GAZPACHO WITH OVEN-BAKED TOMATOES AND FRESH BAY LEAVES

Now when the sun is blazing and the heat rolls over you wave after wave, I know what I need and crave: gazpacho! I love gazpacho, I have loved it since my first mouthful as a 12 years old gawky girl with a soft spot for Tabasco. But it is not so easy to find a good gazpacho I find, or maybe it's just me being fussy so I am perpetually trying out new ways of making it, my last effort is this one where I have used oven-baked tomatoes and the sweet flavour of bay leaves and I have to say that I like this version quite a lot but we all have our preferences when it come to gazpachos don't we?

GAZPACHO WITH OVENBAKED TOMATOES AND FRESH BAY LEAVES
2-4 pservings

400 g/14,1 oz mature tomatoes
150 g/5,3 sweet red bell peppers, trimmed
100 g/3,5 peeled cucumber
50 g/1,75 oz sweet red onion, peeled
2-3 fresh bay leaves
250 ml/1 cup water
1-2 tblsp cider vinegar
Tabasco, optional
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Use a knife and cut away that green part on top of the tomatoes, put the tomatoes in an oven-proof form and drizzle a little olive oil over before baking in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for approximately 15 minutes.

While you wait, take the bay leaves and remove as much as possible of the hard, central nerve and tear into smaller pieces

Peel the tomatoes and put them in the bowl of a food processor together with the bell pepper, cucumber and onion, all of which you have cut into pieces. Add the bay leaves and run the food processor until the gazpacho until it is smooth.

Add water, vinegar, Tabasco, salt and a pinch of sugar if needed, mix again and then taste. Let the soup get really cold and nice in the fridge before serving.

CHICKEN AND PARSLEY MEATBALLS WITH ZUCCHINI AND POTATO RÖSTI

The heat is on here and I am not prepared at all, I had completely forgotten what it feels like to sweat all over the body. But I like it so far, there is a certain feeling of carelessness to it and a promise of relax so let's hope it is a true feeling. Yesterday I made a gigantic effort and managed to stay on a sun chaise for five hours with a book, it was almost scary how easy it was after a while and I definitely could get used to it , hmm I think I will make that my major aim of this summer. OK, yes, I will, I will so I have to go now, the sun chaise and book is calling me, so sorry but when duty calls....

CHICKEN AND PARSLEY MEATBALLS WITH ZUCCHINI AND POTATO RÖSTI
4 servings

chicken meatballs:
500 g/ 1,1 lb chicken breast, minced
1 egg
4 tblsp parmesan, freshly grated
1-2 tblsp parsley, finely chopped
1-2 tblsp breadcrumbs, if needed
salt
pepper

zucchini and potato rösti:
4 medium potatoes
4 medium zucchini
salt

extra-virgin olive oil

- Mix the minced chicken with egg, parsley, parmesan, a good pinch of salt and if needed the breadcrumbs, mix well and roll the balls.

- Fry the meatballs in olive oil until golden.

- Grate the potatoes and the zucchini on a metal grater or in a food processor, I prefer when they are not grated too finely (help! what is the right expression for this??) because the rösti seem to keep together better like that. Add salt and mix the vegetables

- Heat up olive oil in a non-stick pan and put 1/4 of the grated vegetables in it, flatten it out and fry on fairly high temperature on both sides until you have a golden zucchini and potato pancake. Do the same with the other 3 parts of the vegetable mix.

- Serve the chicken meat balls on the rösti with salad on the side.

Food Props on Sunday part 9-Guest Blogger Giulia from Juls Kitchen

Food Props on Sunday goes on, will it never end you ask and the answer is yes it will and it will hopefully end with a bang called Show Us Your Food Props! Write about and show us your own food props in any way you please, it can be only photos, you can tell us which ones are your favourite ones or just give us useful tips about how to find or make great food props! Blog it, link back to any of the Food Props on Sunday posts here on Lucullian and send it to me at luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com with your name, the name of your blog and the url to the blog post and I will include you in the roundup that is planned for the 11th of July because I have yet another guest blogger next week with a different angle! Please remember to put Show Us Your Food Props in the subject line so that I don't spam your email.

