Jenn Cuisine » Breakfast

Amateur’s Food Photography: Basil and Prosciutto Corn Muffins

Jenn — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:25:33 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks I have been making these savory muffins. I could eat them for breakfast. Or with dinner. Heck even for dinner! They are surprisingly simple to make, and I think are sure to impress. I knew I would be excited about them the minute that Simone posted this recipe for this month’s Donna Hay Styling and Photography Challenge.

As always, the first obstacle is converting the recipe to gluten free – but being corn meal based, I knew this would not be difficult. I have made gluten free cornbread quite successfully on several occasions, and did not see any reason why these would pose any other difficulty. Since all of the recipes Simone has posted so far list the ingredients by weight, this makes the gluten free home cook’s life much easier to come up with a substitution – as I have been learning over the past year from participating in the gluten free ratio rally, often merely replacing the same weight of conventional flour with gluten free ingredients seems to work rather well. In this case, for the flour component, I used 2/3 rice flour and 1/3 potato starch – I kept the substitutions simple here rather than using a lot of varying ingredients because I knew gluten wasn’t really important in this recipe – it often isn’t in muffins and cakes – and so I didn’t have to worry about replicating all the culinary effects of gluten.

Next came one of my favorite parts of this blog, creating the photo!

I studied the original photo to first see what type of light was used and where it was coming from. To me light is always the most important feature so it’s what I try to figure out first, before anything else. The more I take the time to analyze food photos, the better I am able to glean what type of behind the scenes setup might have been used to create it. In this case, I look at where the shadows and bright spots are – I see a shadow around the lower left of each of the plates, and notice the sheen on the cakes also indicating that the light is coming from slightly back and right, around 2:00. The pepper shaker also gives clues – sometimes it’s easier to look at the shiniest (i.e. most reflective) element in a photo, because it will often giveaway highlights and shadows more obviously. To recreate the image though, I would need a background that was large and light colored – one that wouldn’t take away light and that wouldn’t distract from the food – I have no such background, so decided to manipulate the light slightly differently, by putting fabric over my windows and having the light coming from behind, in a way to replicate that background but still let a lot of light in. By angling the table 45 degrees to the window, I was still able to get a nice sheen on the cakes. A folded white foam core helped soften shadows on the left, and an aluminum tray that I held up reflected more light to the right side.

As for the styling/composition, I kept things fairly similar. A stack of muffins front and center (well, lower center), a plate in the background, a wine glass, and something off to the back left. Lacking pretty white plates like the original photo, I opted for metals ones that I had instead, and lined them with white napkins so that they would still be nice and light. The wine in the original was rather orange and honeyed looking, but not wanting to open up our fancy dessert wines from Piemonte just for a photo (which with a baby on the way I wouldn’t be able to enjoy anyways), I opted for not worrying so much about the color – in fact I lightly brewed green tea and poured that in the wine glass! Since the feature is the muffins, and this is not an ad in any way, I felt I only needed to bring about the feeling of wine and the fact that it was really tea was not so important. And lacking a silver pepper shaker, went with this pewter piece which I could envision being used to maybe spread honey or something on the muffins, and also omitted the napkin behind it. I did add food to the back plate – it just seemed empty without something there.

When it came to the treatment of the photo, I didn’t try to replicate the original at all, but went with what I felt I liked for the image I had created. I always like a bit of color and contrast, and I think that shows in most of the images I create. However what I have started playing with recently is white balance.

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Maple Pumpkin Granola, Gluten Free

Jenn — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:33:50 +0000

It’s Fall. And like a little kid on the first day of school, I have this renewed energy to seek and find myself, create new things, and explore the world. Maybe it’s the way the yellow Autumnal light shines through the trees or sparkles inside dew drops not yet faded away. Maybe it’s the newfound comfort in being able to brew a cup of tea and hold it warm against your hands while the cool brisk winds remind us that the Summer has faded. Or maybe it’s the sudden urge to curl up with a good book in the ever darkening evenings, wrapped up in one’s favorite blanket. It’s the time of fuzzy woolen sweaters, seeing one’s breath in the air, and stomping through rain puddles. And then just when the clouds clear, that most amazing light comes through and reminds us of the beauty of this season.

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Early Morning Poached Eggs & Tomatoes

Jenn — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:06:13 +0000

Are you a morning person??

I’m a reluctant morning person. Usually doing my best not to throw my ipod across the room as the purposely annoying ring drags me out of the sweet nothingness that was sleep, leaving me to stumble out of bed and fumble for the buttons on the coffee maker, totally useless until taking a hot espresso down in one giant gulp – only now willing to make myself aware of the world.

