Bakergirl Creations

Food & Beverage Photography 101: A Workshop for Food Bloggers! (and other creative types!)

bakergirlcreations — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:43:22 +0000

Prior to your holiday baking & hours spent in the kitchen preparing gorgeous looking and tasty treats and back by popular demand is:

Food & Beverage Photography 101: A Workshop for Food Bloggers! (and other creative types!)

A 2 hour, hands on workshop taught by Jackie Connelly and hosted by Campagnolo Restaurant designed to answer the food photography questions commonly asked by food bloggers.

Why is this a perfect workshop for food bloggers?

I continually get asked how to shoot better in restaurants with low lighting, or at home in natural light, and without spending wads of cash on equipment. That is exactly what this workshop is all about: simple and affordable solutions that will improve your photographs.

Not a food blogger? But love shooting your kitchen creations and want to learn a few techniques? That’s ok – you’re more than welcome too!

To Register

Email Jackie (info@jackieconnelly.com) with ‘Register me for Food Photo 101 Workshop‘ in the subject line. I will send you some info immediately, as well as a PayPal link to confirm your spot.

The Details

• Workshop: Saturday December 5th, noon-2pm at Campagnolo Restaurant 1020 Main Street

• Q&A with Jackie: following the workshop, from 2pm-3pm over lunch (cost of lunch not included)

• Guaranteed 1-on-1 time for everyone

• I will teach you step-by-step how to set-up your shots using some specific food & beverage examples, using your camera’s manual settings

• We will shoot in a variety of set-ups including natural light, restaurant lighting, and a commonly used softbox lighting setup

• I will be sending out some refresher notes before-hand, and will be giving you some workshop notes to take away from the session

• Cost is $45 (gst included) and there are only 10 spots available = the most personal attention from me during the workshop (this does not include the cost of your lunch). *As of November 23rd there are only 2 spots left!

• All you are required to bring is your camera, it’s manual, a tripod, and your appetite!

• Danno, our trustee volunteer from a previous workshop, took some photos; you can see them all here

nfl sunday philly cheese steak sandwiches

bakergirlcreations — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:21:25 +0000

I know this is a mass over-generalization, but I think if you have a male in your house, you might have someone who claims the TV for a good part of Sunday to watch upwards of 3-4 football games, and eagerly checks the scores of those games they didn’t get to watch. I enjoy football. In fact our very own BC Lions (CFL for my dear American readers) advanced in our playoff run today, and I cheered them on even though I was home alone. Given that I knew today would be football dominated in our house, and that TB was going to be out in the morning to coach in the pouring rain, I thought I would have a hearty lunch waiting for him to warm him up and to give him the “game” experience, even if only watching on a cold, wet rainy Sunday in our living room.

Recently I discovered our little grocery store stocks very thinly sliced rib-eye for shabu shabu. I find it has great flexibility and this was a prime example of grabbing some super accessible ingredients to make a tasty weekend lunch in about 15 minutes. I don’t profess to know about the great Philly cheese steak. From what I can tell, there is a rivalry around it. What is authentic? Who makes the best ones? To use cheese slices or cheese sauces. I just used memory from the one or two that I have had at sporting events. I looked for provolone at our little store, but they were out, so I went with a Monterrey jack – it melted like a charm and added a nice richness to the sandwich. It also, as TB pointed out, helped keep everything together…so, don’t skimp on your cheese!

Ingredients:

1 sweet onion, sliced thinly
1 green, yellow, red or orange pepper thinly sliced
1 TB oil
2 TB butter
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced

1 TB butter
1/2 kg of rib-eye, sliced very thinly
(I would ask your butcher do this if it isn’t already cut. Or through the rib-eye in the freezer for about 30 minutes to let it firm up and then slice, much easier this way to get consistent slices.
10-14 slices cheese, depending on size – you want to melt some on your bottom bun, and one over the meaT)
4-5 hoagie or hamburger buns

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large fry pan with a lid, melt oil and first amount of butter over medium-high heat. Add pepper and onions, stir and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes, you don’t want to burn them like I did, so make sure you don’t rush it by turning the heat up too high.