But now over to something not completely different but more directly interesting, this week's guest blogger Giulia from Juls Kitchen, she is one of my absolute favourite Italian food bloggers, she is full of energy and is endlessly organizing events and social gatherings with other food bloggers. I want to let you in on a secret, we are organizing a thing together that hopefully will take place in late September but we will get back to this when we have dates and place securely fixed, I can only tell you that it has to do with photography and that it will be fun! Until then, here's Giulia in person:

Really?? Me? Do you want me to write a guest post about props for you? Ilva, I'm flattered! Go figure, Ilva from Lucullian Delights asking me to write a guest post for her!
The first moment was pure and genuine enthusiasm. Then, a sudden and subtle fear not to be good and confident enough to deal with prop issue. What do you do when you need to find inspiration and self confidence? I look back at memories!



Mum, can you give me a bowl for the soup? Which one? One, there is any difference! This was me almost one year ago, when I was not a food blogger but a simple yet passionate foodie.



Mum, can you hand me a bowl for the soup? Which one? Let me think: my soup is green, I could use the light blue bowl, and a striped colourful napkin... or let me have a look at the cupboard: look, the old Tuscan bowl, it could give an appropriate feeling of rustic and hearty food, and if I match it with an antique spoon it can perfectly represent the mental image I have of this soup! This is me now, when I try to find the right prop to shot a photo to present my recipe.



As I have learnt from Food Blogger Connect in London, from Jamie, Jeanne and Kerrin talk, you can have different approaches when you write a post. You can choose to stress the recipe aspect, you can love mostly the story telling moment or maybe you can enjoy the most when you shot pictures of food.



After more than an year of food blogging, I have understood that I love when my post conveys a whole experience , a sparkle of real life.
To do that, I think that it is important to pay attention at each level: obviously the recipe, since it is a food blog and it is all about food, then the story behind , because a story places your experience into a narrative and detailed world, and, last but not least, the photographic and stylistic aspect.
Props, together with the right light and style, in my opinion, are essential to make a picture from being nice and well studied to being interesting and emotionally appealing.



To enforce my apparel of props, I started digging into my grandmother's cupboards in search of old dishes and cups, cutlery and napkins.
What I couldn't find, was to be purchased. Now, the problem: I can't afford fancy ceramic objects, stylish pieces of furniture or ethnic tissues and table clothes.
Flea markets are a good solution, even though not so easy to find where I live. One of my favourite manners to buy nice and fancy props is to go shopping with one or more than one foodie friends, to share with them not only passion and laughs, but costs as well!





Packs of stylish paper napkins, colourful spoons and cutie cups can be shared: actually you need just one or two pieces per time in a shot, don't you?
My props are just a few pieces gathered together by now, but their number and variety increase day by day: my friends and relatives (are you reading? ) know that my favourite gifts for Christmas or birthday are cups, dishes, napkins, glasses, trays...
whatever, the important is that it can shine and give a warm touch to a photo.





There are few pieces I really love: a little pottery jug bought in Scotland, for example. While there on holidays, we found by chance a fabulous shop with hand made pottery, everything from tiny spoons and animals to large trays, dishes and jar. It was quite expensive, but I wanted a little souvenir to bring home with me. I choose the tiniest jug, with poppies and leaves: something utterly useless, I reckon, but perfect to give a lovely touch to a photo.



Next to this little jar, I can name a light blue pot, bought with Carolina in Florence: it is absolutely Donna Hay style, stylish and simple. I could imagine a range of infinitive recipes to be made just to fit perfectly with this little pot!
Napkins and table cloths are my passion, a love inherited by my mother, who's addicted to everything made of fabric, especially if thought for the kitchen or the bedroom: they can change the atmosphere of a photo by adding flashing colours to a way too white and plain composition, or they can warm a photo, giving a glowing and sophisticate touch.



Finally, inherited props, maybe the more interesting. I found a few old pieces, belonging to my grandma's grandparents, which are really precious, not for their monetary value, but for the bunch of memories and dreams and expectations related to them.
Handling an old silver sugar cup it's like crossing time layers and touching the same surface polished with love by your grand grandmother, feeling her love and attention, the respect for that precious item: use one of this props into a photo and I assure you you'll have an old cosy feeling lingering into your shot.



