The Time Has Come...

today is the day... it's time to reveal that this blog has got a brand new and shiny look and it's very own website! 

You can now find us at www.stacygrant.co.uk

Letchworth Food Festival

On Saturday I went to the annual Letchworth Food Festival with James and his family. The streets were lined with stalls selling food from around the world. Shame we'd had lunch before we went but it was still lovely looking around and taking in the lovely aromas.

 

Photographing Chefs

Last week we had six chefs come into the studio for a photoshoot. They're all creators of signature dishes for Tesco and were in to have portraits taken with their dishes... here's a few behind the scenes shots.

Food Shoot

Last week we had the mammoth task of shooting 110 dishes in two and a half days... we had a team made up of 4 photographers, 2 stylist, 1 chef and 1 retoucher. An incredible challenge but we did it, I even managed to get a few behind the scenes shots too.

 

Chicken & Peach Salad

I was going through my shots to put together a new portfolio and came across this shot which I took a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think much of it when I took it but I now love it.

Butternut Squash & Goats Cheese Tagliatelle

My love of butternut squash, sage and goats cheese resulted in me making up this little recipe.

Chop up butternut squash in to 1cm thick chunks, put in a roasting tin with whole garlic cloves, chopped sage, olive oil, salt and pepper.

 Roast on gas mark 6 for 40 mins

 Mix in with cooked tagliatelle and chopped goats cheese. Drizzle with walnut oil and season.

Kippers

My favourite shot of the week...

Mini Fruit Tarts

Look at these lovely little tarts covered in blueberries and raspberries.

 

To make the cream filling whisk 4 egg yolks with 100g caster sugar until pale and think. Then sift in 25g plain flour and whisk well.

 

In a separate pan bring to the boil 350ml milk and a vanilla pod. Stir the milk into the egg mixture and mix well. Then return the mixture to the saucepan and whisk on a low heat until the mixture thicken and comes to the boil. Put mixture in a piping bag and chill in the fridge. When chilled pipe mixture into the pasty cases and cover in your favourite berries.



 

Thai Fish Cakes

Chef made these fish cakes for the shoot today, they were so yummy, really nice to have a fish cake that isn't full of potato. I really liked them and they looked pretty easy to make too. Recipe below. 

 

 

 

500g skinless salmon

2tbsp Thai fish sauce

1tbsp Thai red curry paste

1tsp finely grated lime zest

1tbsp finely chopped coriander

1 egg white

1tsp caster sugar

2 spring onions, finely sliced

2tbsp veg oil

 

Put the fish, fish sauce, curry paste, lime zest, coriander, egg white and sugar in a blender and whiz until smooth. Put the mix in a bowl and mix in the spring onions.

 

Divide mix into 16 patties, 3cm thick,  wet hand makes this a little easier.

 

Fry the patties in batched in a large frying pan. Cook for 5 minutes then flip them over and cook for a further 4 minutes. Then eat...yay!

Spicy Prawns

I've been shooting recipes all week, these were yummy so I thought I'd share.

 

 

1 medium red chilli, chopped

1tsp paprika

1tsp medium curry powder

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 shallot, diced

2 lemon grassed, chopped

5cm ginger, peeled, chopped

475g large uncooked prawns

Small bunch of coriander, chopped

2 lemons, cut into wedges

 

Put the chili, paprika, curry powder, garlic, lemon grass, ginger and a little water into a blender and blitz until smooth. Marinade the prawns in the mixture overnight.

 

To cook pan fry for a couple of minutes each side. Garnish with coriander and lemon.

 



Lucky 7

I've always wanted to eat at Lucky 7, ever since I heard about it a year or so ago and as I was in Notting Hill on Saturday, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to check it out with my friend Jo. I had the lentil burger, Jo had the California, we shared fries and both had chocolate malt shakes. The place was perfect, better than I had imagined. The staff we really friendly too... I would really recommend a visit!