Prepare buns, slice and place slices of cheese on base. Place on a pan, ready to hit the oven.

Once the onions are starting to caramelize, add garlic and jalapeno. Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper, stir and allow to cook for about one minute.

Remove onion mixture to a bowl, set aside.

Turn heat up to high, add butter. Add thinly sliced meat. If using a Teflon pan, use two wooden spoons to work the meat, pulling it apart to get that kind of shredded look, encouraging fast cooking without over cooking and loosing the tenderness fo the steak.

Add buns to oven to warm and melt cheese.

Once your meat is cooked to your just below your liking, we like it medium rare, so we stopped our cooking really at rare. Stir in onion mixture. Then place cheese in one layer over the pan, cover, turn heat down and let cheese melt.

Remove buns from oven. With a slotted spoon scoop out mixture, let drain a little and then serve on the bun.

Serves 4-5.

Fall: Guest Post by Jackie Connelly: My Favourite Baking and Michael Smith’s ‘The Best of Chef at Home’

bakergirlcreations — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:11:31 +0000

I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I spent the first 20 years of my life on Vancouver Island, and also that I’ve never lived outside of British Columbia, but I love our weather (which is often criticized for including too much rain and not enough sunshine) and I especially love the Fall season. Sure, I wouldn’t mind if Summer lasted a few extra weeks (after all who doesn’t enjoy the sunshine?) but there’s something about cozying up with a warm sweater or blanket, a good book (or a favourite blog) and that perfect comfort food meal that rejuvenates me inside and out.

I recently had the opportunity to browse through a copy of Michael Smith’s The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today’s Kitchen sent to me and I must say that the general feel of the book, it’s recipes, and the photos fits my mood and our Fall season perfectly. To tie it into the general baking theme here at Bakergirl Creations, I’m going to focus on Chef Michael’s ‘Treats & Baked Goods’ chapter, and because when I first opened the book to thumb through it, the Old Fashioned Apple Pie on page 235 was where I started. Oh how I love home made apple pie!

Here is Michael’s recipe:

Pastry
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of white sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 sticks of frozen butter
12 tablespoons of ice water

Filling
6 or 8 large Honey Crisp or Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl.

Using a standard box or potato grater, grate the frozen butter into the flour and toss lightly with your fingers until it’s thoroughly combined. Sprinkle in the ice water and stir wit your fingers, mixing and firmly kneading until the dough comes together in a ball.

Divide dough into 2 pieces; making sure that the one half is slightly larger than the other. Wrap in plastic wrap, flatten and chill for at least 30 minutes, or even overnight. Resting tenderizes the pastry, making it easier to roll.

Remove the pasty from the fridge and allow it to warm slight, just until it’s pliable. Lightly flour your hands, the rolling pin, your work surface and the dough.

Roll our the larger pastry piece into a circle large enough to slightly overlap the edges of a 9-inch glass deep-dish pie dish. As you roll, for ease of handling lightly flour the dough every time it’s diameter doubles, then flip it over and continue tolling. Transfer the dough to the pie dish by folding it into quarters, then unfolding it in the dish.

Preheat your over to 375degreed Fahrenheit (190degrees Celsius).

Toss the apple slices with the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add the apple mixture to the bottom crust. Roll our the remaining smaller piece and carefully place it over the top of the piece.

Roll and crimp the edges of the dough together tightly sealing them. Poke a few vent holes into the top of the pie and place on the bottom rack of your over.

Bake for an hour or so, until the crust is golden and the juices are bubbling.

Click here to buy Chef Michael’s book from Amazon.

