Autumn’s almost gone: Issue #2/2011

Oh dear, how time flies: it really does feel like the summer was over just yesterday, and now look at the calendar – it’s almost December. Not that we had too much to complain about this fall’s weather (it really was smooth and cosy for the most part so far). And there is no frost or snow whatsoever (which suits Ira just fine and doesn’t suit Jive at all). But in order to come up with some winter-themed food images, one does need inspiration, which, well, is best delivered by snow and frost in this particular case.

Though we do have hard times trying to explain our friends in Southern California, what it is like to stroll through these typical pre-christmas fairs in Germany or France (especially when it comes to explaining the concept of Glühwein drinking and the fun behind it), we still do hope for some snow to pour down hereabout, so that the outside view could justify cooking some winter-typical stuff and bringing it to you via this very blog.

Today’s recipe: a traditional German egg noodles with mushrooms and a yummy sauce.

For the moment, however, let’s start with a season-independent meal like this one below. If you ever made a stop in Germany on your Europe travel, or live not far from here, or are of German ancestry, you might have encountered the word “Spaetzle” (Spätzle). We won’t try explaining exactly what this type of egg noodles exactly is in scientific terms, leaving it to Wikipedia, but Ira has recently come up with a mega-tasty recipe that includes this typical German good.

200-250 grams Spätzle
1 stalk of leek
400 grams mushrooms
chicken breast 300-400 grams
1 bunch of parsley
2 / 3 cup cream
2-3 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
2 tbsp sauce thickener

Slice mushrooms, leek rings and chicken breast in small pieces. Fry these ingredients separately and boil the Spaetzle. While they are boiling, prepare the sauce: heat broth and sauce thickener in a pan, bring it to boil stirring constantly. Then put the small chopped parsley and cook for another 3-4 minutes. When Spaetzle are ready, drain and add chicken, mushrooms and onions.
Stir well and serve with sauce. Let us know in the comments if you liked it!

Food photography outtakes

Recently,  Ira was tasked by a food magazine to provide some lifestyle-around-food images. When doing a contract job in food photography (or, if you will, in photography and design in general), you very often find yourself in a position where you need to meet certain requirements in both creative and technical relation. While this does limit your creativity to a certain extent, it also results in creating images and artworks that are “b-roll”, so to speak.

These images do not fit into the given technical or creative grid, but they still can be beautiful and worth sharing – having a food photography blog like we do really comes handy here :)

Now for the sweet part. Picture that: you are having guests today, and in order to surprise them with your vast culinary knowledge, you went ahead, bought some Spaetzle from the above recipe at the German food store of your choice, but now that the guests are stuffed and longing for some nap dessert and a cup of espresso, we are happy to have exactly the right recipe for you. Give it up for:

Caramelized pears with chocolate sauce!

We trust you first want to see what exactly they look like, before you start warming your pan. Here you go:

Convinced they look yummy? Let’s get on to making those:

For 4 servings you will need:
4 pears
1 tbsp butter
juice of half a lemon
a handful of almond flakes

Plus, for the chocolate sauce:
100 grams of dark chocolate
2 tbsp sugar
1 / 3 cup water
1 tbsp butter

Melt the butter in a pan, dissolve sugar in it and fry the pears for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden. Now add the lemon juice, 2-3 tbsp water and cook pears for another 7-8 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the chocolate sauce. Divide butter and chocolate into small pieces. Put in a saucepan and add sugar and water. Simmer on low heat while stirring, until the sauce homogeneous. Remove from heat and pour over the pears. Sprinkle with almond flakes on top and serve.

That’s it for today, folks!.
As always, let us know in the comments what you liked and/or what not.