A Chocolate Lover's Dream-Chocolate Crumble With Pears, Candied Ginger and Walnuts

This might seem self complaisant but I am so enthusiastic about this dessert, it made me happy and I hope it will make you happy too! It might be that I need chocolate or maybe I was just surprised by how nice it tasted but when that first spoonful of this Chocolate Crumble With Pears, Candied Ginger and Walnuts hit my mouth or rather, my tastebuds, I almost moaned. I have to say that I am quite feed up with all the moaning you hear in cooking programs when the cook taste what he/she has done so I was a bit disgusted by my own reaction but I couldn't help myself, I really couldn't...

CHOOLATE CRUMBLE WITH PEARS, CANDIED GINGER AND WALNUTS

crumble topping:
200 g/ 7 oz flour
100 g/ 3,5 oz sugar
6 tblsp cocoa powder
150 g/ 5,3 oz butter, not hard but not too soft either

2-3 mature pears
100 g/3,5 oz walnuts, roughly chopped
50 g/ 1,75 oz candied ginger, chopped (optional)
butter for the form

 Mix the dry ingredients and then add the butter in pieces and rub it into the flour mixture until you have a crumbly mixture, like breadcrumbs.

 Slice the pears thinly and butter an oven-proof form generously. Put a layer of pear slices on the bottom of the form, sprinkle candied ginger and walnuts over and then cover it all with the chocolate crumble topping.

 Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 20-30 minutes. Take it out and let it cool down a little before serving.

Plate To Page-the perfect workshop for food bloggers. Register now and never regret it!

We, i.e. me, Jamie-Life's a Feast, Meeta-What's For Lunch Honey? and Jeanne-Cook sister!, have been working on this for quite a while now but today is the Day, finally we are going public and we are inviting you to participate in our food photography and food writing workshop From Plate To Page in Weimar, Germany between the 20ieth and 23nd of May, three glorious days of full immersion into photography and writing.  Could life be better?

"From Plate to Page is an intensive hands-on food photography and writing workshop aimed at food bloggers, writers and photographers looking to enhance and hone their photography and writing skills while finding their own unique style and voice, both for their blog and for professional work. This exciting, one-of-a-kind workshop will help pull you out of your creative rut and start you on your way to a more professional style.

Rather than follow the traditional food blogging conference style, From Plate to Page is a workshop set up to allow active participation by each attendee in the ultimate learning experience. Working alongside four of Europe’s most popular and respected food bloggers, each one of whom has turned her own blog into a springboard for a successful freelance writing or photography/styling career, participants will spend an extensive part of the weekend working on assignments designed specifically for the food blogger. All dedicated activities throughout the weekend will be the source of a writing or photography experience followed by analysis, critique and discussion.

By keeping the group small, no more than 10 participants, it will be possible to present topics in a practical and collective way, with group participation at every step. Over the course of the weekend we will work individually or in teams to complete assignments in both writing and photography. This will include plenty of one-on-one contact with the workshop leaders in a relaxed and social atmosphere where it will be possible to ask questions, share ideas and practical experience far more freely than in a large auditorium. Evenings will be dedicated to critique, discussion and analysis, helping you to understand, reflect upon and improve your work."

You want more details? We thought about that too, all you need to do is to click over to our Plate To Page blog and read all about it there, you find the program, our bios,  accommodation details, price and registration form there. But be quick because there are only ten places!

A WHITE SOUP, CREAMY CAULIFLOWER AND TALEGGIO SOUP

Cauliflower might not be everyone's favourite vegetable but it is definitely a good one. And beautiful too. I would even describe it as comforting with its round forms, the head of a cauliflower invites me to take it in my hand to feel the bumps and its interesting textures. But let's not forget that it is a great vegetable to eat as well if you are so inclined. And I am. I am also a devout lover of the Italian cheese Taleggio, a creamy soft cheese from the north of Italy that has a nice distinct, rather strong taste that gives me a taste sensation every time eat it. And now when the autumn is here and I can indulge in soups, what is more natural than making a cauliflower soup with Taleggio to make these rainy days a bit brighter. Because today, and yesterday and the day before that come to think of it, the rain is steadily and rhythmically making itself known over here. I am totally bored.