~ Guest post for Bakergirl Creations by Jackie Connelly

breakfast tart

bakergirlcreations — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:17:37 +0000

I am not a breakfast girl. I know that it is the most important meal of the day, but I really struggle with sacrificing even 15 minutes of my sleep for breakfast. That being said, I do enjoy breakfast. The savoury aspect of eggs and bacon or sausages really appeals to me – pancakes, not so much. I know they have good potential. I just can’t seem to bring myself to eat them very often. They are too sweet, too mushy. So savoury it is.

A few weeks back I was cleaning out the fridge and found myself with some random bits and pieces that needed to be used: a few slices of bacon, an older jar of sundried tomatoes and a half bag of spinach. My mind immediately went to a quiche, but Taster Boy is not a lover of quiche, too fluffy and full of eggs for him. So I thought of a picture of a tart that I saw in Jamie Oliver’s book, Cooking at Home. He had made it in a rimmed baking sheet, it looked rustic and a little different. I pulled out the recipe and reviewed. It called for it’s own version of crust and really focused on onions and spinach as the flavours. Sounded good, but of course it had to be tweaked because I can seldom leave a recipe alone!

I opted to make my own stand by pastry crust but added about ½ a cup of sharp cheddar cheese, lowering the lard content to compensate. This added a wonderful richness to the crust. I used one egg and egg beaters to keep it a little healthier (yes, I know, adding the egg to the cheese to the crust was so not a healthy option, but pick and choose right?) I loved that you could really throw anything into the tart. Essentially whatever you would like with an omelet, you could add to this recipe. Perhaps we should call this “Clean out the fridge Breakfast Tart”.

You could cut yourself a square of it and heat it up in the toaster oven, either at home or at work. A grab and go breakfast that I literally have to just heat up is a good option for those of who prefer sleep and the snooze button. I would love to hear what flavor combinations you might enjoy, or have already created yourself!

PS – my mom thinks this could be frozen well, because quiches can be frozen. So I would individually cut and wrap in cellophane and then foil and then try. Worth a shot if you have leftovers you don’t think you will get through.

Ingredients:

Dough
2 cups AP flour
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp vinegar (I was out of regular vinegar and tried red wine, it was pretty good)
1 cup ice cold water (you won’t use all of this)
1/4 cup Crisco lard
½ tsp salt
½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Tart Filling
1 egg
1/3 cup egg beaters (2 eggs worth)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2-3 cups clean washed spinach
1 medium sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese.
¼ cup chopped sundried tomatoes
4 slices of bacon, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the dough by combining the flour and the salt on a clean counter top

Add the Crisco, using two knives chop it up into the flour to create an oatmeal consistency. You want it keep little “pebbles” of lard in the flour and not make it too fine because in the oven these will puff up and create the delicious flakiness you want with your pastry dough. I always used to make the dough in a bowl. But I found the knives a little cumbersome in a rounded object and then realized you are already going to roll the dough onto the counter, so why not just start there?

Stir in the grated cheddar cheese

Beat the egg in a small measuring cup, add the vinegar and then add cold water until you reach a one cup measure

Make a small well in your flour mixture, pour about 1/3 of the liquid into the well. With a fork start stirring the flour from the centre into the liquid and continue until fully combined. You may need to add more water or flour depending on humidity of your flour

Lightly grease your pan with either pam or a light light coating of butter.

Roll out to fit your baking sheet. Crimp edges, poke with fork and place in freezer for half an hour. This way you don’t need to blind bake and then tart should not shrink too much or pull from the edges of the pan.

Preheat oven to 425F

Bake tart shell for 15-20 minutes, until just a about to brown. This allows you to add the egg mixture and not get a soggy bottom tart.

While the tart is baking, in a large non-stick frying pan heat up the EVOO on medium heat. Add sliced onions (if you are daring and like garlic, add a minced clove or two, delish!) Slowly sautee onions. Don’t rush it let them sweat and cook down, not brown.

