My version...

Let’s just do another easy one, I thought to myself when going through one of Donna Hay’s cookbooks. It should be a simple recipe but enough of a challenge in getting it right. Well… if only I had thought about that a little better.. I failed, I failed miserably in recreating the original that you will see below. It seemed fairly straightforward but the trick in this particular image is not so much the recipe as that is real simple, but the angle of the photo.. You’ll see what I mean soon! In the meantime we are already on the 6th version of the Donna Hay Styling and Photography Challenge and I loved all the entries from last month! I would say spread the word..

Photo; Con Poulos

Above you can find the challenge recipe photograph by Con Poulos. it’s from the cookbook Seasons and let’s face it; it doesn’t scare you just by looking at it, does it?  But wait until you analyze this a little further. First of all there is the issue of the size of the props. If you compare the size of the bottle with the size of the bruschetta then it can’t be very big and they appear fairly close together. The tricky part for me however is that the bread in the foreground is big. There is a lot of focus on that plate of food so it is prominently featured in the frame. However I tried to place it and however I changed my lenses I could not – for the life of me – get it right. I’ve tried a wide angle and going in really close but that didn’t give me any blurred background. I tried placing the plate in front and the bottle in the back and using a telelens (which makes objects appear closer together) but then I only got a small piece of the bottle in the frame. I tried so many things I forgot to pay attention to the actual position of the bruschetta but ok…

Plate is too small in the frame here

My plate is probably bigger too or maybe the bread in the original is bigger. It’s shot on a round table and I didn’t have a round table obviously but still I just failed completely in getting it right. I know you are all eagerly awaiting the next challenge so postponing it until I got it right was not an option so you’ll have to do with my failed attempt. Can’t wait to see what you come up with! And please, please let me know how you did it.

Wrong again

I tried it with a smaller plate above (only had a little christmas plate at hand..lol) but again not good! The light in the original is coming from above right and is mildly strong. I had a beautiful clear day and so much light that it was a bit too much but I gave up and just did my own version, which you see as the first picture. Rather different but still with the same elements mostly.

I will try again but also curious what you come up with! Good luck on the challenge! You’re gonna need it (or maybe it is really simple and it is just me..lol)

Feel free to change the recipe to suit your needs and/or allergies/preferences. If you’re vegetarian you can use maybe some slices of eggplant or courgette and if you’re glutenfree, change the bread etc. All options are allowed! The rules are below the recipe.

Bruschetta with mozarella, prosciutto and rocketpesto

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Serves:	4
Prep time:	None
Cook time:	None
Total time:	None
Meal type:	Appetizer, Bread
Region:	Worldwide
From book:	Seasons

Ingredients

• 8 slices bread
• 1 clove garlic (halved)
• extra virgin olive oil (for sprinkling)
• 3-4 pieces bocconcini (in small slices or you can use regular mozarella)
• 8 slices prosciutto
• black pepper (coarsely ground)

Arugulapesto

• 1 handful basil
• 2 handfuls arugula (rocket)
• 1 handful basil
• 40g pine nuts (roasted)
• 20g grated parmesan
• 1/4 garlic clove
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil

Directions

For making the arugula (rocket) pesto put arugula, basil, pine nuts, parmesan and garlic into a foodprocessor and puree roughly. While the motor is running add the olive oil and mix until it is a thick, rough substance. Don't make it too fine. Chunks are ok to have.

Heat a gridlepan and bake both sides of the bread golden brown and crispy. Rub this with half a clove of garlic and sprinkle with some olive oil.

Put some of the slices of mozarella on the toast and liberally cover with the pesto. Top this with a slice of prosciutto and finish with some salt and pepper.

• Once a month (on the 3rd of the month) I will give you a recipe plus the accompanying photo out of the Donna Hay magazine. I will try to make it seasonal but can’t promise anything.
• You have that same month to produce your post. You can post it any day you like just as long as you finish it before the end of that month at the latest.
• You have to  produce that recipe, alterations to the recipe are allowed to make sure any dietary restrictions are met. But only minor changes!
• You have to cook and STYLE the recipe trying to replicate the photo as best as you can. If you think you can do a better job then the original photo, by all means feel free to make your own changes to the styling.
• Shoot the dish and then write a blog post about it. It would be great to add notes on how you took the photo and how you styled the dish,  so that other people can learn too.
• Link back to this months blog post about the challenge and link back to the Donna Hay Challenge page here
• Leave a message on the post that is up here for that month, saying that you completed the challenge and link to the post on your site so others can find it too.
• If you want to use the original photo in your blog post as well as the recipe be sure to link back to the Donna Hay website plus the photographers website. They will both always be mentioned in the monthly challenge posts.

Each month a winner will be picked who will be featured in the Hall of Fame page. If you like you can add a badge to your site saying that you are taking part in this competition. The badge is featured below and should link back to this page.

