Wrightfood - recipes, food photography and culinary adventures

Roast Goose

December 29 th 2009

26 Comments

Turkey can go forth and multiply.

There goes half the readers of this blog.

I guess I shouldn’t make such a brash statement without backing it up with at least a modicum of fact. Well, perhaps not fact, but my views on that rather large, rather disappointing bird…

I have cooked a fair few turkeys in my time. I have roasted them straight. I have wet brined, dry brined them. I have stuffed them. Cooked both large and small ones. Some techniques do yield better results than others, but it is still a pretty darn bland white meat. The legs are better of course, but those normally get fought over so much I just say “what the heck” and let others battle it out. Gravy makes things better, but if you ask me (I know you didn’t..) if you have to smother something in gravy to make it decent, the starting product should be seriously contested.

Click to see this roast goose recipe and more photographs

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Game Recipes | 26 Comments »

Home cured Salami – Finished!

December 18 th 2009

35 Comments

You may recall a few posts back now I wrote a little something about the salami that Becky Selengut (some might know her as Chef Reinvented) and I started together. I say started because salami making is a long process. Most of this work is up front. A couple of hours to dice, chop, grind, clean, stuff and finally ferment and hang. Another few hours to make ridiculously childish sausage jokes. From there on in for the next month or so it is about careful monitoring, and daily squeezes of your salami (giggle).

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Charcuterie | 35 Comments »

Lake Erie Yellow Perch, Mussels, leeks and tomato stew

December 8 th 2009

9 Comments

It is winter here in Seattle. I have no idea if I can “technically” call it that yet, but when it gets down to 34F in the day time this not-so-hardy Englishman calls winter well and truly. Trees are bare, frost is on the ground, and I can now use my deck as as second fridge if I really need to. Yep. Winter is here.

Winter for me means hearty warm soups, stews, braises. Often enough this means meat, but in my mind fish should certainly not get relegated during these cold months. Take mussels for instance. Our local Penn Cove mussels are pretty great all year round, but even better during the winter. The colder water makes for a better tasting, sweeter mussel. I have to say, it is pretty hard to top a steaming hot bowl of mussels mariniere and some crusty bread on a cold day. Of course, if this is too light for your tastes, put some creme fraiche into the deal if you must.

Click to see this fish stew recipe

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Seafood Recipes, vegetables | 9 Comments »

Cooking in Bali

December 2 nd 2009

21 Comments

Cooking in Bali

Just occasionally I dream that my life I spent traveling around the globe with my wonderful wife and son, cooking in far off countries, learning World cuisine from everyone’s grandmothers that make the best …..{insert best Grandmother recipe here}.

Then the alcohol wears off just enough for me to regain some sense of reality and for me to remember that I have a stable career here in Seattle, and that a life of traveling would make me miss everything this fantastic part of the US has to offer.

I then start making excuses as to why we don’t travel more… my three year old son often tops that list, but really that has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. He loves new places and new things. I hate plane rides, especially long ones where I have to answer “are we there yet?” and “I want to get up Daaaaaaaady” overandoverandoverandover again.

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in travel | 21 Comments »

Brussel Sprout Gratin

November 24 th 2009

17 Comments

When you ask most cooks what their favorite season is, most will almost certainly say summer. It is easy to see why. The bounty of light, clean tasting vegetables and fruit really is truly inspiring. Joy is also had at crafting light simple dishes to highlight these amazingly fresh ingredients.

For me though, fall coming into winter is my favorite time as a cook. Vegetables are more hearty. Root vegetables get roasted at least 3 times a week. I don’t think I go a day without eating a parsnip. The carrots growing in our yard, that I forgot about for a lot of summer are now being turned and glazed almost faster than I can pull them. Then of course we have braising. Through the summer I hardly cook any meat, but the fall/winter is the time I break into braising and roasting much, much more.

Click to see this brussel sprout gratin recipe

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in lunch, vegetables | 17 Comments »

Home made Dry Cured Salami

November 16 th 2009

22 Comments

I will try and get through this whole post without making ridiculous (and incredibly British) jokes about stuffing sausage.

Honest.

