Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday Food Photo

Slowly, but surely, things are coming together for the new, improved food photography. Last week, I dug out the tripod and this week, I finally made it to the hardware store to get some decent lighting (without spending a whole lot -- score!). I set up something similar to this, though in my kitchen, the easiest way to position the light is to simply open the cabinet that's closest to my subject, clamp the light to the door and then get it properly pointed in the right direction (that puts the light coming from an angle above and to the side of the food, which seems to work well).

I still need to soften the light a bit (the second two pics below lose some detail in the harsh light) and work on staging... I think a couple of interesting cloths and a few different kinds of dishes would give me some options beyond my dark counters, cast iron cookware and clear plates (perhaps a trip to goodwill is in order!).

Here are a few photos from my inaugural night of Cooking with Light.

This first one is of some glazed shallots, just finishing their reduction. I found several recipes for this amazing dish, and ended up going with this version (though I only made half), which uses a bit of sugar at the end to thicken the glaze but leaves out what I thought might be gratuitous fat (though I might try it with oil or butter at some point for the sake of comparison). It's a really delicious dish that I've made a few times already. The leftovers are also lovely to slice and use in a salad, panini, or as a garnish.


That night, we had the shallots served on the side, along with some sautéed beet greens (right), marinated bok choy (left, chopped and set in a mix of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard and honey), and these absolutely awesome Lentilballs in Lemon Pesto from Sprouted Kitchen. This is the second time I've made them (this time, I formed them into more of a patty) and I can't wait to have them again. They are soooo good.


Unfortunately, for some reason I snapped the above photo before adding the flourish of the lemon pesto to my lentil patty. So, for the record, here's the garnish to my featured dish. Yum.


Have a great weekend, everyone!! Be safe and warm and content!

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