Daikon Radish and Blue Cheese Wrap | Central Ohio Food Photographer

Daikon radishes are my favorite CSA/Farmer's Market find from last summer. I was so sure I wouldn't be able to find any at the grocery store when I started craving them this winter, but yet there they were, both at Whole Foods and Meijer. They're so refreshing in the dead of winter--a break from the hot, dense dishes I find myself making.

Daikon radishes are long, white radishes. They look a lot like carrots or parsnips. There's a very thin skin on the outside of them that I quickly and not too carefully peel off. They're really crisp and mild without much of a spicy bite to them, yet they  definitely belong in the radish category.

The three best ways I've found to use them:
1. In a Simple Salad of shaved daikon radish, shaved cucumber, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil, along the same trend as the one seen on Top Chef Texas with pickled vegetables.
2. In a fancier salad like this one with watercress, avocado and pomegranate
(Even I'll admit, this is a truly beautiful post.)
3. In the recipe I'm going to share with you here, one I made up all on my own, a blue cheese and vegetable wrap with daikon radish, cucumber and chicken.

Daikon Radish and Blue Cheese Wrap 
I eat large portions, so I say two wraps makes one serving.

2 small flour tortillas
4 MorningStar Farms Chik'n Nuggets, optional
        (just as good without any meat product, or with real chicken nuggets,
         boneless buffalo wings or grilled chicken strips)
handful of shaved daikon radish
handful of shaved cucumber
4 tablespoons blue cheese dressing
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
4 lettuce leaves

Use a simple peeler to shave the radish and cucumber. Microwave the tortillas for just a few seconds to make them pliable. Place heated chicken nuggets/chicken strips in the middle of each tortilla and divide the cheese, dressing, radish, cucumber and lettuce leaves between the two tortillas. Serve with a side of celery and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

This would make a great menu item for say, Whole World vegetarian restaurant here in Columbus. Often I find myself munching on cheese and crackers for lunch because I'm too lazy to fix anything. This was so super quick and easy, I ate this for lunch 4 days in a row and never got sick of it.

What were a few of my other favorite CSA/Farmer's Market finds last year? Napa Cabbage and Shishito Peppers were also at the top of the list. Maybe those recipes will make it to the blog this summer. What were your favorites?

Commercial Food Photographer | Best Lemon Curd Recipe Ever

Lemon curd: A dessert spread topping, made from a combination of egg yolks, sugar, fruit juice and zest that's cooked on the stove. It's soft, smooth, tart and served cold. It's similar to a custard and is often served with scones or used in pastries and tarts.

My reason for making lemon curd? I had a bunch of Meyer lemons, so I went searching for a recipe to try out. I love lemons because they're so tart they help cut desserts I would normally find overly sweet, like cake, and since I'm repainting my kitchen from green to yellow, this seemed like the perfect time for an all-yellow post. The new kitchen color is highlighted in red below. By the way, it's really hard for a food photographer to not choose a color based on its food name. I overlooked  "Spun Honey, Lemon Twist, Butterscotch Cream, and Fruit Compote" to find the perfect color without any outside influences, which is "Chickory Chick". Beautiful color, but the name is tragic.

I made Lemon Curd twice. The initial recipe was a bit of a train wreck for me. I can't necessarily blame the recipe, it was my first attempt and it's possible I just did it wrong. I considered giving up on lemon curd, but I didn't want all my hard work to go to waste, so I found a different recipe and tried again.
The biggest differences between these two recipes are:
The order the ingredients are combined.
The second recipe called for butter while the first didn't.
For the second recipe I ditched the Meyer lemons for regular lemons instead.

The two attempts are shown next to each other at the bottom of this next photo string. The one on the left (in pink bowl) was the failure and the one on the right (in clear Tupperware) was the winner. The first batch wasn't clear and shiny and tasted powdery, bitter and perhaps a little burnt.

Lemon Curd

2 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup butter, cut up in 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1-2 teaspoons cornstarch (optional)

1. Place sugar in a medium-sized pan over a pot of simmering water in a double-boiler. Add cornstarch (if desired) to help the thickening process. Gradually whisk in fresh lemon juice.
2. Add eggs and egg yolks, continuing to whisk steadily. Whisk over medium to medium-high heat, 10 to 18 minutes, until mixture thickens. (If it’s not thickening, increase the heat, being careful to continue whisking.) It should be about the consistency of hollandaise sauce.
3. Add butter, whisking to blend. Cook, continuing to whisk, one to two more minutes. Remove pan from heat. Stir in lemon zest. Transfer to a bowl and place plastic wrap over it, pressing over the top to prevent a skin from forming.
4. Chill. The lemon curd will continue to thicken some as it cools. This recipe makes about 3 cups lemon curd. Store refrigerated for one to two weeks. After the lemon curd is thoroughly chilled, you can fold in whipped cream to lighten the texture and mellow the flavor, if you wish. I prefer it full-strength.

Tips: Use a large whisk. It helps avoid froth and bubbles from forming on the top.
Make sure not to remove the mixture from the heat until it's really thickening, when it'll stick to the spoon and become a little more difficult to whisk. It will thicken more in the fridge, but not like Jell-O would.

Lemon Curd is great on top of cornbread, biscuits or scones. Other ways to eat Lemon Curd?

Lemon Curd Trifle
Ricotta Pancakes with Lemon Curd and Raspberries 
Lemon Curd Stuffed French Toast
Blueberry Lemon Curd and Quinoa Parfait 
Mini Lemon Tarts
Lemon Doughnuts
on top of pavlovas
on top of fresh berries and whipped cream
and last but not least, by the spoonful!

Lemon Curd makes a perfect gift, just spoon into any cute glass container like the one above. A little goes a long way, 4 tablespoons could be a serving--if you eat normal portions, which I don't. I ate about 3/4 cup in a sitting. I made this for a dinner party. One of my friends looked so sad when her bowl was empty that I spooned out seconds. There's no better testimonial than seconds.

You can purchase these images and more through our online shop.

Cocktail Couture: Watershed Gin Pumpkin Drop

We Cbusr's sure do love our hometown booze! Columbus is getting some well-deserved local and national recognition for our distilleries, wineries, and breweries. In honor of these fine establishments, I've partnered with fellow Edible Columbus contributor Jenna Brucoli of the fantastic design and fashion blog, Jenna Sais Quois, to bring you Cocktail Couture.

Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing, usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Well, in relation to these cocktail and accessory pairings, the hand-crafted alcohol is couture. The creators are dedicated to their craft, making award-winning bottles of gin, vodka, whiskey, wine and Tessora (similar to limoncello.)

Our first recipe uses Watershed Gin. Even gin-haters will enjoy this cocktail! (I have proof, I tested the cocktail out on a number of gin-haters.) This makes a fun punch, or if made more concentrated, it's great for shots or mini-cocktails. It's a perfect fall drink, and could be made even more fun with floating spider rings, a sugared rim, or served in hollowed out mini pumpkins.

Pumpkin Drop

1.            1 oz. Watershed Gin
2.            1 oz. pumpkin puree
3.            1 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
4.            1 1/2 oz. simple syrup
5.            Ginger Ale


Combine the gin, pumpkin, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice, and shake briskly until combined. Strain into a shot glass or small highball glass and top off with Ginger Ale. The Ginger Ale can be substituted with champagne, sparkling wine, or cream soda. They're all good!

Here's the link to Jenna's post, with a twist.

In honor of Halloween, I couldn't resist adding a few of my favorite pumpkin photos. Keep an eye out for more Cocktail Couture to come!

Emeril Lagasse's Cookbook Sneak Peak: Gigante Bean Soup with Arugula Pesto

For all you Emeril fans out there, he's got a new cookbook coming out on September 27th, 2011! It's called Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.com.

In the past, the Emeril recipes I've tried have come from foodnetwork.com searches, one of which is a now a favorite of mine: Gingerbread with Spiced Creme Anglaise. So it was exciting to have a real cookbook in my hands again! After thoroughly perusing the cookbook, I would categorize it as advanced for 3 reasons.
1. Most of the recipes call for many steps, like soaking, refrigerating overnight, and baking one part while whisking another.
2. The recipes are ingredient-heavy. Things like white peppercorns and grapeseed oil aren't items I have in my house regularly and some of the ingredients would need to be found at a specialty store.
3. Many of the recipes call for cookware I don't own. I have a small kitchen, so I don't buy a lot of cooking accessories. (Not that I don't pine for ALL of them!) In the recipes I read through, there were mentions of Tagines, Woks, and Springform Pans.

That said, if you love to cook, and you love to take the time to cook some amazing food, this is the book for you.

