One of my favourite pastimes is to get out and about with my camera at food markets and halls. This is one of the veg stalls at Borough Market in the heart of London. From this image you would think that everything is in season, sadly that’s not the case. I took this shot in December and the only in season produce I could find was carrots, cauliflower, cabbage and celeriac. I asked the stall holder where all the other fruit and veg came from and he said, lemons from Sicily. Green beans from Kenya. Asparagus from Peru and various tomatoes from Spain. I couldn’t help thinking “oh my god” all those food miles. Being in the heart of London as well the price of all this produce was extortionatly high. I know the stall holder has to make a living and I know a veg stall in London’s Borough Market is probably not cheap but it did make me think that I am blessed to live by the beach in Selsey on the south coast of England with fields all around me growing everything from potatoes to lettuce and there is a farm shop less than a mile away from me.
Blog Archive
Roasted Butternut & Carrot Salad with Baby Leaves
This to me is pure heaven on a plate. Roasted butternut squash, carrot, with baby leaf salad and sous sous. This has become a go to meal for me these days. Butternut squashes are very in season now as are carrots. Very simple to make. Just cut up the butternut squash into bite sized pieces and along withe the carrots, drizzle olive oil over them and sprinkle sea salt over them and roast in a hot oven until you see the tips of the veggies begin to char. Couscous is even easier to make. One cup of couscous in a bowl and add one cup of boiling water and leave to stand for around five minutes. Then fluff with a fork. iv’e added cherry tomatoes, red onion and baby leaf salad to complete this recipe. Quite often I also drizzle some French dressing over the salad for even more of a flavour hit but it’s delicious on it’s own.
Wild Mushrooms, Fly Agaric
One of my favourite pastimes is to go foraging for mushrooms. At this time of year pickings are very meagre due mainly to the very cold weather. This year however we have had very little in the way of frosts. I can think of only two since early November. I went mushroom foraging in December to collect wild mushrooms for my Christmas dinner table centre piece. A wild mushroom and chestnut wellington. I was really surprised at how abundant the crop of wild mushrooms were growing. I managed to collect, cepes, horse mushroom, field mushrooms and almond mushroom. However there was also a plethora of deadly mushrooms growing as well. The image shows fly agaric which you should stay well clear of even to the point of not getting the microscopic pores on any of the edible mushrooms you are picking.
I took this shot with my Canon camera and I have a cable attached to my flash to enable me to move the flash head around to get a better shot rather than just the ubiquitous head on flash.
Food Styling
Hello again. It’s been years since I last looked at my blog. I lost all interest in photography in 2017 when I last blogged. A lot has happend over the last few years. From moving house to getting myself reacquainted with my favourite pastime. I have just started a new course in styling food. There are thousands and thousands of cookbooks out there now and they all have one thing in common. The food photography has to be exceptional in todays market to get you noticed and increase your sales or readership if you have one of the many millions of food blogs, Instagram pages or Facebook pages. I made this mushroom veggie burger as a start to my journey and used simple angle anglepoised lamps to light the subject. I think it looks very tasty, but then as a vegan myself, I would, wouldn’t I.
I will get back to the core reasons as to why I stared up this blog in the first place. Which was to bring people on my vegan food journey. Veganism in this country, England, has exploded into very much the mainstream of cooking and diet. When I started this blog 7 years ago finding vegan produce was quite difficult. For example, soya milk seemed to be the only thing supermarkets stocked. Now there is a wide choice of dairy free products. Today there are so many meat substitutes for you to choose from. This last year or so I have been like a kid in a sweet shop with all the choices.
FORAGED
So it’s that season again..time to collect natures harvest and forage for everything from sloes to damsons to apple and blackberries of course. I do so love this time of year, it’s a chance to replenish my larder with jams, chutneys, preserves and of course start this years alcohol off. My favourite being sloe gin which when made now is perfect for giving out as Christmas presents and enjoying as a tipple for myself.
Crab apples make a wonderful apple chutney as well as a great cider both of which I will blog about when I make them over the coming weeks. Blackberries which grow in abundance around here make everything from jams to wine and again I will blog about them when I make my wine. You will be surprised at the intense flavour they impart and it’s well worth the wait of a year or so for the wine to mature.
NEW FEAST
The Middle East from North Africa and Moorish Spain, through Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, to Iran and the Arabian Peninsula has a long and vibrant tradition of home-style vegetarian cuisine. From abundant fresh salads, dips and breads, to a diverse collection of delicious and hearty main meals, there is a profusion of delicious flavour combinations. Based on the freshest ingredients and cooked from the heart, Greg and Lucy Malouf’s recipes in The New Feast are designed for sharing and enjoying with others. Their approach to vegetarian food comes from their love of traditional Middle Eastern flavours and the importance of colour and texture in this cuisine. The recipes are new interpretations of Middle Eastern food, inspired by the spirit of generosity and sharing, which characterises the region?s approach to cooking.
MULBERRY & BLACKBERRY JAM
So we have finally had a dry couple of days with sunshine thrown in for good measure. Perfect for picking mulberries and blackberries to make a fresh batch of jam.
