AN EXPLORATION OF ALL THINGS FOOD
For the past couple of weeks my dad has been making dinner on Sundays for us to join him. Its been quite the treat- the first one was chicken and dumplings, and the second was lasagna. He hit it out of the park with that! …
Cooking food and photographing food are so different. I love cooking and I thought- what can be so hard with photographing food. Everything! There’s the lighting, the angle, shutter speed, styling food to make it appetizing….Phew…who knew? I didn’t, but its a learning process and …
The taste tester and I have been to New Orleans a number of times and I just can’t get enough of all the deliciousness the city offers. Red beans and rice, jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp and grits, beignets, muffulettas….Just to name a few. I started with trying to recreate the red beans and rice-I thought, red beans and rice, easy enough…..well, kind of. If its done right this dish really packs a powerful flavor punch. All throughout New Orleans there’s a buzz- a savory buzz – of roux’s and the holy trinity- I’ve heard arguments that someone had the better roux.-(that was an interesting conversation I happened to over hear) Apparently, roux’s are the absolute base of jambalayas and gumbos- and you have to use the holy trinity in your cooking- which is onion, celery and green pepper.
This dish I didn’t make a roux, but I did use the holy trinity with other spices and the taste tester was in complete flavor awe! Plus, it came together rather quickly. I made it the day before so all the flavors can mingle and in hopes it would be all that more delicious the next day. It was. I would definitely do that again.
Some dishes are all about the sauce and this one is no different. A good sauce can make or break a good dish. I like the creamy-ness of this sauce (I would have liked it with a little more kick ) but for the general …
The other day I saw this recipe and thought it looked good and healthy. Plus, I was thinking about what to make for dinner that night as well- it appeared my thoughts were answered. Sweet!
I got home with the ingredients and started cooking. I honestly thought it was going to take awhile but it didn’t. I would say, tops 30 minutes- and that includes prep. There’s not a lot of ingredients and it comes together quickly. I turned down the pan to low to keep it warm and not over cook it while I wait for my taste tester/husband to get home. Sometimes he just won’t eat the stuff I cook – not often but when I do go out on the adventurous side of cooking I really have to hide (mix it into the rest of the dish) Unfortunately, he finds it and over dramatizes eating it. He will say, “I know what you are doing- You’re trying to kill me” and all it did was hide some vegetables in the dish. But the whole meal I heard that. He ate it and I chucked it up as a success!
So, I plated the meal and heard no comments except that it was really good! I would definitely make this again.
I was first introduced to the lentil in college, and it was made into a soup. I learned using the whole celery (leaves and all) they said it adds more depth of flavor. I took that bit of information and ran with it as well …