Above all this challenge is about having fun styling and photographing a dish by taking Donna Hay as our great example. You can join all months or whenever you feel like joining in. Using an example of the great photographers that Donna works with, I always find that it is a good learning experience to see how did they light the scene, where does the light come from and how did they manage to make it look so beautiful. Try and analyze all of that and then come up with your own version.

While taking food photos is all about finding your own style and certainly not copying anyone else, it does help to analyze how your hero’s do their job. It’s about learning to light and style a scene properly. In no way am I trying to suggest you copy another person style. Find your own unique style! This challenge is just a tool to help you along the way..

Related Posts:

• Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4
• Donna Hay styling and photography challenge #1
• Apple and caramel dumplings, I think
• Gnocchi with garden peas
• Trapani rigatoni and limoncello trifle

Yes, well, what can you expect of a month such as December where everyone is running around and trying to get things organized and done before Christmas and new years.. So I realize that.. And despite all that we even have four entries for the Donna Hay Styling and Photography Challenge so hey, that’s not so bad.. I did extend the deadline a tiny bit just to allow two more late entries in.

Photo by Jenn from jenncuisine

Four of my dear foodie friends participated this month and if you haven’t tried the recipe you’re sure missing out as it is delicious, quick and would have been perfect for your Christmas table! (or you can always bookmark it for next year or use it for something else as it would fit a lot of different meals!)
Below you can find the 4 entries plus mine too. Clicking on the photo will take you to the respective entries. As you can see all of these are pretty awesome compared to the original! I think one of the most interesting things about this challenge is that by quick glance all of the photos look pretty similar. The difference is really in the details and how each interpreted the lighting and styling of the setting.

If I had to pick a winner then I think Jenn’s entry is closest to the original in terms of light and styling, even though she chose to add a few cakes in the background. I actually like that better then the empty plate in the original, so great choice.

The challenge recipe by Ben Dearley or William Meppem

You can see the original photo on the left. Ofcourse Jenn made hers glutenfree so check out her post for more details. She also gives a great description of the thought process in getting to the photo which is always helpful.

I’m already preparing for the next challenge so come along and check back on the 3rd for the new recipe. I’m going to be making it tomorrow first, just to be sure the recipe is correct.

Related Posts:

• Donna Hay #3 – the results
• Donna Hay challenge #1 the results!
• Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6
• Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4
• Lemon Sour Cake – Donna Hay challenge #2

Sage and corn cake

Are you all excitedly waiting for the new challenge to see if it is any better then the last one?? Well I can assure you it IS better then the last one, although it doesn’t take a lot to make it better. I thought about which recipe to pick a lot before choosing. It is the time right before Christmas after all and a lot of people are stressed and feeling the pressure of performing for Christmas dinner. So I am giving you a real easy recipe this time. A real easy one that you can also use for the actual Christmas dinner itself. Now what more do you want?

The challenge recipe by Ben Dearley or William Meppem

The challenge recipe this month comes from Donna Hay issue 48 and the photo is either by Ben Dearley or William Meppem. It was a Christmas feature with various menu’s and it didn’t specify which photographer took which photo, so I’ll just name them both. Having learned from the previous challenge I tested the recipe this time beforehand and I am glad to tell you that it is correct and works. I couldn’t find instant polenta which the recipes calls for so I used semolina instead. That worked fine. I also did a batch with cornflour. Those were drier and slightly less fluffy so I would advice to go with either polenta or semolina, but if you have nothing else, you can use cornflour and add a little bit more sour cream to make it moist enough. That should work too. I’ll first give you the recipe

Sage and prosciutto corn cakes

Print recipe

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Serves:	12
Prep time:	10 minutes
Cook time:	25 minutes
Total time:	35 minutes
Meal type:	Side Dish
Region:	Worldwide
From magazine:	Donna Hay Magazine

Ingredients

• 170g instant polenta
• 75g all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons sage leaves (chopped)
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 360g sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 12 sage leaves (extra)
• 12 slices prosciutto

Directions

Preaheat oven to 180. Place the polenta, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sage, salt, pepper, cream and eggs in a bowl and mix well to combine. Place extra sage in the bases of 12 lightly greased 1/2 cup capacity (125 ml) muffin tins. Line each tin with prosciutto and fill with polenta mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Turn out to serve. Makes 12

Note

I could not find instant polenta so I used semolina flour instead. That worked fine, so if you have no polenta use that. I also made a batch with cornflour and that worked as well although the batter and the final cakes were a littl drier then the one with semolina. I would use a bit more fluids if you bake with the cornflour.