Thank You Giulia for taking the time and sharing your props with us!

Food Props on Sunday, part 1
Food Props on Sunday, part 2
Food Props on Sunday, part 3
Food Props on Sunday, part 4
Food Props on Sunday, part 5
Food Props on Sunday, part 6
Food Props on Sunday, part 7
Food Props on Sunday, part 8

No real thread at all here

Print Friendly

I don't know if you have noticed but now it should, at least hypothetically, be possible to print the recipes by clicking on the PrintFriendly button at the end of the blog posts. Please tell me if it works if/when you print out recipes, I'm curious to see if it works because we don't have a printer believe it or not!
For the rest, it is a very busy day here so I leave you with a handful of odd photos with no connection between them whatsoever!


Sunbather


Textures


Floating Daisy

PASTA WITH TOASTED ALMONDS AND FRESH SAGE

Florence was fine and the Museo Galileo well worth visiting but then I am a bit biased really but the people I went with (not only family members) liked it as well so I think you can trust me on this. As usual going to Florence made me think that I don't go there often enough but you know how it is, one gets so entangled in everyday life that a lot of things disappears into the background. On the other hand, when we lived in Florence ages ago, I wasn't that fond of the place, sure it is beautiful but there are far too many tourists on far too narrow streets when you have to walk on those streets day after day so maybe it is that memory that makes me forget.

I have revisited this dish as well, I have tried to give it a little more umph by toasting the almonds and I think it is an improvement so if you like sage and almonds, this is a dish for you!





PASTA WITH TOASTED ALMONDS AND FRESH SAGE
4 servings

400 g/ 14,1 oz dried pasta
15-20 fresh sage leaves
200g/ 7 oz blanched almonds
100-150 ml/0,42-0,63 cup fresh cream
1 clove of garlic
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Chop the almonds in a food processor until they are finely chopped but not as fine as almond flour. You can also chop by hand if you want. Spread out the chopped almonds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven at 200°C/390°F for 4-5 minutes, check before the time is up because they burn easily.

Clean and dry the sage leaves, peel the garlic and then chop sage and garlic finely before sweating the two in a little oil in a pan for a minute or two. Add the toasted almonds and keep on cooking on medium heat for another minute and then add the fresh cream and a pinch or two of salt.

Cook the sauce for 2-4 minutes or more until the sauce has thickened and then mix well with the freshly cooked pasta.

BULGUR WITH CHICKEN, ZUCCHINE, PARSLEY AND LEMON

After a weekend with thunder echoing far away or close by more or less all the time, not to forget the sound of rain on leaves which is surprisingly noisy when you start listening to it, I'm happy to change these noises for city noises-I'm off with my offspring to visit Museo Galileo in Florence which re-opened Thursday after a general re-do, they even changed the name! I will enjoy the disturbing noises and smells of a big city with great relish and I also know that I will do the same when I return here. And then I will get a lot of new noises because they are beginning to make the small parking space next to our garden that I really wish wasn't going to happen. Some people seem to think that concrete is the new black and put it everywhere, and that goes for my comune! Enough of this and on to the recipe, an easy chicken dish that almost every one likes or at least should like because looking at it from the cook's view-you should really like everything we make, shouldn't you? Maybe that was going a bit too far but is is a dream and let us dream, at least let us dream!






BULGUR WITH CHICKEN, ZUCCHINE, PARSLEY AND LEMON
4 servings

350 g/12,3 oz bulgur
4 slices of chicken breast
2 zucchine
1 onion
juice of 1 lemon
4 tblsp parsley, finely chopped
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Cook the bulgur in lightly salted water for 20-25 minutes.

Clean, trim and chop the onion. Cut the slices of chicken into strips, do the same with the zucchini.

Heat up some olive oil in a pan and sweat (thank you Paul!) the onion, add the zucchine and keep on cooking until they are soft and if possible a bit golden.

Increase the heat and add the chicken and the lemon juice and sauté for 4-5 minutes or until the chicken is properly cooked. Add salt.

Mix the bulgur with the chicken, zucchine and the parsley, drizzle olive oil over if needed.

