shauna James Ahern and her Husband Danny, create meals with pure love of food. Shauna has a fantastic way of capturing the beauty that is gluten free living.
Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake
Corn Tortillas
Spontaneous Pork Ramen
Gluten Free Cannoli
I asked Kari Haskell what her secret for great photographs is. Her answer might surprise you!
All the cupcake pictures on our website are taken by me and my REGULAR, OLD, digital camera. How do they look so fabulous? Well, it’s the black background and NATURAL light.
I use my black, PLEATHER couch at Retro that literally sits next to a window. When the sun is streaming in (usually around noon), I take my perfectly frosted cupcakes (yes, some look more photogenic than others), and I put them in the middle of the couch cushins. I use no flash. I use the “small image” button on my camera. I zoom in so the cupcake fills the view-finder, and I CLICK the picture.
THAT’S it.
Natural light is always better for everything. In fact, I used to take pictures of my children (when they were babies) the same way using white bed linens for the background (held up by pillows). As long as the background is a solid, complimenting color, you’re all good.
Now, go find some natural light!
One of the thing I love the most about Maria’s blog, Two Peas and Their Pod is the absolutely scrumptious photography. And you can see why, no? (I am also DEFINITELY putting that strawberry ice cream on my “to make this summer list”. The sour cream is just too intriguing to me to pass up!)
Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip Cookie Milkshake
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce
BIG round of applause to Sarah at the end of her feature. Not only was she an utter delight that creates amazing food but I have to say it…she has the most awesome band of commenters we’ve seen round these parts. (If they could trail around every person giving support the world would be a MUCH better place.) Thanks to you all. Now let’s enjoy some gorgeous food photography by her good friend, Jenny B of Absolutely Photography!
I would like to share with you my friend, my sous chef, my photographer, Jenny B of Absolutely Photography. Jenny and I work as a seamless team while in the kitchen. It’s a perfect union, I focus on cooking food and she sees the food, so together we do some pretty great work. Please enjoy her visual efforts and check her out at http://www.
From Jenny
Before photography, I worked in the food industry for 18 years. I worked in a funky vegan restaurant in Laguna Beach, while cutting vegetables and fruits the natural detailed structure fascinated me. Being captivated by nature and its elements both simple and complex, I dreamt of being the one who earned a living photographing my favorite things.
Macro photography delights my soul. It sounds really corny but it is true, just ask Chef Sarah. With the help of depth of field and quality glass, the camera captures finite structural details of food.
I find this type of photography very satisfying.
A few years ago, while in Sarah’s kitchen, I started picking her brain for a better understanding of cooking things I had yet to learn. Poultry for example, is often over cooked and dry. Chef Sarah’s baked chicken was moist and tender. Just delicious! I learned correct temperatures to cook meat. I learned the beauty of mixing cumin and white pepper to spice chicken for tacos. Over time I began to read more on my own and learn from cooking shows. Cooking, really cooking became a fun creative outlet. With more confidence, I stepped closer to my roots, as my father had cooked in the army and owned a few restaurants growing up. Sometime in the middle of all this creativity, Sarah started her food blog and announced she was headed to culinary school. I squealed with excitement knowing she would be a great student. I hoped to benefit from her training but I had no idea it would be in the waste band too! I expressed interest in photographing her meals to achieve my goal of shooting food. She said, “Bring it!”
These days, I juggle the sous chef and photographer hats while working with Chef Sarah. I truly enjoy being Sarah’s sous chef because of her easy going teaching style. Collaborating with her is a total party, really, we geek and laugh and then EAT of course.
In the future, I hope to attain more food styling skills and shoot a few cookbooks too!
Hi, everyone! Loralee, here. I hope that you are all having a GREAT holiday weekend! I have had such fun being on Amuse Bouche this week. I love my job, I love meeting the people that I do and I love that I get to see so many beautiful images of food on a daily basis.
Today, as you know, is our post that focuses on photography. I have been dreading it as I am NOT a great photographer by any stretch of the imagination.
But, I am a good example of someone who took really horrible food photos but wanted to do better. I have come a LONG way.