Now… you can see that the first photo here is by me, so I can also post this to foodgawker and the likes.. I’m not entirely satisfied with my result and I am sure you can do a better job. Couple of notes to remember; while the light is coming from roughly behind and a little from the right it is not extremely bright light. As you can see in my photo I was too close to the light source (south facing window) so it is too bright in the background. I also noticed that they actually wrap the prosciutto around the bottom of the cakes giving it a different look. Keep that in mind when following the recipe. I will try and redo them too since I finally found polenta too. I am curious to see the difference in taste.

We ate these pretties together with our red lentil soup and it was quite good. I can see this work really well with some good gravy (as that is what they’re intended to be for.. as a side dish to your Christmas turkey.)

You can find all the rules for the Donna Hay Styling and Photography Challenge on the special page here. Deadline for this entry is December 30th. Due to Newyears it’s gonna be one day early so I can actually post it before the new year. (Can you believe it is almost 2012??)

If you’ve completed your entry please fill in the details through the below list. You will only be able to see it once it is approved. Like an image? Click below! Clicking on the image will bring you to the blogpost of the entry!

Related Posts:

• Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6
• Donna Hay styling and photography challenge #1
• Lemon Sour Bundt Cake – DHSPC #2
• Apple and caramel dumplings, I think
• Buns… failed ones that is…

If I say the results for the third ‘episode’ of the Donna Hay challenge are a bit disappointing then that has nothing to do with the quality of the entries, but more with the quality of the recipe and the quantity of the entries… A smashing total of 1 entry! Whoohoo!! Can you guess who the winner is..? Lol.. Correction: After the publishing of this post there was one other entry from Laura Nicoletti coming in which you can see below..

Photo by Jenn from Jenncuisine

Truth be told it was a tricky recipe but it was tasty and Jenn did a fabulous job in recreating the recipe and actually making it better then the original. There been enough tweeted about this recipe, so I will not repeat myself. Plus all the notes are added to the original post here. This was a typical case of it looks better then it is, type of recipe.

Not something that had ever happened to me before on a Donna Hay recipe and I am happy to say that the recipe for December is tested and approved… I figured I better test the recipe this time before.

Back to the subject at hand, although there isn’t much to say. Jenn’s post is absolutely very interesting if you want to know how she took the photo and the whole process of looking for the right balance in the recipe and the final photo. Plus she made it glutenfree. So I would suggest to have a look there.

And then I would say for the next challenge; better next time!

The original

And then there was one more entry coming in from Laura Nicoletti from Tiramisu. She is the one who first alerted me to the recipe troubles so I have to thank her for taking the time and effort to alert me. We exchanged quite a few emails in trying to figure this thing out and she even send a note to the Donna Hay team (sofar no reply) to mention that the recipe was maybe not so right… You can read all about her caramel and apple adventures here

Entry from laura

Related Posts:

• DHSPC #4 december results
• Donna Hay challenge #1 the results!
• Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6
• Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4
• Lemon Sour Cake – Donna Hay challenge #2

Bundt cake by Magda from Magda's Cauldron

The results of the 2nd Donna Hay challenge is in… Either this was too complicated or all my Plate to Page friends were too busy doing something else.. In any case; there are less entries then for the first round but it’s quality that counts and not quantity so I’m really happy with the entries this month. I think we all agree on one thing and that is that this cake is truly delicious. Worth the making for sure!

In terms of the image that came closest to the original in atmosphere and mood is I think this one from Magda. The opening image here. Yes, sure she did not have a round wooden board, but as I have mentioned before; it is perfectly ok to use a substitute. No need to go out and buy all sort of stuff (although, if you need a shopping excuse.. be my guest) It’s maybe a bit darker then the original. I made that same mistake too actually as in my mind the image was darker then what it turned out to be on closer inspection of the image. Which goes to show that your eyes do play tricks on you. In terms of Magda’s image I love the way her icing drips over the cake. Yes it is a little bit too thin but still it looks so tempting to me!

The difficulty in this image was – when working with natural light – that you were forced to block out some of the light making using a black flags as they are called. I think all in all a great exercise and if you haven’t seen them already; go and have a look at the other entries. You can find the links below:

Astrid from Paulchens foodblog, did an amazing job, which you can see here

Laura from Tiramisu’s entry can be found here.. She came in close second as my favorite so well done for the first entry!

Athena, also first time entry ever has a blog linked to her photography site and she also took a shot of her setup which is really interesting. Check it out here. I loved her entry and thought the colors looked very similar to the original!

And then ofcourse Magda’s from Magda’s Cauldron, whose image appears at the top of this page! You can read her entry here

And let’s not forget my lame attempt with a broken Bundt cake.. You can see it here, if you must know.. Will do better for next time! Recipe you can find there too!

Which one is your favorite?

Related Posts:

• Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6
• DHSPC #5 results!
• Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4
• Donna Hay challenge #1 the results!
• Lemon Sour Bundt Cake – DHSPC #2