A WHITE SOUP, CREAMY CAULIFLOWER AND TALEGGIO SOUP
4-5 servings

500 g/ 1,1 lb cauliflower, the white parts
1 small white onion, finely chopped
3-4 tblsp dry white wine, optional
1000 ml/ 4,2 cups water, you can also use a light vegetable stock
2 abundant tblsp sour cream
100 g/3,5 oz Taleggio cheese, diced without crust. You can use another cheese if you cannot find Taleggio although the taste will obviously be different. I suggest a strong Brie or Camembert or a cheese along those lines
salt
black pepper, optional
extra-virgin oive oil

Fry the chopped onion gently until transparent and then add the cauliflower that you have divided into pieces. Add the wine and let it cook along for a minute before you add the water and salt.

Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes under a half closed lid.

Run the soup in a blender or use a hand blender) until it is smooth. Add the sour cream and the diced cheese and stir until completely dissolved, heat it up again if needed. Try for salt.

Serve with freshly milled black pepper.

Links on Sunday

It's time to get back to Links on Sunday again, this week I have mainly photo related links so let's begin with the two food related ones:

The spring issue of Bron Marshall Magazine is out and it is better than ever, the recipes and the photography are fantastic and I warmly recommend you to check it out!

And then we have this post from Green Planet on how not to waste food in 50 ways.

so now it is time for the photo links, here you can see and read about a behind the scene of a cookbook shoot.

I find it more interesting to see how the parents rather than the son changes during the 20 years of annual photos.

I love people with ideas, like this recreation of Seurat's painting Grande Jatte.

And I am fascinated by colour photos from the past, here you can indulge in many fantastic photos!

and just to keep up the tradition, following/looking at this gives you a perspective on time.

Have a nice Sunday!

if you are interested...

If you are interested, I have posted a kind of final report about the photo job in Milan here.

GREEN SPLIT PEAS WITH FENNEL SEEDS AND BAY LEAVES WITH BRAISED LEEK AND RICE BALLS

First of all I have to thank you for your incredible comments on the 5th anniversary post, more than once I had tears in my eyes when reading your messages, somehow I never could imagine that I would receive all these loving, encouraging and just fantastic comments from you but it  proves that I am right: you are the best readers in the world! So Thank You so much for your generosity!

I am back to a more normal every day life, yesterday I came back here with all my things, well they arrived today in a big box and I by train but you get the idea, and I just felt that I had to sit down and make a list with ideas for food to blog about and I was surprised that so many ideas popped up, obviously this blog break has been good for me.

Green peas are one of my many favourites, I must confess that I prefer freshly shelled ones to dried split peas but I still like these as well, I have almost always a bag of them in my pantry but use them far too little so in order to make amends for this and to make you like them too in case you don't already do, here you have a tasty dish to serve for lunch or maybe as a part of a bigger dinner. The fennel seeds and the bay leaves helps to bring out that sweetness you find in peas.

GREEN SPLIT PEAS WITH FENNEL SEEDS AND BAY LEAVES SERVED WITH BRAISED LEEK AND RICE BALLS
4 servings

400 ml/ 1,7 cup dried green split peas
2 tsp fennel seeds
4 bay leaves
2 leeks, the white parts
2 tblsp white wine, optional
400 ml / 1,7 cup rice
3-4 tblsp parmesan cheese, freshly grated. You can use other types of cheese too if you prefer
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

 Cook the dried peas in salted water for about 40 minutes together with the fennel seeds and the bay leaves that you have torn into two or three pieces. When they are ready, drain any excess water and add 2-3 tblsp of olive oil to them.

Cook the rice and while all this cooking is going on, cut the leeks into thick slices that you slowly braise in some olive oil and wine until soft.