My little dry curing chamber for charctuerie has been empty since I completed the bresaola last month. I actually didn’t have any plans to do any more dry curing for a little while – what with this being holiday season and all that. The fact that I have four salami hanging in there right now, gathering some nice mold is completely down to one person.

Chef, teacher, writer forager Becky. Some might know her as Chef Reinvented.

We have been long time Twitter buddies, often talking about seafood when I should really be working. Well, it turns out that we have another mutual interest – charcuterie. I don’t remember how we started talking about moldy meat, but it turns out that she loves coppa and guanciale – two of my favorite cured meats. So I harp up over twitter “lets make some meat” or something along those lines, and the rest as they say is history.

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Charcuterie | 22 Comments »

Roast beets, sage gelée, hazelnut & bay foam

November 2 nd 2009

18 Comments

roasted beets with sage gelee and hazelnut foam

There was two things I promised myself I would never make in the kitchen. The first was plate skids. You know, saucing a plate with a brown sauce, but using a paint-brush to brush it on in a stripe.

The second was making a foam. Somehow the idea just seems kind of silly, boarder line pretentious, and certainly overdone.

Looks like I have broken rule #2. I can safely say however that rule #1 will never, under any circumstances be broken.

EVER.

Click to see more of this roasted beet recipe

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in vegetables | 18 Comments »

Roasted Squash and Apple Fritters and going Gluten Free

October 21 st 2009

16 Comments

apple_squash_fritter

Being British, deep fried food has a long history with me. Fish and chips was a weekly event for me when I was back in Blightly – actually often more frequent than that. When my jeans started feeling a bit tight, and my t-shirts started fitting far too trendily (er.. tight too), I decided it was time to cut that practice out.

Course, it really wasn’t just the fish and chips. It was the onion bhaji’s too. We should also not forget the fact that most British chippies (fish and chip shops) will also fry just about anything that you bring in to them. Including candy bars.

I should make it public knowledge that I have never, ever eaten a fried candy bar.

Oh, I guess tempura counts as deep fried too.

So, I have eaten my own weight five times over in fried food. Since moving to the states 7 years ago the taste left me. Rather strange since the yanks seem to have just the same love of fried food that us Brit’s do. I lost the taste for it. Lost the taste for it till last weekend that was.

Click to see this squash and apple fritter recipe

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in lunch, vegetables | 16 Comments »

Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

October 15 th 2009

10 Comments

I don’t really do cookbook reviews on my blog. I am bad at writing them, and they just seem to come across as a little bit cheesy and at worst like I was paid to write them. That certainly isn’t this lanky Englishman’s cup of tea. Not one bit.

This is different though. “How so?” you might ask..

I took some of the photo’s for Jaden’s book for one.

This isn’t really a review of the book.. goto amazon for that…

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in photography | 10 Comments »

Home cured Bresaola is complete!

October 7 th 2009

23 Comments

Home cured Bresaola

It has been a long time hanging. Literally. But today was the day that I pulled the bresaola from the curing chamber, and sliced into it.

I did a post a couple of weeks ago that showed some shots of it hanging in the chamber, and a little bit of information on the process – You can see that here.

Bresaola is an Italian air dried beef eye of round (or often top or bottom round too). The meat is trimmed of excess fat and sinew, then rubbed liberally with salt and mix of spices. It is then left to sit in the fridge for a couple of weeks “curing”. The salt draws out a lot of the moisture from the meat, which helps to preserve it. The herbs and spices are there of course for flavor. Every couple of days the meat gets turned to make sure it is curing evenly. Half way through you rub it with more salt and spices.

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Charcuterie | 23 Comments »

Compact Camera Food Photography

September 26 th 2009

36 Comments

(above shot taken with my old Canon 8MP compact camera)

When I did the blog posts about food photography, and food photography post production a while ago now, I got some emails and comments from people asking how this stuff relates to using a compact camera, instead of some flashy big digital SLR.

Truth be told, there are a lot of similarities. There are also of course a lot of differences.

The one thing that is completely key with both camera systems is knowing your hardware. Know the advantages, and certainly know the limitations.