For example, this is a bunch of photographs I posted in 2006 from “French Food Day” with my brother, Rhett. (He’s the one that is cooking with me in my feature in the magazine. And yes, we tend to land square on the ‘dork’ side.)
HORRIBLE, no?
But.
I read and realized that natural light is my FRIEND while flash and killing a photo with saturation is MINE ENEMY. And I started playing around with my camera and faffing about with plating food. I haven’t put a ton of time into it but I have put enough in to improve. And now while I am still not great at it by a long shot, I take photos like this:
Again, still not spectacular or at even an avid amature level, but so much better than I was! If you want to take a better photograph, you CAN and there are so many resources online to help you do so.
Now on to the recipes that I made for today’s photography post. I felt strongly that since my feature in Where Women Cook is all about all the cooking adventures that I’ve had over the years with my brother, Rhett, I wanted to think up a really great recipe for us to post on Amuse Bouche. He couldn’t get up here to cook with me until this weekend, so forgive the lateness of this post but I hope you’ll think the wait was worth it~
xo, Loralee
This recipe can serve 24. You can alter as needed.
3 KINDS OF SLIDERS ON MULTIGRAIN “BUNS”
3 lbs. ground meat (I used garlic and rosemary lamb sausage, lamb and apple sausage and Angus beef.)
24 wholegrain rolls
Form into 6 burgers about 3/4 in. thick. Put on a plate, cover, and refrigerate 2 hours.
With a silicone brush or oiled paper towels, lightly oil a charcoal grill over a solid bed of hot coals or a gas grill on high heat
4. Lay burgers on grill; close lid on gas grill. Cook burgers, turning once, until they’re done the way you like, about 6 minutes for medium-rare. Set each burger on a foll that has been cut in half. Top with with relishes and serve.
Place on a sliced multigrain roll. (You can toast them on the grill if desired.)
GARLIC AND ROSEMARY LAMBURGER SLIDERS WITH SPICY MINT PEA RELISH AND TZATZIKI SAUCE
Cook lamb sausage slider and place on a multigrain roll and top with the following:
SPICY MINT PEA RELISH
1 cup frozen baby peas
2 tablespoons packed fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil1
1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Put peas in a food processor to finely chop. Then add mint, chile, olive oil, and lemon juice. Pulse until finely chopped. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Makes 3/4 cup
TZATZIKI SAUCE
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 oz. plain (non-fat) yogurt
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tablespoon chopped chives or scallion
Finely chop cucumber into colander or strainer, add salt and let stand 15 minutes. Press out liquid with back of spoon or put in a paper towel and squeeze to drain excess liquid. Place in bowl with rest of ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Makes 1 cup
BLUE CHEESE CRUMBLED ANGUS SLIDERS WITH BATTERED ONION STRINGS
Make your Angus sliders, place on a multigrain roll and top with the following:
1/4 teaspoon blue cheese crumbles
1 teaspoon tempura fried onion rings
TEMPURA BATTERED ONION STRINGS
1 large sweet onion, sliced into very fine rings and cut in half
1 cup flour
1 cup cold club soda
1 egg
Salt to taste
Oil, for frying
Whisk ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Add onions. Fry in oil. Drain on a paper towel covered plate.
LAMB AND APPLE SAUSAGE SLIDERS WITH FETA AND SWEET AND SOUR APPLE BEET RELISH
Make your lamb sliders, place on a multigrain roll and top with the following:
SWEET AND SOUR APPLE BEET RELISH
1 jar pickled beets, julianned
1 small Granny Smith or greening apple, peeled, cored and shredded (largest setting)
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt (coarse)
Freshly ground black pepper
Feta cheese, crumbled
LIME CHILI FRUIT AND JICAMA SUMMER SALAD
Chop and julianne vegetables. Combine in a bowl and toss until thoroughly incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste. Add to slider and top with feta crumbles.