Food Props on Sunday, part 8 - Guest Blogger Meeta from What's For Lunch Honey

Food Props on Sunday goes on, will it never end you ask and the answer is yes it will and it will hopefully end with a bang called Show Us Your Food Props! Write about and show us your own food props in any way you please, it can be only photos, you can tell us which ones are your favourite ones or just give us useful tips about how to find or make great food props! Blog it, link back to any of the Food Props on Sunday posts here on Lucullian and send it to me at luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com with your name, the name of your blog and the url to the blog post and I will include you in the roundup that is planned (but could be moved to the 11th) for the 4thof July! Please remember to put Show Us Your Food Props in the subject line so that I don't spam your email.

This weeks guest blogger is made by another talented photographer and food propper, the lovely Meeta of What's For Lunch Honey? has gracefully agreed to make a post about how she looks at food props and their various uses. Meeta and I have been friends for quite a few years now, I'm not that good at socializing via emails but slowly we have built up a solid friendship despite of my lack of consistency. I really enjoy her photography that I find both inspirational and beautiful and I really I'm sure you do too.

Before I get into this post I would really like to thank Ilva for allowing me to use her space here on Lucullian Delights. Ilva has been a part of my life for a few years and she is one of the handful of people I truly admire. Her photography is unique and the way she expresses herself through her images always fills me up with intense emotion. So I was so very honored when she asked me to come on over and write a bit about Props and Food Styling.

When I tell people I am a freelance food photographer and stylist, they usually are with me till the food photography part, albeit with a few funny looks. However, I see the huge question mark on their faces when I mention food styling. The question that always accompanies the look on the faces is "Why style food?" The answer is fairly simple: Food needs to be prepared and styled to feed the eyes and the imagination. It’s basically pimping up the food to look its best for a perfect photograph.

I was recently in London speaking at the Food Blogger Connect on the topic of Food Photography and Styling. The tone from many of the attendees was similar - "we'd like to know how to style and use props efficiently in our food photos!" One needs to consider that what looks good for our eyes does not necessarily mean it looks good for the eye of the camera. We have two eyes, which makes us take in images differently as the one eye of the camera does. Our eyes takes in images in more dimensions and colors as the one eye of the camera does. We need to look through the lens of the camera and create a set-up which translates what we see with our eyes, equally well into an image.

This is done with the help of several things, like lighting for example but also with the help of props, backgrounds and styling. In Part 6 of Ilva's Prop Series Bron wonderfully defined what a prop is. I could not agree more. Everything could be a potential prop. One just needs to let the imagination run wild. I have used everything from a sliced log to an old kitchen cupboard door, to wall paper, wrapping paper and picture frames.

How does one go about finding the right prop for the image? This of course depends on several points. I usually begin thinking about my styling and props while I am actually baking or cooking a particular dish. I consider such points as the texture and color of the food and think about the atmosphere I want to create. I ask myself: What message to I want to send out? This helps me mentally go through the props I have (or decide if I need to buy new ones. There is always a good excuse to buy new props.)

I have a 7 year old son and a full time job so I usually do not have too much time to spend fretting on a piece of stray parsley. What I have created however, is a an effective and simple styling methodology that helps me getting my shot. For me the food is the real star of my set-up and I like using props minimally but effectively. I like to keep my images simple, clean and not cluttering it with too many bold looking props or backgrounds. To achieve this I have invested in a lot of white or light colored plates, bowls and cups, highlighting this with colorful backdrops and linens to add the desired color.

When you are investing in plates, bowls, forks, spoons and knives buy smaller sized items. Basically because props and food tend to look huge in photographs. So, never plate and actual "real" portion for your images. Furthermore, you will realize that smaller portions are easier to handle while you are preparing the set-up. While I really like crisp overall white shots, I particularly find images in deep chocolate browns and blacks intriguing, rich and elegant. I find it gives the food a wonderful texture and boosts contrasting colors even more. One should use color in the photos thoughtfully and in moderation. Using too many color themes will take away the attention away from the main motive - the food and even cause the image to look tacky.