So, without further a do, lets get down to the nitty gritty, and look at using a cheap old compact camera for food photography.

Click to see and read more about compact camera food photography, including an in-depth shot breakdown!

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in technique | 36 Comments »

Home Cured Bresaola

September 16 th 2009

16 Comments

Yes folks, its moldy meat drama time again.

Some long time readers (hi Danika, hi Mum) might remember the saga of me curing a bresaola at home last year. In fact, it was about 10 months ago if memory serves me. Thankfully actually, memory doesn’t have do anything – I have posts on that last emotional episode -

The initial setup

Traumatic update

Trash Can

Back then, the humidity dropped too low, caused case hardening (outside dries out too fast, inside stays wet, develops rot), and ended up in the trash can. Was a bit of an emotional ride for some reason.

After doing that failed bresaola I tried my hand at duck proscuitto. That turned out wonderfully. I might be doing some more of that pretty soon, it was that tasty (and darn right easy).

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Charcuterie | 16 Comments »

Seared Halibut, flageolet beans with 4 hour sofrito, garlic confit and kale

September 7 th 2009

15 Comments

Things are starting to look a little too Autumnal for my liking here in Seattle. The last few days have been cold(er). Rain has set in a bit. A stroll around the neighborhood yields people talking about having to sweep up leaves. I am still at a loss as to what has happened. It was 80degrees not too long ago, days were spent in sunblock and shorts. Now you just look rather odd sporting either.

So here is a dish to welcome in some slightly colder weather. Nothing as full winter or fall as say a cassoulet, but something substantial enough for a cool summer evening.

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Seafood Recipes | 15 Comments »

Photographs from the farm

September 1 st 2009

22 Comments

A month ago now, or so, Danika and I trotted over to Seabreeze farm on Vashon Island for a day of photography, animals, and stepping in cow poop.

What was the purpose? Just some fun really – to get out, and to shoot some very interesting people, and as luck turns out – some rather interesting animals.

Just a word of warning to any readers who don’t like seeing the butchering of raw meat. Some photos further down this post show a lamb carcass being cut up.

Seabreeze is a local/sustainable/great animal husbandry farm that is really very diverse. Cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, cheese, milk, charcuterie, wine, stock – you name it, they either have it or will make it. They even have a small restaurant that they use to cook up their farm wares, and also a space there for doing custom butchering of meat.

All in all, a completely fascinating place to spend a day, especially with a camera.

Click to see more of the farm photos

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in blog | 22 Comments »

Guest Chef Dinner at La Boucherie on August 27 – Update!!

August 25 th 2009

9 Comments

Time for an update folks! Last week saw Danny and I testing a few recipes for the dinner over on Vashon Island.

The dinner menu is going to be the following:

Smoked Salmon, Tomato, and Horseradish Cream Napoleon

Charcuterie Plate: Head cheese, Game Pate, and Red Onion

Homemade Sausage, Piperade, and Roasted Potatoes

Chicken Leg Confit with Bacon-Dripping Lentils (pictured above)

Pork Belly Roulade with Mushroom Duxelle with Melted Leek Coulis

Lemon Chocolate Tart

Cost is $65 a person.

La Boucherie is offering 1/2 priced wine, or a $10 corking fee if you bring that special bottle.

Dinner date is this Thursday! (August 27th) Service starts at 7pm, directions here. Reservations required. My suggestion is to allow a couple of hours if traveling from Seattle to Vashon.

I just thought I would share a few more photos from the recipe test, which happened to be one of the best “food days” I have ever had. Cooking with Danny was utter joy. I haven’t had the luck of cooking with a professional chef before, especially one of Danny’s caliber.

WOW, just wow. The speed and efficiency is simply outstanding. 4 things on the go at once, and talking, laughing and joking around. Incredible to see.

The best news? There are still some seats available for this fun evening! Email me if would like more information, or to request a reservation. matt(at)mattikaarts.com - you are gonna have to copy/paste and swap out the (at) for @.. I really don’t want emails about dodgy bank accounts, or herbal enhancement pills.

So here are some photos from the recipe test! enjoy.

Click to see more of the food photos

Share and Enjoy:

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »