The Corkless Mind

Tag: food styling

  • Roasted Vine Tomato and Goat’s Cheese Tart.

    Roasted Vine Tomato and Goat’s Cheese Tart.


    I love tomatoes! I can easily eat a whole raw one with a pinch of salt and a sprinkle of white pepper. If my esophagus didn’t loathe me for it I would consume copious amounts! I saw the most stunning vine tomatoes in store yesterday and knew that I had to play around with them in the kitchen. I roasted the tomatoes in Balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and a good pinch of sea salt for about 20 mins to macerate and caramelize. As a new found friend recently said, “life’s too short to be making your own pastry” I purchased store bought pastry. I love this particular variation of butter puff pastry, the results are light, buttery and a bit flakey too. I oiled the tart tin with a tiny amount of oil and lined with parchment paper and placed the pastry inside,that I cut to size for the round tin. Brush with eggwash and assemble with the tomatoes and goat’s cheese and drizzle with the left over balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a pinch or two of sea salt flakes. 

    Place in a pre-heated oven on 180 degrees C for 10 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack. 


    This past Sunday I attended a food photography workshop hosted by professional and renowned food photographer, Hein van Tonder from The Heinstirred blog, Francois Pistorius also a professional photographer and Isabella Niehaus a renowned stylist. I picked up so many nifty tricks and tools of the trade, I can’t wait to experiment and hopefully showcase everything I have learnt! To give you a little behind the scenes sneak peak I will be doing a full post on the workshop later in the week. So keep your eyes glued to Off Beet Blog 🙂 

    I took the above photos just before 12:00 today. I love the warmth of the red vine tomatoes against the crisp green micro herbs. I love a good colour contrast! 

    This week I’m on a prop and background sourcing mission, and with no such luck! I think I need to venture out to Cape Town soon! 

  • Lobster roll with a Sriracha and Lobster mayonnaise.

    Lobster roll with a Sriracha and Lobster mayonnaise.

    Lobster roll with a Sriracha and Lobster mayonnaise.

    As you might have noticed with recent posts I tend to lean more towards food that is associated with summer and festivity and what a more fitting day than with such gorgeous weather while on the brink of Spring in South Africa. 
    Here in South Africa, we have rock lobster called Crayfish. For some time now the Crayfish population have been under immense pressure and extreme danger of extinction with many overfishing and exploiting the rock lobster. I love crayfish, my mom makes a mean crayfish curry and if had my way I would indulge frequently but I would much rather be responsible and try to save the population by not doing so. I see it as our duty to protect a species that is so loved and vulnerable.

    The partially cooked crayfish was purchased at Woolworths fish counter and was imported. 


    I poached the crayfish in an emulsion of butter, garlic and a squeeze of lime juice for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Keeping in mind the crayfish was already parboiled. I heated the buns in the oven and for the Sriracha lobster mayonnaise I prepared the mayonnaise, which is store bought normal mayonnaise mixed with Sriracha, lime juice, and the juice of the carcass of the rock lobster roasted in the oven to caramelize with olive oil to make a lobster oil, stir until combined. To assemble, cut the buns down the middle, slather with the flavoured mayonnaise, then place pieces of the avocado on each side along with the butter lettuce and top with the crayfish and mayonnaise and a squeeze of lime juice. Serve with a good icy cold craft beer. 



    Lobster roll with Sriracha and Lobster mayonnaise.
    The photos were taken around 13:00 on a perfect sunny Cape Town day. 

    I used the newspaper in the background to create a little ambience for a pub crub seafood meal. I love how the cobalt blue of my board creates a perfect colour juxtaposition in my photos, especially for this shoot. 

    This post was collated whilst listening to the soundtrack of Whiplash. My favourite song on the upbeat jazzy soundtrack is you guessed it, Whiplash. 

  • Nigella’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Pots.

    Nigella’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Pots.

    Naturally I love cooking and baking things that I love to eat, I think that is one of very few secrets of good cooking, that and simplicity. I love Nigella Lawson’s style of cooking it’s quick and no fuss, humbling yet soulful. I don’t think anyone could resist a ‘straight out of the oven’ freshly baked Chocolate chip cookie, never mind eating the raw cookie dough out of the mixing bowl. 

    This recipe is from Nigella’s latest cookbook titled ‘Simply Nigella’ there are so many recipes I simply must try when I gift myself this aesthetically inviting book! I’ve read that the book is something of a celebration of life. 


