All images © Dina Avila
Because what’s in the oven at the moment may be too epic a fail to share. Even for Leek Soup ;), I offer you this still life of breathtaking peonies grown by the hands of my beautiful mother-in-law. They are magical.
Happy Mother’s Day!
xo
Posted in food photography | Tagged Mother's Day, Peonies | 6 Comments »
All images © Dina Avila
Well this was interesting. Did you know phyllo dough and puff pastry are not the same thing? Similar, of course, but not necessarily to be used interchangeably as I learned this morning. It was one of those early mornings of chopping onions with weeping eyes wondering why I got started before having enough tea. These crazy warm summery spring days we’re having in Portland means the light changes so quickly – beautiful soft light turns into harsh sun in a flash in my kitchen – which means I need to crawl out of bed fairly early if I want to shoot for the blog. So here we are, after a mildly shaky morning with a paring knife wondering what the heck Saveur is talking about, with these, shall we call them ‘rustic’?, savory tarts.
Oh, but they’re good. As we know, rustic is my style, right? So let’s call the whole thing intentional. Julia Child always said to never apologize for your mistakes in the kitchen. So here you go. I made them this way :)
Cheers!
Adapted from Saveur
I used a fig spread that I received as a gift for Christmas (thank you Heather & Brett).
Feel free to substitute the figs for 1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium fennel bulb cored and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch kale, chopped in to bite-sized pieces
1/3 cup sheep’s milk feta, crumbled, plus more for topping
1/4 cup picked figs
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1 170z box phyllo dough, thawed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Coarse sea salt
Instructions:
Warm oil in a large pan over medium heat.
Add onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown. About 5 minutes.
Stir in fennel and garlic and cook for about another 5 minutes.
Lower heat to medium low and stir in chopped kale.
Add a splash of water, cover and let cook for another 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from heat and fold in feta and parsley.
Season with a few grinds of fresh black pepper.
Warm oven to 375.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Lightly flour a large work surface and lay thawed phyllo dough down.
Divide the phyllo in half, laying the two halves side by side.
With a paring knife, cut about 9 squares out of each half of phyllo.
Take each square and slice an L shaped slit that’s about an inch long onto each corner.
Fold the corners toward each other so they overlap – Trust me, it’s hard to explain which is why I had so much trouble this morning. Fold them in a way that makes sense to you, but you basically want to create a pocket for the filling to rest in.
Using a large spatula, place six of the tarts onto each baking sheet.
Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of the pickled figs into the center of the tarts.
Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of the kale mixture on top of the figs.
Crumble a bit of feta on to each tart.
Place the pans in the oven on two racks and bake for about 30 minutes rotating the pans halfway through.
Serve warm with a bit more crumbled feta and a dusting of coarse sea salt.
Posted in food, food photography, Natural Foods, portland, recipes, Vegetarian | Tagged Feta, Olive oil, Phyllo, pickled figs, Saveur, savory tart, vegetarian | 9 Comments »
All images © Dina Avila 2013
Just a quick couple of recipes for you today taking advantage of the abundance of spring veggies we have in the markets this season. The risotto, although time-consuming, will knock your socks off. Feel free to make it with traditional arborio rice. Especially if you want a dish that’s lighter for warmer weather. I was more in the mood for a healthy, stick to your gut kind of a dish and this risotto surely delivers. We were full after half a bowl. One thing I forgot to pick up for this dish was creme fraiche. If you plan on making this recipe then I suggest picking some up and adding either a couple of spoonfuls at the end of cooking, or a dollop with each bowl. Save some for the souffles, too, as I think it would be an excellent addition to the dessert….and a great way to mask the fact that the souffles have sunken :)
Cheers!
2 cups shelled fresh fava beans
8-10 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade)
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 pound crimini mushrooms, halved or quartered depending on size
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large leeks, white and pale green parts, halved, rinsed well and sliced
1 fennel bulb, cored and sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups farro, rinsed and soaked in cool water for a minimum of 30 minutes
1 cup dry white wine
2 large handfuls arugula, torn
1 1/2 cups grated pecorino romano, plus more for shaving
1/4 chopped chives, plus more for serving
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil and add shelled fava beans.
Let cook for 1-2 minutes, drain and place beans in an ice bath until cool.
Place cooled beans in a small bowl and set aside.
Pour chicken broth into a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Reduce heat to low and cover to keep warm.
Melt 1 tablespoon of your butter in a large dutch oven or other heavy pot.
Add mushrooms a cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until tender.
Spoon cooked mushrooms into the bowl with the fava beans.
Warm oil and remaining tablespoon of butter in same pot and add leeks, fennel and garlic.
Stir frequently for about 4 minutes until the veggies soften.
Add the drained farro and stir to coat for about 2 minutes.
Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until evaporated. About 4 minutes.
Add 1 cup of the broth and cook stirring frequently until the broth is almost absorbed.
Add remaining broth, one cup at a time allowing the broth to be absorbed before adding more.
Cook in this manner for about 50 minutes, until all broth is absorbed and the farro is tender yet chewy.