Mulberries are so rare round here that I keep my foraged secret to myself each year in the hope that I get first pick of the new years crop and with all the early years sunshine and recent rain it has ensured a particularly plump season for these delicious berries.
The health benefits of berries is well documented.
- Delicious, fleshy, succulent mulberries are less in calories (just 43 calories per 100 g). They compose of health-promoting phytonutrient compounds like polyphenol pigment antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins that are essential for optimum health.
- Mulberries have significantly high amounts of phenolic flavonoid phytochemicals called anthocyanins. Scientific studies have shown that consumption of berries has potential health effects against cancer, aging and neurological diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and bacterial infections.
- The berries contain resveratrol, another polyphenol flavonoid antioxidant. Resveratrol protects against stroke risk by altering molecular mechanisms in the blood vessels; reducing their susceptibility to damage through reduced activity of angiotensin (a systemic hormone causing blood vessel constriction that would elevate blood pressure) but potentiating production of the vasodilator hormone, nitric oxide.
- Also, these berries are excellent sources of vitamin-C (36.4 mg per 100, about 61% of RDI), which is also a powerful natural antioxidant. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents, counter inflammation and scavenge harmful free radicals.
- Further, the berries also contain small amounts of vitamin-A, and vitamin-E in addition to the antioxidants mentioned above. Consumption of mulberry provides another group of health promoting flavonoid poly phenolic antioxidants such as lutein, zeaxanthin, ß-carotene and a-carotene in small but notably significant amounts. Altogether, these compounds help act as protect from harmful effects of oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes.
The health benefits of blackberries are equally impressive.
Just one cup of raw blackberries has 30.2 milligrams of vitamin C. That’s half the daily recommended value. Vitamin C is integral to collagen formation in bones, connective tissue, and blood vessels. Vitamin C may also help you:
- heal wounds
- regenerate the skin
- battle free radicals (molecules released by toxins) in the body
- absorb iron
- shorten the common cold
- prevent scurvy
More research is needed, but some studies suggest vitamin C helps reduce the formation of cancer-causing substances in the body. Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant which may also reduce oxidative stress in the body that can lead to cancer.
- 1kg mulberries
- 0.75kg blackberries
- 2kg caster sugar
- 3 tablespoons powdered pectin
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Place the mulberries and blackberries into a large, heavy saucepan and crush them with a potato masher.
- Add the sugar and pectin and heat very slowly, stirring all the time until every grain of sugar has dissolved. Add the butter, increase the heat, bring to a full rolling boil and boil for exactly 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool for 1 minute, then place in jam jars and cover immediately.
ASPARAGUS & EGG
This is one of my favorite ways to eat asparagus, simply paired with a plain old poached egg. There is no real recipe to this just cook the asparagus the way you like it. I like to simply blanche mine for a minute and the poach an egg in boiling salted water and sit it on top. Poaching for 3 minutes will give you a perfect runny yolk to dip the still crunchy spears in.
There you go a very quick and satisfying meal packed full of goodness.
ASPARAGUS
Now I know it’s not in season but I just love asparagus and I look forward to the fresh English asparagus every springtime.
Consuming fruits and vegetables of all kinds has long been associated with a reduced risk of many lifestyle-related health conditions.
Many studies have suggested that increasing consumption of plant foods like asparagus decreases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and overall mortality while promoting a healthy complexion and hair, increased energy and overall lower weight.
Asparagus ranks among the top 20 foods in regards to its ANDI score (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index); this score measures vitamin, mineral, and phytonutrient content in relation to the caloric content.
To earn a high ANDI rank, food must provide a high amount of nutrients for a small amount of calories.
Asparagus is one of the best natural sources of folate. Adequate folate intake is extremely important during periods of rapid growth such as pregnancy, infancy, and adolescence.
Asparagus is high in both fiber and water content, this helps to prevent constipation, maintain a healthy digestive tract, and lower the risk of colon cancer.
Adequate fiber promotes regularity, which is crucial for the daily excretion of toxins through the bile and stool. Recent studies have shown that dietary fiber may also play a role in regulating the immune system and inflammation, consequently decreasing the risk of inflammation-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity.
According to the Department of Internal Medicine and Nutritional Sciences Program of the University of Kentucky, high fiber intake is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and certain gastrointestinal diseases.
Increased fiber intake has also been shown to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improve insulin sensitivity, and enhance weight loss for obese individuals.
LOVE & LEMONS COOKBOOK
Yet another cookbook from a highly successful food blog. This time I am going to recommend the Love and Lemons cookbook which is packed to the rafters with inspirational veggie delights and cracking food styling.
Donofrio’s cooking philosophy is that simple combinations can make exceptionally delicious meals that are easy to put together. Organised by ingredient, THE LOVE & LEMONS COOKBOOK will teach you to make beautiful food with what you have on hand, whether it’s a bunch of rainbow-colored heirloom carrots from the farmers market or a four-pound cauliflower that just showed up in your veggie box.
With exquisite, fresh food photography, artful graphic elements and exceptionally stylish layouts, THE LOVE & LEMONS COOKBOOK caters to today’s image-oriented readers. Stunningly designed and efficiently organised, this book will be a resource that you’ll find yourself using again and again.