Once onions have cooked for about 10 minutes, add spinach. You may need to do this in batches depending on how big your pan is. Allow to wilt. Cook out the liquid. If this isn’t happening, drain it from the pan.

Set aside until ready to bake tart.

In a small bowl combine the egg and beaters and whisk until light and frothy. I find an immersion blender quite helpful to incorporate lots of air into it.

In the prebaked tart, spread out the spinach and onion mixture, sprinkle the sundried tomatoes and minced bacon and then pour in the egg mixture. Add the shredded parm on top.

Turn oven down to 375F

Place tart in the oven, allow to bake for about 20 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Remove and let cool to reasonable warm temperature, or even room temp and enjoy!

Guest Post by Jackie Connelly: Vancovuer Fall Foodie Events

bakergirlcreations — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:45:54 +0000

Jackie had written this post a few weeks back. It is my mistake for not posting it before the end of the month so a few of these events have already passed. However I still wanted to post because it raises awareness of these great events, and you can make a mental note for next year… I know I will! My apologies to Jackie and any readers who may have tried out the event on Oct 1. And if you can, drop in to Jackies’ Food Photography 101 seminar as part of Sustenance!

Without a doubt Fall is the season for foodie events. Whether they’re fundraisers for non-profits, cooking classes or appreciating food art, Vancouver has a lot to offer if you’re looking to get out and expand your foodie activities. Here’s a list to get you going:

Vancouver Farmers Markets is presenting RIPE: the 1^st Annual Evening of Local Food and Libations at Performance Works on Granville Island October 1^st beginning at 6pm. Led by MC Jamie Maw the evening includes local and seasonal food prepared by Chefs Robert Clark and Quang Dang of C Restaurant and served canapé style, tasting tables from local food producers, regional beer & wine, two live bands, door prizes & a silent auction. More info here; tickets here.

Farm Folk City Folk presents The Sustenance Festival: Feasting on Arts & Culture at The Roundhouse in Yaletown starting Thursday October 1^st and going until World Food Day on Friday October 16^th. The Festival will offer a bounty of fun, learning, and agri-tainment, with over 20 food related art exhibits, 15 interactive pieces on display, and loads of events over two weeks. The Festival will also feature a special screening of the award-winning foodie film Tableland by local filmmaker Craig Noble, and a Pocket Market at The Roundhouse from 11am-5pm on Oct 16^th, with all produce from Southlands Farm in Vancouver.

I will be hosting a workshop during The Sustenance Festival called Food Photography 101 on Wednesday October 7^th at 6.30pm. We’ll shoot some food, talk about what you can shoot on your own at home, and you’ll get a take away with some basic techniques & resources for food & beverage photography. Any level is welcome, film or digital camera, laptop optional, tripod required. Register by email to info@ffcf.bc.ca or call 604-730-0450.

Long Table Series is based around the ridiculously long 40ft communal table in The Irish Heather GastroPub, where they host a series of dinners, each featuring a meal crafted by Executive Chef Lee Humphries and paired with a pint/bottle of beer for the bargain basement price of $12. Amazingly popular, these sell out fast and only a couple of dates remain. Check availability here.

Social Bites is a newer event concept in town, but certainly not one to be missed. Register online as a ‘guest’ you will spend one evening sampling meals at several ‘hobby chef’s’ homes all in the same neighbourhood, and then voting on your favourite while enjoying dessert at the ‘hot spot’ afterwards. The next event is October 17^th in Mt. Pleasant, and if you sign up I’ll be one of the hobby chefs cooking for you!

Happy event hopping!

Cheers,

Jackie

http://www.jackieconnelly.com/blog

roasted tomato bisque

bakergirlcreations — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:33:06 +0000

I am in love. In love, I tell you. This is the easiest soup I may have made in years. And it is all because of the talented (and pretty handsome), Tyler Florence.