My main advice to everyone would be to always look at your set-up through the camera. I like to imagine this space as my canvas and begin adding and coloring the canvas. I analyze the color and color combination of the food. Then I select my background and pick out the bowls/plates and napkins accordingly. I continuously check the set-up through the camera to see if my vision is being translated as I imagine it to be through the camera lens. Finally I will do minor touch-ups by adding or taking away props or additional bits of food. Once I am happy with what I see I start taking the pictures.

The most important thing to remember while you are experimenting and trying to find the right look for your food images is to stay true to your style and have fun doing it. Get inspired by looking at images from your favourite photographers and food bloggers, but do not copy them. Instead create your own style with your creativity and imagination. That’s where you’ll discover the fun and passion.

Thank you very much Meeta for taking the time to talk about food props!

Food Props on Sunday, part 1
Food Props on Sunday, part 2
Food Props on Sunday, part 3
Food Props on Sunday, part 4
Food Props on Sunday, part 5
Food Props on Sunday, part 6
Food Props on Sunday, part 7

HOT RED BELL PEPPER AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

I have to get this off my chest because I feel so bad about it, I need to apologize for being so slack lately about answering the lovely comments you leave, I don't know why really I just forget to do it but there it is and the more time that passes, the more guilty I feel and I 'forget' it even more! That is how my mind works but now I am fed up with being so impolite so I promise that from this post onwards, I will not only read and enjoy your comments in silence but also get back to answering them (if time allows that is). OK? Deal?

Today's soup is a variation of a soup I have made before, I find it a perfect cold soup for a hot day but it is just as good to eat warm on a cold and windy day so let's say it is a great comfort food in general, come rain come shine! If you want you can add a favourite herb of yours, rosemary comes immediately to my mind, but it is perfectly good as it is.

HOT RED BELL PEPPER AND WHITE BEAN SOUP
2 servings for hungry eaters or 4 served as a starter

2 red mature bell peppers
1 small onion
300 g/10,6 oz white beans already cooked
2 big and mature tomatoes
500 ml/ 2,1 cup water
chili pepper
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Trim the onion and chop it, do the same with the bell peppers and fry them gently in a pan with some olive oil for a couple of minutes.

Rinse and cut the tomatoes in pieces, if you want you can remove the skin by dipping the tomatoes in boiling water for a moment and then peel the skin off. Add the tomatoes to the onion together with the white beans, a pinch of chili pepper and salt.

Add water and leave it to simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes.

Blend the soup in a food processor or in the way you prefer to do it until it is smooth. Can be served cold or warm, the choice is yours!

Bread Baking Babes-Korni

It's the 16th of the month today and this is from now on the posting day for the monthly Bread Baking Babes bread. Yes we have a rule, I bet it was hard for Tanna and Karen to 'impose' this on us because we are a wild bunch, no not really but right from the beginning the only rule we had was to enjoy baking bread which is the most pleasant rule you can have. But we are all getting older and we tend to forget more easily so to make life easier for us, we now have a fixed date every month and personally I'm happy with it.

This month the host is Lien of Notitie Van Lien who is one of our best bakers I think I dare to say without upsetting the others, the amount of different types breads she has baked is impressive and I think she must have every bread baking book there is in the English language. Impressive. I have also had the fortune to meet up with her when she passed through Pistoia and I hope to meet her again because she is a really nice person, a bit shy maybe but ever so sweet. And a talented painter as well. Ha Lien, now it's out! Anyway, she choose a bread that may sounds a bit fiddly but really isn't, it has a very nice crunch and flavour so it is well worth trying out. If you want to bake the bread with us and be a Bread Baking Buddy, check in over at Lien's and get all the details there. And if you want to see the other Babes's breads, here's the complete list, some of are still sleeping when I write this so you might have to wait a little to see their posts.

Korni
from The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz
(makes 1 round 3 1/2 pound loaf)

Korni means corn or grain. It is made from a combination of grains that go well together for flavor, crunchiness, and good nutrition.

