If you’ve been following my Twitter or Instagram (BrixtonRose) of late, you might have seen that the other day I got together with my pal, the lovely and hugely talented photographer Helen Cathcart for a day of cooking, styling and photography. I’m a massive fan of Helen’s work, and we’ve worked together in a writer and photographer capacity before, so it was a real treat to have her over to my flat in Brixton and play around with some props and yummy food. As someone who is lucky enough to write about food for a living, it was great fun to spend a day getting hands on with ingredients (most of which were sourced from Brixton’s markets and stalls, of course) and focusing on the visual side of things. I have also spent some time assisting the gorgeous and very brilliant Uyen Luu on her forthcoming Vietnamese cookbook, which you should all be very excited about – it’s going to be amazing!
For this shoot I prepped, cooked, styled and, with Helen’s help, propped the recipes, and Helen took these lovely pictures. We were both pretty pleased with the results, so I hope you enjoy the photos.
Clams, white beans and kale
I’ve become really obsessed with kale and white beans, together with shallots, white wine and parmesan lately. This time I added clams. I’ll print the recipe soon I promise.
Mackerel en papillotes
The recipe I used for this was taken from Elizabeth David’s French Provincal Cooking book
Saffron, rosewater and lamb shank curry
Having just got back from a trip to Mumbai, where I picked up some fantastic props in the chaotic but wonderful Chor Bazaar, I was keen to do one Indian dish. I used a fantastically fragrant recipe from Vivek Singh’s ‘Curry’ cookbook, and plated the shanks on the ancient, but brilliantly kitch blue enamel bowl I found at the market.
Persian pavlova: Muscovado meringues with pomegranate, lychees, whipped cream and pistachio nuts
The meringue recipe I used is from Anna Hansen’s Modern Pantry cookbook
Tonka bean and chilli truffles
In Chor bazaar I picked up a couple of fantastic vintage tins. To present these truffles, which are again from Anna Hansen’s Modern Pantry cookbook, I used the old Indian Amol tin.
