Below are my favorite food photos from 2018 and 2019. Some of the best food I cooked was never photographed and that's something I hope to remedy in 2020. For now I'm going to be proud of what I have done.

Purple Kale Salad & Cheese Pizza

The pizza is pretty standard, the apple cider is fresh and unpasteurized from the farmer's market, and the salad is a vision I got in my head and had to make a reality. It's pretty simple: solid-purple kale, pomegranate seeds, toasted pepitas, cubed white cheddar, and a balsamic vinaigrette. The colors are fantastic and it was delicious. This was a nice meal we had while rewatching The Emperor's New Groove.

Erddig Apple Scone

This Erddig Apple Scone recipe is from a National Trust cookbook. They're flaky and sweet and perfect.

Cato's Must Bread

This is a recipe I adapted from Travola Mediterranea's Must Bread, which is in turn an adaptation of a recipe from Cato's De Agricultura. I've made this twice now and am happy with my version, and I'll do a better write-up of it eventually.

Tea Brack

Tea Brack is perfect for Halloween and makes a great snack. This version is whole wheat and is loaded with dried fruit, so it fills you up.

Basque Burnt Cheesecake

I made this Basque Burnt Cheesecake for my birthday and it was worth heating up the apartment in August. Very easy, very good, very photogenic. I had been waiting for months to make it, because what would have been impossible in my yurt's toaster oven is possible in my apartment's standard oven. I can't wait to make it again.

Breakfast Pizzas

My partner is in charge of breakfast pizzas and made these. Half the fun of breakfast pizzas is that they always look so pretty. The recipe for these is from Meatless Meals by Pamela Anderson.

Chocolate Pudding Pie

A first major cooking project in the yurt. It was summer and we hadn't experimented with using the toaster oven, so I made a no-bake dessert for my partner's birthday. It was really good.

Bean Burger with Peas & Pepitas

The first meal I photographed in the yurt we'd just moved into; I was rejoicing in the natural lighting. I think the reason this got plated was because we could make it look fancy just for fun. To make this really extra I'd like to see some frilly greens and some kind of light-colored sauce drizzled on everything. I have no idea what's in the bean burger.

#food #photography

When I cook with dried chiles I tend to disobey rules by leaving all the seeds in and using all the soaking water, because I love bitter flavors to death. Kabocha immediately came to me as a nice pairing for this earthy, bitter chili; the sweetness melds well and provides a nice complement, and now I would miss the squash too much if I left it out. Many times I'll go ahead and add beans to the chili as well, and mayacoba/yellow beans are my favorite here. The extra richness from the beans and sweetness from the squash make the sauce even better.

My default combination of dried chiles for this recipe is pasilla, guajillo, and arbol, because those are what I always try to keep around. The most recent time I used pasilla, arbol, cherry peppers from the farmer's market, and smoked habaneros a friend made. It's flexible.

I most often eat the chili with long-grain white rice, but it's rich enough that it stands up to brown rice, and arroz rojo or an herby Spanish rice also work well. Tortillas or corn bread are just as good. Something citrusy to drink (or an orange for dessert) is nice too.

Adapted from Rick Martinez's Chili Colorado at Bon Appétit. Video here, if you need visuals.

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil or olive oil
• 2—3 lbs pork shoulder, cut into 1” pieces
• 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 6—8 cloves garlic, smashed or roughly chopped
• 1 t oregano
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• Black pepper, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• ~7 cups water and/or stock
• Dried chiles (at least 7 large ones), with stems removed
• 2 cups mayacoba beans
• 1 small or ½ medium kabocha squash, cut into 1” pieces

Method:

• Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large pot over medium. Brown meat in several small batches, transferring to a plate.
• Saute onion and garlic in pot, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until translucent. Add pork, oregano, cumin, bay, black pepper, salt, and enough water or stock to barely cover (2—4 cups). Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer 30 minutes.
• Place chiles in a bowl with 3 cups boiling water or stock. Cover bowl and let soak for 30 mins. Puree chiles in a blender or food processor (tear chiles into small pieces before soaking if no appliances are available).
• Add chile puree and mayacoba beans to pot. Continue simmering partially covered until beans are tender but not soft, around 60 minutes.
• Add kabocha and cook until squash is soft, checking every 10 minutes.
• Serve with tortillas, rice, or corn bread.

#recipes #food

Chili from April 2020, with pinto beans, smoked habanero, and roughly torn ancho chilis.