But then there are some days that present themselves a bit more pleasantly – sunlight slowly streams into the room as the birds start up their chorus of hymns to greet the day – on these days I find myself full of energy, rushed with the sudden urge to go outside and say good morning to nature and her beauty, even if she decides to hide the sun for a bit once I actually make it outside – no matter, the mornings are still preciously awe-inspiring as soft light kisses the tops of all things green and flowering:

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Banana, Apple and Currant Scones, Gluten Free

Jenn — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:01:50 +0000

Wow I cannot believe that we are on to our third ratio rally event already! This month, Lauren of Celiac Teen challenged us to make gluten free scones – and after my horrible biscuit failure the other week trying to make strawberry shortcake, I have to say I was a little nervous. But we are daring and fearless, ready to take on any challenge in the name of gluten free awesomeness!

Scones are one of those breakfast items that I love to have out at a café but hardly ever make at home. I love them loaded with fruit and not too sweet, and so tried to emulate that a bit in this version I made of drop scones. Drop scones just mean that the scone “dough” is simply scooped up and then literally dropped onto the cooking sheet – no rolling, no cutting, just mix, spoon, drop, and bake. How could it get any easier? This lets me be totally lazy about making them, which can be good, especially if I want to sleep in on a warm sunny weekend

I decided to choose a scone ratio that definitely contained a good amount of egg, so that I could be sure to have a bit more binding going on holding them together. I also tried to use a few lessons I learned from my biscuit adventures to give myself the best chances at successful scones – scones are in between biscuits and muffins on the baked items continuum, and the quality of a good scone is all about texture – so I figured it would be best to try something a little different from my biscuit attempt.

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GF Ratio Rally – Chocolate Chestnut Quickbread

Jenn — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:05:17 +0000

While this chocolate chestnut dessert (breakfast?) may technically be a quick bread, I think it’s more fitting to call it a cake. These slices of chestnut flour & cocoa baked beauties, which happen to be dappled with chocolate chips and cognac soaked chestnuts throughout, follow the typical ratio of a quick bread and have the texture and moisture of one. However, all they need is a little frosting (or a little spread of crème de marrons) and I’d feel perfectly comfortable presenting this to someone on their birthday. But it is indeed a quick bread!

Quick breads were the theme of this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally, hosted by the lovely Silvana Nardone. It’s been an exciting month with lots of new participants and great discussions about which ratios worked and didn’t, and how various ingredients affected the needed ratios to create a successful quick bread. This also marked the first baking challenge of the ratio rally – I felt this was a perfect baked good to start with – in general I feel that quick breads tend to be less fussy than other baked goods, and of course the possibilities for flavor combinations are endless.

One aspect I love about baking gluten free is that there are so many flour substitutes – and thus flavors – to choose from. Most conventional gluten-filled recipes (especially for quick breads) only use one kind of flour – the glutenicious all purpose flour from wheat. But once that is totally out of the equation, you can incorporate flavors to your baked goods just by the choice of flour you use – suddenly you can choose from hazelnuts, almonds, coconut, quinoa, buckwheat, gosh the list of choices goes on and on and on. It may seem daunting at first but trust me, it’s a very good thing! All those choices at your disposal mean that you have options, and that it is now possible to incorporate flavors into the very core of the batter. The gluten free baker can create whatever flavor complexity and depth they choose before even adding any “extras” into the quick bread.

You see, gluten free means choices. Freedom to define exactly the flavors you want. Baking gluten free really can be liberating.

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Rösti, a naturally gluten-free Swiss Tradition

Jenn — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:53:55 +0000

If there were any dish the could compete with fondue as the most popular food in Suisse, I think it would be rösti. Actually, I’m pretty sure rösti is probably more common than fondue in many places. Rösti is essentially a fried potato pancake, and the possibilities for customization are truly endless. Several regions en Suisse have their own versions, but the simplest is comprised of simply grated potatoes, salt, and some type of fat for frying. In restaurants I have been to, it’s not uncommon to see rösti served with meat, or fresh green vegetables. With the sight of beautiful asparagus finally reappearing again I knew they would be perfect for our rösti.

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Gluten Free Ratio Rally: Hazelnut/Coconut Pancakes

Jenn — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:00:33 +0000

Today starts the rally.

I am so thrilled to announce to you this brand new monthly collaborative blogging event, the Gluten Free Ratio Rally. Our goal? To determine the ratios of ingredients that work together to create successful, flavorful gluten free food.

Ruhlman taught the world the simplicity of ratios in his book – that if you know the ratios of ingredients, you can play with just about any recipe and then make it your own. We need that freedom in gluten free recipes as well. Nothing seems more daunting when switching to gluten free than dealing with feeling stuck by thinking about foods that can no longer be enjoyed. How often have we stood there in our kitchens, staring at our old family cookbook on the counter at a complete loss for how to go about making a dish gluten free? Or even just trying to find the right substitutions because our local grocery store doesn’t happen to sell teff flour or xanthan gum? And yet we do not have to feel limited! I owe a lot to my husband’s gluten intolerance – learning to cook without gluten has truly opened up the entire world of the kitchen to me.

Last year, you may have remembered my gluten free substitutions series, as a weekly attempt to come up with some rules of thumb for converting gluten free recipes. Participating in the Gluten Free Ratio Rally is, for me, a perfect extension of some of my trials last year. I am thrilled to collaborate with such talented people as we all join in together, experimenting with exactly what is needed to get a recipe “right”. I can’t wait to see all of the amazing discoveries we learn as we go along.

