Hopefully over the coming months my work will start to improve and I'll get the hang of what looks good. Please feel free to give comments - any hints on photography and lighting would be very welcome, as would what you think doesn't look good or things you think look delicious and you want the recipe. I'm also trying to come up with a slightly more imaginative blog title and will try to tart this bad boy up a bit so it's not quite so sterile, but all in good time.
I've had an awesome, but surprisingly tiring day doing it...enjoy.
This morning I baked my tweaked and adapted chocolate brownie recipe which I make into a cake and add fresh raspberries to. The result is the usual crispy topped, gooey centred brownie, with the added bonus of refreshing chunks of sweet and sour raspberries - I think it's a perfect combination.
It's raining and cloudy outside so sadly the light isn't great for photos - but the smell of cooking brownies and all the colourful ingredients is as good as sunshine in my opinion. The blueberries and their leaves are fresh from the garden.
For lunch I decided to have the 'Bitter Sweet Salad' from the new Ottolenghi book - Plenty. It was absolutely stunning, but a bit like eating dessert and a main course at the same time as the orange and pomegranate were quite sweet. The creamy, salty goat's cheese, toasted pine nuts and bitter red endive helped to balance the sweetness though. I'm completely obsessed with Ottolenghi recipes - his food is absolutely bursting with flavour and colour, I've not tried a single recipe that hasn't been amazingly superb - and believe me, I've tried a lot.
After tidying up the huge amount of mess I'd made, it was about time to get onto dinner. Once again I chose an Ottolenghi recipe from Plenty, this time the 'Broccoli and Sweet Sesame Sauce' which I served with basmati rice and poached salmon...a nice glass of wine washed it down a treat.