 Mix rice with cheese and form balls with your hands, usually it helps of you rinse yours hands in water before you start handling the rise as this will keep the sticky rice off your hands.

Serve the peas with braised leeks and rice.

How could I forget? Five years of food blogging

I have almost forgotten how to blog, it feels strange to be so absent from something that has been such an integral part of my life for five years because the 27th of September Lucullian Delights passed its fifth anniversary! All alone and forgotten by me. That is bad but now I am trying to amend for my neglect.

These past five years have been long, it feels so much longer than many other five years periods that I have passed in my life and I often wonder why this is so. One reason is that many things have changed in my life but then many other things are still the same. Maybe it is because both my parents died and that slowed down everything because it seems as if I have been missing them for an eternity while it obviously isn't so. 

One thing is sure and that is that food blogging has changed immensely over the years, when I started very few people started food blogging with the view of earning money by it, it was still almost possible to follow and read most of the active food blogs out there. To be honest I liked it more then than now because it was less about stats and more about community but I think that the food blogging community still is one of the friendliest and nicest that there is in the blogosphere and I still enjoy food blogging a lot. And the major reason to why I like it is YOU, I feel as if I have the best readers in the world and without you and your support, my life would be so much emptier. I know I often go on about this but it is really how it is and do you want me to lie?? or not appreciate you?? noooo that wouldn't be fair would it so I will go on about that as long as I blog! So I would like to dedicate this cake to you and say Thank You for these wonderful five years that I have spent with you, some of you even from the start, and I hope you will keep on reading Lucullian and looking at my photos!
Love &Peace

Ilva

completely natural still lifes

Sunday links, this time to myself

I just don't have the time, well to be honest the energy to think up new recipes, cook them and the take photographs right now, I am silly enough to feel a bit guilty so I thought that I could post some links to recipes that I posted last year about this time and that I like. And as I never seem to get around to update my recipe index, you might not even have seen them. Ever. Or you might have and forgotten all about their existence. I hope you will enjoy them.


Eggplant with wine cooked lentils, olives and oregano was quite good I remember, the lentils get a more interesting taste by being boiled with some wine in the water.

Another recipe with eggplant, Potato cakes with eggplant and chives. I'm a potato lover so this is obviously a dish for me!

Crostini with goat's cheese and caramelized rosemary apples. The name says it all.

Beetroot with pink pepper and pine nut vinaigrette, a very nice little starter or side dish.

Baby spinach salad with pears, cheese and toasted sunflower seeds is also nice, sometimes I like a salad with a little sweetness in it.

A soup, there must be a soup too so I give you Roasted cauliflower and potato soup with rosemary. Not bad at all.

Week two in Milan

First of all I want to thank everyone for your kind and lovely comments, it's so good to feel your support! Last week was really busy as we had to finish the first catalogue and there were always something popping up. Above all unforeseen changes which meant that I had to stay until Saturday to shoot the last photos but it seems as if it is all well now. I hope.

There are certain things that are different when you do commercial photography compared to what I usually do, one of the main ones is that it is the product that reigns supreme and sometimes it can be a tiny bit difficult to make nice atmosphere photos with a not that photogenic product. But I have learnt a lot by having to shoot things that I normally wouldn't shoot but at the same time adapting them to my style because my style is why they choose me and not one of the thousands of fantastic photographers out there. Compromises, compromises, always those blasted compromises!

Another aspect to think about is the layout of the pages where the photo has to appear, if it is on a left or right hand page. Often you can just flip over the images but when there is text you obviously cannot do that which means that you have to consult frequently with the art director about his or hers intentions. Luckily I'm working with an easy going AD who knows his job very well. The composition of the photo need to be considered as part of a layout and that can complicate things.

This week we are starting on catalogue two which deals only with food photography and as the amount of photos are pretty massive, I will be assisted by a food stylist who will help me to work smoothly. I will tell you more about it next week. Now I have to start stacking all the wood that arrived an hour ago before it starts raining here again, right now I live a life full of contrasts!