My Cooking Thread

[Loopy]

I say cooking, it's sort of making things less raw.

Right, I have to do something to keep my hand in at the moment so I’m going to try to combine my love of creating new meals with photography. (think what's her name of the vicar of dibly)

It might not be every night but I’ll try to post some recipe shots as and when I do them.

I know that food shots can become quite boring so I’ll keep them to a minimum for each meal. I’m hoping that as I go, I’ll learn new techniques and things might become more second nature. It might also take longer to prepare the evening meal as I tend to get a bit carried away.

A bit of background. I’ve been recording recipes for a few years now, mostly based on whatever I have in the fridge that needs using up. I have a very old fashioned attitude to cooking which means that I hate waste, like owt for nowt and will try most things once (food – wash your mouth out!). I tend to buy unusual things in the whoops sections then have to find a way of using them up. I refuse very little from allotments and hedgerows and I tend to ignore sell by dates (I have a very good nose – anyone who’s met me will know LOL)

Oh, and I have a cupboard full of weird ingredients, bought on a whim.

I might also try a few tried and tested again so I can record their construction (right phrase?)

Here goes with tonight’s tea/supper.

Starter: Cream cheese salad with Cassis dressing

It’s our wedding anniversary, so my bunch of flowers was a lettuce from the garden of the school where my hubby teaches.
Ingredients: Lettuce (whatever’s available)
Cream Cheese (on this occasion a half of Boursin – out of date)
Olive Oil
Cassis
Balsamic Vinegar
Black Pepper
Fresh Basil

Wash and dry lettuce, arrange in dish, chop cheese (goat’s would be a nice alternative), mix about a tablespoon of the oil, cassis and vinegar, drizzle and garnish with the chopped basil.

Main course (Soup to follow)

 

[Loopy]

Pepper and Celery Soup.

Bit of a veggie meal tonight.
Had a BBQ on Saturday and was left with a surplus of peppers and celery, so to me, the obvious thing was to make soup.

Ingredients are:
4 peppers – peeled and chopped (I’m parky about skins)
2 sm red onions – as above
2 sm sweet potatoes – as above
½ bunch of celery
2 veg stock cubes
small pinch of chilli powder
salt and pepper

Ready to cook

Cover with water and cook in pressure cooker until starts to whistle, then turn down for 10 minutes, switch off and leave to depressurise before removing lid.

Ready to blend

Blend until smooth and tart it up. Serve with greet chunks of bread and butter.

This was quite a light summery soup and smelt lovely with the celery. I think if I make it again I’ll put less water in.

 

[On the Huh]

As a professional cook I'm not keen on the photos. As an intermediate photographer I understand how difficult it can be ti photograph. The last one is good, but IMHO you need to adjust the WB perhaps.

 

[Loopy]

TBH, I'd say the photos are rather pants, but I had to make a start and work from there and it was all a bit spur of the moment. This is where the technique bit comes in. It's my intention to try to clear a corner and set up a temp mini studio. I just need to do a bit of research.