Thursday, 30 September 2010

Back to basics food photography

Styled by Carl Kleiner: http://www.carlkleiner.com/ these series of back to basics food photography were produced for the Ikea cookbook (which is apparently free in Sweden). Love the creativity.

Digital Photography School & Food Photography

Great website by Melbourne based guy with forum and tips for photography, this is an article about food photography

Monday, 27 September 2010

Top 50 food blogs to check out

From
February 17, 2009

50 of the world's best food blogs

Change the way you cook and eat for ever with Times Online's guide to the world's tastiest food blogs

This list comprises 50 of our favourite food blogs but is by no means exhaustive. Times Online invites users to submit their favourites for a follow-up article using the comment box below.

1. Orangette The ultimate food lovers' blog. The seductive powers of food writing are not to be underestimated - Molly Wizenberg's words even helped to find her a husband. I cooked for almost 12 hours straight after discovering this blog - recipes range from the simple to the delectable: tomato sauce, hasselback potatoes, chickpea salad, chocolate granola. Wizenberg redeems the most uninteresting food – her cabbage gratin is one of my culinary hits of the year.

Molly Wizenberg shares food secrets in our exclusive Meet the Food Bloggers interview

2. Cannelle et Vanille The recipes say it all: salted caramel ice-cream, roasted fig frozen mousse, lemon verbena with chamomile crème brulee. This visually stunning site was started by Spanish pastry chef Aran Goyoaga in January last year to satisfy her career-break cravings. Even a snacky peek explains its overnight success.

3. The Wednesday Chef New York-based Luisa Weiss started this blog as a way of documenting her trawl through clippings of recipes from the New York and LA Times. A mix of recipes and humorous anecdotes - her boyfriend thinks he is pre-hypertensive so she reduces the salt to avoid confronting the issue of male hypochrondria - it's a charming blog packed with information (indeed, a whole 700 words about coleslaw).

4. Delicious Days Authored by Munich-based Nicky Stich, this blog has a huge following, currently at number 127 in Technorati's Top 100 blogs (the highest ranking food blog.) Well-conceived, with an international flavour but healthy dose of German influence and easy to navigate sections including a food news feed. DD features the author's own recipes, as well as adaptations from other cookbooks. An invaluable article offers tips for budding food bloggers.

5. David Lebovitz Another megablog, this witty food reportage by the established cookbook author and ex-pastry chef David Lebovitz has up to 25,000 visitors a day. Now based in Paris, he covers recipes, restaurants and interviews with other foodie heavyweights. Head to his FAQ page for all the culinary secrets on Paris you could wish for.

David Lebovitz reveals more secrets in our exclusive Meet the Food Bloggers interview

6. Chez Pim Not much of a foodie secret, blog celebrity and big-hitter Pim quit her Silicon Valley job in 2005 to pursue her foodie calling. And a good move it was too; more than 142,000 regular readers have signed up for daily doses of her recipes, restaurant reviews and authoritative all-round food comment. My favourite recent post? An election recipe; chicken soup for the American soul.

7. Matt Bites When blog photos are taken by a professional photographer, it really shows – see his recent molasses-glazed acorn squash, for example. One of the select number of male food bloggers, Matt is charming and humorous, and has a recent Martha Stewart TV appearance to boot.

Matt reveals more food secrets in our exclusive Meet the Food Bloggers interview

8. Serious Eats Practically everything you need to know about food can be found on this multi-contributor food website, started by New York Times journalist Ed Levine. The focus is on American foods such as hot dogs, there are restaurant and gadget reviews, food videos and recipes, including an easy recipe every afternoon to inspire that evening's dinner.

9. 101 Cookbooks One of the most established food blogs, five years old and counting; this is the chronicle of a blogger with an overindulged habit of buying cookbooks. This Californian blog is primarily a conduit for savoury recipes, mostly vegetarian, and using natural foods - the most popular include caramelised tofu, black bean brownies and lemon-scented quinoa salad. It's technologically literate, too, with i-Phone compatible recipes, and there is a convenient index of recipes by ingredient, and by category (ie gluten-free, cookies, drinks etc).

Saturday, 25 September 2010

Tomatoes with garlic breadcrumbs

Simple tasty addition to any main course dinner

Ingredients:

- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large sprig of parsley
- half cup olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 medium size tomatoes, halved
- one tea spoon sea salt

Pulse all ingredients together until it is a light mixture, then scoop a large spoonful onto the tomatoes.  Grill for 20 mins or until tops of breadcrumbs are browned.