2 cups each:
Julienne jicama
Cubed watermelon
Cubed mango
1 cup sliced cucumber
Juice of two fresh limes and
Tajin lime chili powder and salt to taste
Put jicama, watermelon, mango and cucumber in a bowl. Toss with lime juice and add salt and Tajin Lime Chili Powder to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
I am always so happy when our featured guests include a recipe with their Thursday photography posts. I LOVE the photos of this tart from Jenny…I think it’s one of her best recipes. (I will try to refrain from licking my screen. Try being the operative word here.) If you want deeper instructions on making this honey apple tart, please visit Picky Palate and see the original recipe.
1 sheet Puff Pastry, thawed
heaping 1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tablespoons honey, warmed plus 4 Tablespoons for drizzling
2 apples of choice, sliced thinly
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice puff pastry dough into 3 equal size rectangles and place onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Warm peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl until liquid like. Drizzle in 2 Tablespoons of honey, stir then spread evenly over 3 pastry rectangles leaving 1/2 inch border around edges. Layer apple slices neatly over top of peanut butter, drizzle with warm honey, sprinkle with sugar then bake for 30-35 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned and puffed around the edges. Let cool completely then drizzle with additional warm honey if desired and powdered sugar. Serve as whole tarts or cut each tart into fourths.
3 full tarts or 12 slices
Today Angela shares her stunning Potager with us. (If you don’t know what that is, don’t feel bad…I totally had to look it up!) Angela has written a series called “Potager 101″ on her blog, and you should totally check it out if you want to create your own bit of ornamental kitchen garden inspiration!
Potager
(from Wikipedia)
A potager is a French term for an ornamental vegetable or kitchen garden. The historical design precedent is from the Gardens of the French Renaissance and Baroque Garden à la française eras. Often flowers (edible and non-edible) and herbs are planted with the vegetables to enhance the garden’s beauty. The goal is to make the function of providing food aesthetically pleasing.
Pants are chosen as much for their functionality as for their color and form. Many are trained to grow upward. A well-designed potager can provide food, cut flowers and herbs for the home with very little maintenance. Potagers can disguise their function of providing for a home in a wide array of forms—from the carefree style of the cottage garden to the formality of a knot garden.
Here is what I say…
A Potager is where form meets function. Where nutrition meets the aesthetic.
…It’s where your morning glories can intertwine with your pole beans, where your lettuce can grow in fanciful shapes and patterns… it’s where you can pick a handful of snapdragons to throw atop a fresh salad… just enough color to WOW a girlfriend over lunch.
Pronounced: Poe-tah-jay (soft, French “J”) I know someone who says “Pot-age-ger”. I almost die every time she says it
I have had a Potager for almost six years now. It started with a poorly shaped circle of grass in our yard that sloped, surrounded by weed infested flowerbeds/garden… I hated to mow it… so one day… like acomplete NUT I began to dig it out… I mean serious excavation here girls. Up to three feet deep in some places. Finally after a couple weeks, I could see that I was NEVER going to get it done all by myself with a newborn laying on the blanket beside me so a friend of mine and I swapped. I faux finished her kitchen cabs and her hubby (a landscaper) and a laborer came over the next week and helped me work. Her husband joked that I worked harder than his guy - yer darn tootin’!
I love to work.
I think he thought I was insane as I showed him my newly defined circle and tried to explain the pie shapes I would be making… raised rock beds… He was pretty concerned about resale value… resale, shmeesale. The woman who buys this house from me someday is going to have to be a Parisienne Farmgirl at heart… hopefully she’ll be thrilled most of the work has been done for her.
I think I screamed with glee at the first fresh salad… maybe even shed a tear at the first batch of crispy steamed green beans. I went from someone who thought growing your own food was weird to someone who now wants a farm!!!
People can change.
Five year later we have expanded and there isn’t a blade of grass to be found in our backyard but my heart still lies in my original Potager.
If you dream of organic food, if you savor a gorgeous tomato or a fresh pile of basil… if your heart has swooned when you made your first trip to a chateau in France and saw those neatly trimmed boxwoods holding in lavender and other herbs… than a Potager, large or small is for you.
Be inspired.
Savory food & beauty are just months away.
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