    Lying in bed dreamily yearning for summer and listening to Nigella’s latest series of podcasts(Summer Sound Bites) all I can think of is entertaining this summer. The thought of laughter together with cocktails and good food shared with family and friends, definitely excites me and makes my heart smile. 


    As always, I added a little something extra, a touch of Nutella in the middle to make the cookie that more gooey and indulgent. The recipe for the Chocolate chip cookie pots is up on Nigella’s website.

  • Buttery Popcorn Ice cream

    Buttery Popcorn Ice cream

    Popcorn ice cream with a dark miso caramel

    I’ve been wanting to recreate this recipe for some time now, and it’s just another excuse to use my awesome Ice cream attachment for my mixer. Combining two things I just can’t go without… 
    I’m a frequent cinema goer and for me no movie is complete without my tub of butter flavoured popcorn, the same can be said for long walks on the Promenade on a gorgeous sunny day with my favourite local artisanal ice cream. I love all the effort that goes in to making good ice cream, however it is rather complicated if tempering egg yolks is not your thing then may I suggest a no-churn ice cream, something which Nigella Lawson masters quite effortlessly, amidst many other things! (Spot the Nigella fan) Thus I can only aspire to being consistently great at making ice cream, I will however leave it to the experts. I found that the fat in the butter and double cream, if not passed correctly through a sieve and at the exact temperature it needs to be when churning, can create clumps in the mixture and thus gives a ‘sticking to your palate’ type of feel (face palm) I decided to add copious amounts of the most umami caramel I’ve ever had to make it acceptable for consumption and of course styling. I made a really dark caramel with a touch of miso and flaked sea salt. I quite like taking the caramel further, again it all depends on your palate. I love how the miso complements the dark velvety smooth caramel and makes it even more indulgent! The correct recipe can be found in the book NOPI by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. I however used a basic ice cream guideline and deviated from there… When deviating sometimes is not the right idea, and  I certainly learned that. 

    Styling tip 101: if making a dish for a shoot that needs to be styled, the dish should look appealing and equally taste good if you want great results for the shoot. If all else fails, try and style the dish to look like the desired result that you require by (like me, if you made ice cream) drizzling over caramel or chocolate sauce with a few toppings like 100s/1000s sprinkles or chopped up chocolate or flaked/ toasted nuts or berries. 

    Popcorn ice cream with a miso dark caramel

    The photos were taken yesterday morning, taking advantage of the perfect light in my living room and that my partner was home yesterday to help pour over the caramel whilst I shoot. This I call a win-win! 

  • Matcha Madeleines

    Matcha Madeleines

    Since last week I had been obsessed with all things green and this week is just another continuation of that healthy obsession. Perusing a baking feed on Pinterest I noticed a scarlet Madeleine that instantly took my breathe away I knew I had to recreate it and add my own twist to it. 
    Matcha, in recent years have been taking the western world by storm. Matcha is a fine green tea powder that derives from the same source as green tea leaves. It has been dubbed as a superfood with many health benefits. Loaded with antioxidants, if consumed regularly only then will one reap all the health benefits of prevention of cancer, lowering of cholesterol and blood pressure and strengthening the immune system. 

    The Madeleine recipe is from Woolworths Taste magazine’s website, the only difference is the addition of Matcha into the batter towards the end of folding. I had only just recently bought my very first Madeleine pan, as I really wanted to recreate the scarlet Madeleine and make it my own. I dipped the madeleines in white chocolate and with the beautiful golden Madeleine in the middle I added Matcha to the melted chocolate mixture, simply because I love the contrast in colour and who knew matcha tasted spectacular in white chocolate!? 

    The photos were all taken in the height of a very nasty storm (believe it or not). I absolutely adore the lighting as it makes everything appear so pure. 

    I’m trying to be creative when it comes to props in my photos, as good props are rather hard to find, so at this point I find myself just scavenging around my apartment looking for interesting things that would give my photos that extra special touch. 

    This post was collated whilst listening to the whimsical Si tu vois ma mère by Sidney Bechet. (Yes, I am dreaming of Paris :)) 

    In honour of her up and coming birthday, I leave you with a Julia Child quote. 

    “People who love to eat are always the best people” – Julia Child. 

    *information sourced from Eat out and Tea Mill*