Soy bean mixture
1/2 cup organic (dried) soy beans (85 g)
1 cup boiling water (235 g)

Poolish
1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons; 1/4 oz) active dry yeast (1 1/2 tsp)
2 1/2 cups warm water (2 1/4 cup = 533 g)
1 cup organic rye flour (100 g)
1 cup organic whole wheat flour (130 g)
1 1/2 cups organic unbleached white (or all-purpose) flour (180 g)

Dough
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (60 g)
All of the starter from the previous step
3 cups organic, unbleached white (or all-purpose) flour (420 g)
1 tablespoon sea salt (2 tsp)
1 tablespoon ground caraway seeds (1 tsp)(to make your own, grind a few tablespoons of whole caraway seed in a mortar with a pestle until you have a fine powder. If your powder still contains large chunks of seed, sift the mixture and use 1 tablespoon of the sifted powder)
1/4 cup organic fax seeds (37 g)
1/2 cup organic millet (100 g)
All of the soy mixture

Glaze: 1 whole egg whisked with 1 tablespoon milk

Prepare the soy beans:

Place them in a small bowl, cover them with the boiling water, and let them soak for 10 minutes. Drain the beans and let them cool. Process the beans in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until they roughly chopped.

Place the beans on a cookie sheet and roast them in a preheated 350°F oven between 15 and 20 minutes, until they are completely dried out. Set them aside.


Prepare the sponge/poolish:
First proof the yeast, in a large bowl, in 1 cup of the warm water. When it is creamy, mix in 1 1/4 cups warm water and slowly add the rye flour, whole wheat flour, and 1½ cups of white flour by handfuls while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon.
Set the batter aside, in a large bowl, covered with a dish towel, for between 8 and 10 hours or overnight.

Make the dough:
Proof the yeast in the warm water, add it to the risen sponge, and mix the two together. Start adding the flour, handful by handful, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. After all but 1 cup of the flour has been added (this will take about 10 minutes), turn the dough out onto your worktable, sprinkle the salt and the ground caraway over the dough, and incorporate them by kneading the dough for about 5 minutes while adding the last of the flour. The dough should be very moist.

Add the fax seeds, millet, and roasted soy beans and knead the dough to incorporate them.
Set the dough aside, covered, to rise for 1 hour, until it has doubled in size.

Flatten out the dough again and then shape it into a round loaf. This loaf is best proofed in a canvas-lined basket and then baked on a baking stone in the oven. It can also be placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let the loaf rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

Glaze the loaf with the egg and milk mixture and bake it in a preheated 425°F oven for between 30 and 35 minutes.

BLACK RICE WITH HOT SHRIMPS, OVEN-ROASTED CHERRY TOMATOES AND WILTED BASIL LEAVES

We went to see some friends by the sea yesterday despite the fact it was Sunday and that is really the worst day you choose here for going to the sea summer time but the weather wasn't really that great , it was actually so bad that when we began to get closer we noticed that we were almost the only ones going in the direction towards the sea but lots and lots of people were going in the opposite direction and as we got closer we saw why, rain started to fall and the sky turned greyer and greyer. But we kept on going, who cares about rain when you are meeting friends? And we did right because later on it stopped and the sun showed itself and we had a great time. I find the sea such a restorative force, it leaves me feeling happier and freer.

After my lovely yesterday, I wanted to post a recipe that has at some connection to the sea while I still have the salt in my hair so I decided on this. I love the wilted basil leaves in it, it really gives the dish a great finish.





BLACK RICE WITH HOT SHRIMPS, OVEN-ROASTED CHERRY TOMATOES AND WILTED BASIL LEAVES
4 servings

360 g/ 12,7 oz black Venus rice but you can obviously use normal white rice too
400 g/ 14,1 oz shrimps
20 cherry tomatoes
0-25 large basil leaves and I mean large
the juice of 1 lime or lemon
ground chili pepper
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Rinse and divide the cherry tomatoes in half, put the halves in an oven-proof form, sprinkle salt oven and then drizzle olive oil over it all. Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 15-20 minutes.

Cook the rice and while it cooks, shell the shrimps and put them in a small bowl together with the lime juice, salt and a pinch of peperoncino, you decide how hot you want them to be. Mix and leave to marinate until the rice is ready.

Heat up a pan or skillet, pour in some olive oil and then sauté the shrimps quickly until they are just cooked. Put them aside and now sauté the basil leaves quickly in the remaining oil and juices, the basil should just be slightly wilted so that the beautiful but oh so ethereal aroma doesn't disappear.

Quickly mix rice, shrimps, tomatoes and basil with some olive oil and serve.