Add more or less broth as needed.
Stir in arugula, pecorino, chives, favas and mushrooms and let cook, stirring, until arugula is wilted and the cheese is melted. About 2 minutes.
Spoon risotto into warmed bowls, sprinkle with chopped chives and shavings of pecorino.
2 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons whole wheat flour
Zest and juice from one lemon
1 1/2 cups hemp milk
3 eggs, separated
Pinch of sea salt
Warm your oven to 350
In a large bowl bring the sugar and flour and salt together and with the butter and press with your fingers until crumbly.
Stir in the lemon juice and zest.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks.
Stir the milk into the yolks and fold into the flour mixture.
In a smaller bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into the batter.
Ladle the batter into ramekins or jam jars.
Add hot water to a pan about 1-2 inches deep.
Place jars and ramekins into the pan and place in the warmed oven.
Cook for about 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking, until the tops of the souffles are golden brown.
Posted in Dessert, food, food photography, Natural Foods, Oregon, portland, recipes | Tagged Farro Risotto, fava beans, Lemon Souffle, Pecorino Romano, Spring recipes | 6 Comments »
All images © Dina Avila
Remember how I was complaining about being bored with all of my cookbooks? Well, ask and you shall receive. My dear friend, Ryan, was in the midst of clearing off his bookshelves when he read my post, and short story short, after a visit with him I walked home with a stack of books knee-deep.
One of those books is Les Halles by Anthony Bourdain. You may hate him, many do, but I love him. I have been following his adventures since Kitchen Confidential and I believe No Reservations is partly to be thanked for my adventurous appetite. I used to be a picky, and I mean picky eater. I wouldn’t eat orange cheese when I was a kid because it was too strange. I didn’t eat ketchup for the first time until I was in my twenties. I ate mayonnaise on rice (a Hawaii thing) and my hamburgers had to be plain and dry. Up until my early thirties I would get plain beans and rice and flour tortillas at Mexican restaurants. Always. Then I started watching No Reservations and the clenched, slightly alarmed and nauseated stomach eventually shifted to intrigue and curiosity. I noticed I became hungry when I watched his show and my tongue would spontaneously salivate. Then I moved to Portland where I photographed a chef breaking down a whole pig whose face he later served me confited and served on tortillas and I ate them with relish. Sweetbreads? Yes, please. Oxtail soup? OK! Funny how people change.
There are still things I won’t eat. Sour cream being one of them. Cream cheese? Don’t see the point. Bell peppers, well, I’m actually allergic to those, but as the above chef once told me, there are classier peppers to cook with. I still tend to eat simply when cooking at home. In our daily lives we live off of soups, stews, roasted chicken, and when we’re feeling especially lazy a simple meal of spaghetti and olive oil. But if I’m out and you put a bone marrow luge in front of me? You better believe I’ll be scraping out ever last bit of bone marrow buttery goodness.
Cheers!
Adapted from Les Halles, by Anthony Bourdain
This dish is not the most adventurous recipe out of the pages of Les Halles, but it’s simple and brilliant.
I wanted a veggie dish to serve with roasted chicken and this leeks vinaigrette was just the ticket.
The sauce gribiche is bright and tangy and a breeze to make.
Ingredients:
6 leeks
Salt
Sauce Gribiche:
1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
4 cornichons, finely chopped
1 tablespoon capers, finely chopped
1 parsley sprig, finely chopped
About 4 tablespoons olive oil
About 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Sea salt and pepper
~
Trim your leeks cutting off the green bits and the roots.
Slice lengthwise cutting almost all the way through the leek and stopping at the base. You want a little boat.
Soak the leeks in cold water briefly to get all of the sand and dirt out. Rinse, soak again, rinse and drain well.
Bring generously salted water to boil.
Drain the washed leeks and tie them together with kitchen twine.
Place the leeks in the boiling water and let cook for about 12 minutes, until tender.
Have a bowl of ice water ready.
Using tongs, gently place the cooked leeks in the ice water to stop them from continuing to cook.
While the leeks cool, prepare your sauce gribiche.
Stir all of the ingredients except for the oil and vinegar together in a small bowl.
Slowly fold in the oil and vinegar.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove twine and place your cooled leeks on a serving platter gently opening up them up at their slits.
Generously spoon in the sauce gribiche and serve immediately.
Posted in food photography | Tagged ANthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdaine, leeks, Les Halles, Les Halles cookbook, Sauce Gribiche | 7 Comments »
All images © Dina Avila 2013
Recipe post coming soon, but I thought I’d share a few tear sheets (including my second cover!) from my most recent shoot with Mix Magazine. And, yes, those tarts were as good as they look!