For the last few weeks the secret ingredient, that stopped being so secret in our kitchen was tomatoes. The tomatoes from the garden finally started ripening throughout September. In the last month from 3 little plants we have harvested 25+ lbs. I’ve canned them, made salsa, tons of tomato bocconcini salad, on toast, and of course the old stand by of pasta sauce. So the other night I was randomly surfing foodnetwork.com and tried my luck at tomato soup. Tyler Florences’ recipe came up. It had something like 150+ reviews, most at the 4 or 5 star level. Worth a shot right?

The thing I love, love ,love about it is how easy it was to make, and how fantastic the house smelled making it. Basically you chop up your tomatoes and onions, peel the garlic and roast. While that is happening, you reduce the stock, combine them, puree, season as you like and thin out to your desired consistency…so GOOD! This is something you could make on a cold Saturday or Sunday afternoon while you are puttering around and then have some lunch for the week ahead at work. Be sure to grab some crackers or some hearty bread to sop up the goodness!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs mixed tomatoes, quartered and cored (I used green leprechaun, roma and little cherry tomatoes)
10 cloves garlic (!)
1 red onion coarsley chopped
1 small yellow onion coarsley chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1.5 L veggie stock
3 Tbsp butter
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup basil leaves
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F

In a roasting pan, combine the quarter tomatoes, chopped onions and garlic cloves.

Add olive oil and salt, stir until everything is coated

Roast in oven for about 45 minutes until starting to carmalize – stir a few times. Let’s be honest you will want to peak because it will smell so good!

While the veggies are roasting, in large sauce pan, if not your dutch oven, add one litre (4 cups) stock, butter and bay leaves. Bring to a low simmer and let reduce to half.

Remove bay leaves from stock, add roasted veggies and torn basil, purree with an immersion blender.

Bring to a low simmer, stir in tomato paste and cream.

Add remaining stock to bring it to the consistency you would prefer.

Season with salt and pepper.

EAT!

Adapted from Tyler Florences

guest blogger Jackie Connelly on Shaw TV

bakergirlcreations — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:20:40 +0000

Work couldn’t be any busier right now. To say that cooking or baking has fallen to the wayside would be a gross understatement. I don’t think I have cooked a propper meal is over a week and a half. I have this weekend off, a sheer luxury when you work at a university. My hopes are to get our house organized, make some sugar cookies and get some work done for work. So soon, soon there should be more goodies posted.

In the meantime, check out this great 3 minute clip, profiling Jackie Connelly, guest blogger here. It’s a great post and insight into Jackie’s world food photography! Congratulations Jackie.

Guest Post by Jackie Connelly: Food Photography 101 ~ Part 3: The Resources

bakergirlcreations — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:11:56 +0000

Food Photography 101 ~ Part 3: The Resources
By Jackie Connelly www.jackieconnelly.com/blog
August 31st, 2009
Written as Guest Blog Post for Bakergirl Creations

At this point we’ve made our way through the creative and technical tips in Part 1 and 2, now it’s time for Part 3 – the resources. If you have any resources to add to my working list below, please leave a comment with a link to your resource…the more the merrier!

1. Magazines. In Part 1 there were some links to a few of my favorite glossy, drool-worthy food & beverage magazines. In my opinion spending time deconstructing food shots you think are killer forces you step outside your bubble, which can be a very good thing. Here’s my drool-worthy list:

2. Blogs. There are so many food, food photography, and food & prop styling blogs out there it’s unbelievable. My feed reader is jammed with so many, I only wish I had time to read them all every day. Therefore, this would be a ridiculously long post if I included even a small selection of them…so this is what I suggest you do to build your own list of blogs you love:

Google ‘food blog’, ‘food photography blog’, ‘best food blog’, whatever exactly you’re looking for. Check the blogroll/links section of each of your favourites for even more. Caution: this can become addicting and an excellent way to procrastinate.
Build a varied list of blogs, for all aspects of food photography include prop styling, cooking & recipes, food photography you love, and those tips & tricks kind of blogs.
Last but not least, start commenting on your favourite blogs, and even start a blog of your own! Free sites like WordPress will have your set up and blogging in minutes.