Why ratios? Because ratios are the key to culinary freedom. The beauty of working in ratios is that it does not matter what units or actual weights are used, as long as the proportion of ingredient amounts is retained. No need to convert to grams from oz. if you don’t want to, as long as you take note of the ratios you used. Likewise, it doesn’t matter what total amount you are using, as anything can be scaled up or down. It’s also why ratios are a good way to represent recipes in our group, because we all will use different units and make different sized batches of food with our own unique spin. But by using ratios, we can all directly compare our versions to each other and see what effects differences in proportions of ingredients have on a recipe’s outcome. And of course, measuring by weight instead of volume is critical.

This inaugural month we start off with a dozen bloggers, thanks to the great organizational efforts of our first host, Shauna from Gluten Free Girl. We will trade off hosting each month, but everyone participates in developing the ingredient ratios that work. I have a feeling this will be quite the synergistic effort, as we all push each other forward and make some delicious treats in the process

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Daring Cook’s #20: Poached to Perfection

Jenn — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:02:40 +0000

Jill (jillouci) and I are so excited to host Daring Cooks for the month of December! For this month, we decided to focus on a technique that seems intimidating to many, but with a little practice it’s really not that hard at all – poaching. All poaching means is cooking something in simmering (not boiling) liquid. And what more perfect way to practice the skill of poaching than learning how to poach an egg? They can make a tasty breakfast or salad accompaniment; there are so many different ways to use poached eggs, and they are used in cuisines from a variety of cultures.

The 1st recipe is one of the most well known poached egg dishes: eggs benedict – an open sandwich of English muffin, Canadian bacon, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. This rich and decadent dish can be served as a really nice breakfast or brunch for having company over, and is sure to impress! The “daring” with this dish is in successfully poaching an egg in water, as well as making one of the famed mother sauces of France, the hollandaise.

Our 2nd recipe, oeufs en meurette (eggs in meurette sauce), is a classic dish from the region of Bourgogne (Burgundy) in France. It involves poaching an egg in a red wine/stock, which will then turn into a fabulous reduction sauce. One serves the poached egg on top of fried croûtes with sauce, bacon, mushrooms and pearl onions. This is also a great dish for breakfast/brunch as well.

And don’t worry vegans, we did not forget about you! Instead of poaching an egg, we found a delicious poached homemade seitan sausage recipe that we think you will love!

We hope you enjoyed this month’s challenge, and had fun learning the technique of poaching!

Blog-checking lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

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Savory Buckwheat Groats Breakfast with Spinach, Sausage and Celeriac

Jenn — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:16:51 +0000

My husband is an 8 year old boy trapped inside a near 30 year old body (eek we are getting old!). It’s one of his most endearing qualities, because he is so completely expressive and playful with everything. He never lost his childhood wonder about the world (even when he tries to act like a grown-up), and I hope he never does. With that comes his major sweet tooth. The man would eat cookies and cake for breakfast every day if I let him. My last buckwheat breakfast of pure sweet maple fruity heaven? You can probably guess that one was mainly for him, and all the pears, currants and maple syrup really made it taste like a warm comforting morning candy delight – it certainly brought me back to my childhood memories of piping hot oatmeal But that same morning, while the snow laid unmelted on the streets and the Alps were capped in their familiar white vestiges, I cooked for myself a different sort of breakfast. A savory one, with spinach, celeriac, sausage and eggs.

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Gluten Free Hot Cereal – Maple Buckwheat Groats with Pears and Dried Currants

Jenn — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:40:45 +0000

Oatmeal is my comfort food. I particularly enjoy it with salt, cinnamon and maple syrup accompanied by chopped up apples and a little bit of cream poured overtop. It’s a good hearty food that “sticks to the belly”, and about this time of year when the temps start getting chilly and a foot of snow falls to the ground in span of 24 hrs, the tea kettle finds itself whistling its familiar tune a little bit more often, and my breakfast often transforms from the usual yogurt/granola to the comfort of hot cereal. There’s just one problem. My gluten free husband doesn’t get to enjoy oatmeal breakfasts.

Not that there aren’t gluten free oats in the world (because there are). But the price is something neither of us could ever justify. Especially now that we’d probably have to buy them from the U.S. and pay to ship them over the ocean. Instead, I have been on a hunt for gluten free hot cereal. We both learned the hard way that “flakes” are meant for baking only. We tried millet, amaranth, and quinoa ones, but heated and cooked they tasted awful to us, no matter how much “doctoring” we did by adding various fixin’s. No amount of maple syrup and brown sugar could rescue those sorry excuses for breakfasts. And whole quinoa is ok, but it’s not either one of our favorite grain-like foods in the world. And those rice-based hot cereal mixes?? Blegggh!

This week, however, we found the answer to our gluten free hot-cereal quest – buckwheat.

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