The recipes can be found here: Mix Magazine April Issue
Posted in food, food photography, Magazine Shoot, Oregon, portland, recipes | Tagged Magazine Shoot, Mix Magazine, Recipes | 2 Comments »
I’m bored with every single one of my cookbooks. It’s not that I’ve cooked every single recipe, but each book has its own vibe and well, as much as love them…I’ve found myself restless and in need of fresh blood. In lieu of heading over to the bookstore (which will happen very soon), I found myself cruising the Food 52 website for inspiration and boy did I find it. Lemony, springy goodness in two very simple and delightful recipes. The first, is a quinoa recipe that I tweaked ever so slightly by replacing the basil with fragrant handfuls of mint. This dish will brighten your mood and likely your day. The second recipe is my first attempt at macaroons. I admit, I was a wee bit nervous having never made macaroons before, I’ve always imagined the cookies to be complicated with lists and lists of steps. Not so…at least not with these cookies. So simple and so good. Airy and crisp with hints of lemon and thyme, you could easily eat the whole batch in one sitting.
Would love to hear what books you’re cooking out of these days!
Cheers!
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, dry
2 cups water, cold
1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup Fresh mint, finely chopped
1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
1 grind of black pepper
~
Rinse the quinoa in cold water and strain.
Place quinoa in a pot with the 2 cups of water bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and place lid partially askew.
Cook quinoa for 15 minutes, remove from heat and let sit, covered, for about 5 minutes.
If you’re using frozen peas simmer them in water for a few minutes until thawed and plump.
Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, honey salt and pepper together.
Place the quinoa in a large bowl and stir the peas, mint, hemp seeds and dressing.
Serve warm or cool.
The original recipe suggests a light hand with the lemon and orange zest, but I think
the cookies would be fabulous with a more intense lemon flavor.
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 large pinch of sea salt
2/3 cup almond meal, freshly ground or store-bought
1 teaspoon, total, lemon and orange zest
t teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
~
If you have thick cookie sheets you can skip this step. Stack cookie sheets (for insulation) and line the top sheet with parchment paper.
Using a mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Beat in the salt.
Beat in sugar until whites are shiny and stiff.
Fold in the almond meal, lemon and orange zest and fresh thyme leaves.
Spoon about a teaspoon of the batter onto the parchment leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
Warm your oven to 350.
Let the cookies rest on cookie sheet for about 30 minutes.
Place cookies in oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Turn oven off and keep cookies in oven for another 10 minutes.
Remove the cookies for the oven and let cool on cookie sheet.
Posted in Cookies, food, food photography, Natural Foods, recipes, Seasonal Eating | Tagged almond macaroons, hemp seeds, Lemon, peas, quinoa | 8 Comments »
Well, it’s St. Paddy’s Day and I don’t have anything remotely related to today’s celebrations to offer you. Instead? I have beet soup. Yup, not even close. Let’s call this morning’s post a spicy and sweet, vibrantly pink welcome to spring. Who, by the way, has been showing her beautiful face all over Portland much to city’s pleasure. Warm-ish days, crocus sprouting everywhere, the streets are lined with white and pink blossoms. I swear we are positively giddy with our weather. What better way to celebrate than with a bowl of hot pink soup?
This recipe is lifted directly from the pages of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Everyday. Minimally shifted for what I had (or didn’t) have on hand, the soul of this recipe is all Hugh’s and you will love it. It’s a free-flowing recipe with lots of dashes of this and pinches of that, so I suggest using a light hand with the spices until you find your preferred level of warmth.
Cheers!
If you happen to be looking for something St. Patrick’s Day related, feel free to click here for my lamb stew and Irish soda bread recipes.
I imagine this soup would be lovely chilled. Do experiment!
Ingredients:
1/2 pound beets, peeled and cut into chunks
A pat of butter
One tablespoon olive oil
1-2 shallots, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2-3 cups chicken stock or water
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Torn parsley leaves
For the yogurt:
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
Pinch of caraway seeds
Dash of paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons greek yogurt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
Fennel pollen, optional
~
For the soup:
Warm the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring often, until soft. About 5 minutes.
Stir in the beets, add the stock and a pinch of sea salt and let simmer for about 40 minutes. Until the beets are tender.
Pour the beets into a blender and purée until smooth. Add more stock or water if the soup is too thick.
For the yogurt:
Warm a dry skillet over medium heat and add te cumin and caraway seeds.
Toast lightly for a few minutes then transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush.
Add the paprika, cayenne and coarse sea salt and blend together.
Stir about half of the spice mix and olive oil to the yogurt.
Save the rest of the spice mix for a later use, or for folks who would like to add mor spice to their dish.
Spoon dollops of yogurt to the beet soup and sprinkle with torn parsley leaves.
Dust with fennel pollen and serve warm or at room temp.
Posted in food photography, Natural Foods, portland, recipes, Soups | Tagged Beet Soup, beets, hugh fearnley whittingstall, River Cottage Everyday, Spicy Soup, vegetarian | 1 Comment »
Leek Soup is a culinary photography blog with a touch of people and travel peppered in. Based in Portland, Oregon, it documents a passion for food and the explorations of Dina Avila, a professional food and food culture photographer.
If interested in contacting me please click email icon link below or email me at: dina@dinaavila.com
All images are copyrighted © Dina Avila 2010-2013, unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.