3. Classes. Online or offline, continuing to perfect your craft, be it hobby or professional, is a total necessity (in my opinion). Here are some exciting workshops and classes coming up around the globe:

Workshops @ Adorama (US based)
Want to learn from professional food stylists and a food photographer in San Diego at the end of September? Check this out.
Marilyn Tausend seems to hold this same workshop in March, at least I’ve seen it listed for ’08 and ’09, cross your fingers for ’10 – travel and food photography in Mexico for 5 days sounds heavenly.
Including shooting models, but also some fun sounding food experiences Red Leaf seems to have space left for their September 15-17, 2009 workshop.
The International Conference on Food Styling & Photography, at Boston University. I’ve read the reviews; it was amazing. I’m all over this one for 2011, sadly there was nothing I could do to get away from my business this year, and it’s only held every 2 years.
Food Styling Workshop through the Culinary Entrepreneurship Program in Los Angeles.
Food Fanatics have some great videos on food styling techniques; these ladies are awesome!

4. Books.

For those of you that live in or visit Vancouver, I highly recommend dropping by Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks if for nothing more than to continue the drool session from your glossy magazine perusal.
Food Photography and Styling by John Carafoli is chock-a-block full of great tips.
Food Styling for Photographers is a great book, giving tips from both the photo and styling side of things.
Lou Manna has written Digital Food Photography which I own, and though I don’t shoot in the same visual style as he does, and therefore not a huge fan of the photos, there are some decent lessons to be found in it.
Earlier I mentioned Selina Maitreya’s book How To Succeed in Commercial Photography if you’re on the road to becoming a commercial photographer, but I think it could apply even if you just want to develop a more holistic approach to your photography.

I welcome any questions, comments or otherwise, please feel free to email me at info@jackieconnelly.com. Good luck!

guest post on Jackie Connelly’s blog: pomegranate tea lemonade

bakergirlcreations — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:23:57 +0000

Many people have asked for the recipe for my pomegranate tea lemonade, it can be found as my second guest food post on Jackie Connelly’s blog Be sure to check back on Saturday to read her last post this month of three on Food Photography – you’re sure to learn something new!

maple blackberry muffins

bakergirlcreations — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:29:32 +0000

“Raspberry muffins.” That was what was requested for breakfast by my 5 year old nephew a few weekends ago when we looked after him and his 2 year old sister. We didn’t have raspberries, so it was off to the the grocery story. They too didn’t have any. The choices were down to blueberries and blackberries. Blackberries were “close enough” I was informed. So with my little helpers gathered around the world’s smallest kitchen we made these super easy muffins. The results paid off! Faces smeared with blackberries, and seconds asked for. A successful collaboration I am positive of.

I found this recipe over at Gourmet Girl’s site. I had been intrigued by the yogurt in the recipe. I had made it a few weeks back for Friday treats at work. So this go round with the kiddies I thought I would try it again. However instead of plain or vanilla yogurt I opted maple flavoured yogurt, topped with maple sugar instead of vanilla sugar. Regardless of what combination you built this as, I am sure they would work out. A great standby to have kicking around when muffins are needed in a flash.

Ingredients:
12-1/2 ounces cake flour (3 cups)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup maple yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups blackberries, (1 pint)
1/8 cup maple sugar for sprinkling tops
paper liners or buttered muffin tins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl toss blueberries with about 1 tablespoon of flour mixture and set aside.

Whisk all wet ingredients together and mix well.

Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just barely combined. add blackberries and mix lightly. Do not over mix.

With an ice cream scoop fill muffin pan almost all the way to the top. top with sugar generously and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove muffins from pan as soon as they are cool enough to handle. They will keep for 3-4 days covered at room temperature.

Makes 18 muffins