The first recipe I made was Gigante Bean Soup with Arugula Pesto. Read more (including recipes) after viewing some pretty photos of this yummy soup in the making.

Emeril says you can use any number of large beans in this recipe, which is good, since I have no idea what a Gigante Bean is. My favorite large beans are Fava Beans. They have a thick skin and a creamy inside. I let them soak for something like 14 hours, because I hate having hard beans. It worked fine. You can also use large Lima Beans.

Most of the ingredients for this were accessible, except for the white peppercorns which I skipped and just used ground pepper. No harm done. I even got to use some ingredients from my CSA and from my own garden, which is always exciting! I skipped the pancetta, since I don't eat meat. If I did add it, I'd probably have cut down on the salt in the recipe, since that would add more salt.

I've made a lot of soups in my time, but it's mostly the kind where I have a bunch of stuff that's about to go bad so I put it in a pot and boil for 10 minutes and voila! Soup. This time, I followed the recipe closely and didn't take the shortcuts I normally would, and I'm happy that the extra work paid off! This is filling and wonderfully substantial, even when made vegetarian, and would be great for all seasons. The fresh vegetables meld well together and the herbs shine through. I didn't think I'd care for the peppers, but they really did add flavor and color.

I garnished with a little extra Parmesan cheese and ate it as soon as I was done shooting. Even lukewarm it was still super tasty!

I think my favorite part of the recipe was the "garnish". Emeril added an Arugula Pesto recipe that is fantastic! I would never have thought of adding pesto as a garnish to a soup, but it was perfect. I will now make it all the time, as I love arugula. I'd put it on a sandwich (ooh, a breakfast sandwich!) or crackers and cheese, or as a veggie dip....It's nice because it doesn't have any garlic in it, so there isn't the huge bite pesto usually has. It does have lemon juice which adds it's own zing without overpowering everything else. Yum. Take a look at the photos below!



While they aren't the easiest recipes in the world, they are wonderfully complex in flavor and you'll be glad you took the time to put such a great meal together. Better yet, freeze a bunch of it and have them for multiple meals! Both of these recipes probably had closer to 7-8 servings vs. the normal 4-6.

Stay tuned for more recipes from Emeril's new book coming this week!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gigante Bean Soup with Arugula Pesto

Gigante beans are very large white beans with a creamy, almost buttery texture. They are also known as hija or gigande beans and are a staple in Spanish and Greek cuisine. Feel free to substitute large lima beans (or in my case, Fava Beans.)

2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
5 white peppercorns
4 oz. pancetta, diced small (here, optional)
2 tblsp olive oil
2 medium carrots, diced small
2 celery stalks, diced small
1 onion, diced small
1 small fennel bulb, diced small
1 lb dried gigante beans, picked over, rinsed, soaked overnight and drained
3 c. chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced small
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and diced small
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 c. Arugula Pesto (recipe follows) for garnish

1. In the center of a piece of cheesecloth, combine the thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Gather the ends together and tie securely with a piece of kitchen twine to form a sachet. Set aside.

2. In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook the pancetta in the olive oil until it is brown and crispy and has rendered most of its fat, 3-5 minutes. Remove the pancetta from the pot using a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

3. Add the carrots, celery, onion and fennel to the pot and saute until the vegetables begin to wilt and caramelize lightly, about 10 minutes. Add the beans, herb sachet, chicken stock, and enough water to cover the beans by one inch (about 4 cups). Season the beans with 1 1/2 tsp salt. Bring the beans to a boil, reduce the heat so that the broth just simmers, and cook uncovered until the beans are almost tender, about 1 hour. Add the bell peppers and pancetta and cook until the beans are tender, about 20 minutes longer. Remove the sachet from the pot and discard.

4. Season the soup with the pepper and the remaining tsp of salt.

5. Serve the soup in large bowls, garnished with a generous spoonful of the pesto, to taste. Serve with a loaf of warm, crusty bread.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arugula Pesto

4 oz baby arugula, washed and spun dry
1 oz fresh mint leaves (about 1 packed cup)
1/2 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 c toasted pine nuts
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine the arugular, mint, parmesan, pine nuts lemon zest, and lemon juice in a food processor. Puree until smooth, then add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. Process just until the olive oil is incorporated. Add the salt and pulse just to blend.

2. Transfer the pesto to an airtight container until ready to use. The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks and in the freezer for up to 6 months. Makes 1 cup.