Tag: food styling

Turkish bread with baby spinach, tomatoes, feta, lemon and sumac

Turkish bread with baby spinach, tomatoes, feta, lemon and sumac

Audio: (Without the recipe) Audio: (With the recipe) Friday morning gradually emerged as the shades of golden, red, and brown leaves gracefully pirouetted to the light wind’s frigid autumn melody. Slowly walking across the lake with its own charm and beauty. The murky yet picturesque …

Morningtea with Thatsafrotastic| Accepting your imperfections

Morningtea with Thatsafrotastic| Accepting your imperfections

I have been reading the Kindness pack by Domonique Bertolucci and this section of the book is what I can resonate with. “There is no such thing as perfection and yet so many people exhaust themselves and erode their confidence in the pursuit of. When …

Fettuccine pesto with bacon, parsley and parmesan cheese

Fettuccine pesto with bacon, parsley and parmesan cheese

I opened the kitchen pantry with excitement beaming all over my face wondering what will tonight’s dinner be. Immediately, the fettuccine caught my attention and I remembered an idiosyncratic incident at my parent’s house. The moment you mention the word “pasta” or “fettuccine” in my family house, you’re in for trouble. Faces will cringe in disgust and you will most likely hear screeching voices all over the household as if pasta is some kind of taboo that should never be said. By reading this you’ll know that pasta has a pretty bad reputation in my family’s house. My parents, cousin and younger brother only know of the traditional bolognese sauce and after having so many times, that they have grown tired of pasta and have made it become their nemesis and label pasta as boring.

I was thinking “Well…. wouldn’t it be nice to have more variety in the way how we make food?”  (Especially pasta in my family’s case).

I noticed the fresh basil, parsley and the pine nuts which were just sitting next to the glass fruit bowl. “All right, I am going to make pesto,” I said to myself. Even though pesto can be bought at the supermarket, the chopping and using the mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients was quite therapeutic if you’d ask me and I love the fresh smell of basil and parsley.

Continental Parsley

The fettuccine was prepared aldanté and I mixed the pesto along with it. After, the bacon bits, chopped parsley and parmesan cheese were added on top of the fettuccine pesto which really it looked visually appealing and appetizing (along with the salad which all the different colours which made this such an interesting dish to make. I like this dish because it encourages the use of fresh herbs (lots of it), garlic which is accompanied by a nice and simple salad to compliment the dish. I usually make salad dressing, however, I bought zumo tomatoes which tastes slightly sweet and didn’t need the dressing after all.

Salad

“Well pasta is not so boring afterall, ” I told them which everyone was shocked with the recipe. The very same ingredient that was perceived as boring can be also seen as a great staple to have in the kitchen when we are ready for a change and new experiences. The colours in this dish reminded me to see every day as a brand new canvas to paint our colourful experiences and memories. So each day, I will carefully paint a picture that I desire to see manifest in my life, a life full of abundance, joy, positive thoughts and praise. I do this so at the end of the day I won’t look at it and wish that I had painted something different.

[lt_recipe name=”Fettuccine pesto with bacon, parsley and Parmesan cheese ” servings=”2-4″ prep_time=”15 MINS” cook_time=”15 MINS” total_time=”30 MINS” difficulty=”Easy” print=”yes” image=”http://zhx.c1d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/doc-1146-700×467.jpg” ingredients=”45g (1/4 cup) pine nuts (toasted);1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves;2 small garlic cloves, halved; shredded parmesan cheese;3-4 tbs olive oil;200g bacon bits;Fettuccine;Chopped parsley to garnish;;;” ]Cook and drain the fettuccine ( I prefer my pasta aldanté);;In the meantime, toast the pine nuts gently in a frying pan or slow over no-oil until the pine nuts are golden brown in colour.;;Gently blend ingredients at medium speed whilst pouring in olive oil in a steady stream until smooth or you can use a mortar and pestle.;; Mix the pesto with the fettuccine until you get an equal distribution of the pesto and fettuccine.;; Add the chopped bacon first, then the chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese on top and serve with a salad of your choice.[/lt_recipe]

 

NOTE:

You can place the pesto in a clean jar a cover it with a small amount of olive oil. This can be stored up to two weeks.

Baked eggs with Tomato Sauce

Baked eggs with Tomato Sauce

After buying some eggs and veggies at Queen Victoria Market this week, I passed by a few cafes selling baked eggs and decided to make this for brekkie on the weekend. This recipe is great for who loves eggs or would like to prepare eggs in …

Caroline’s Sayur Asem (Tamarind Soup with Vegetables)

Caroline’s Sayur Asem (Tamarind Soup with Vegetables)

With today’s post, I am very privileged to learn more about Indonesian culture. Caroline Katrina, a good friend of mine and the lovely President for Deakin Toastmasters was very excited to share her fabulous dish and what this means to her. Caroline: “This is the …

How to segment an orange

How to segment an orange

Orange segments are a great addition to salads, muesli, snacking, baked goods and also adds a professional touch to any of your dishes. Some, but not all, find the taste of pith to be bitter. The advantage of his technique is that it removes the thick white webby membrane (also known as the pith) that sticks all of the orange together.

How to segments

Step 1:

First wash your orange.

Step 2:

Cut off the ends of the orange so it sits flat. Remove the skin, being careful not to cut into the flesh.

step 1

Step 3:

Carefully slice either side of the thin white membrane of the orange with a sharp knife and push each segment out gently into your chopping board or into a bowl.

step 2

 

step 3

Step 4:

Extract the juice from the remaining orange and you can use the zest as a flavoring agent which can either be used for a dressing or other recipes which require orange zest.

step 4

Orange, rocket and currant salad

Orange, rocket and currant salad

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden was the major stepping stone that opened my eyes to the numerous possibilities of enjoying salads which comes in different colours, shapes and flavours (Not just your average iceberg lettuce and tomatoes). I am always grateful to my teacher Lina, who …

Wild rice, pea and lentil salad

Wild rice, pea and lentil salad

Last year in September, I decided to take a break from blogging. Without realizing, my passion for food styling and embracing other people’s food culture was slowly dying into the abyss of nothingness. It became to the point where cooking became a chore (words I thought I would never …