Junglefrog Cooking » prosciutto

Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6

Simone (junglefrog) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:14 +0000

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

Print recipe

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..

Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4

Simone (junglefrog) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:00:56 +0000

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

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!

Quick bite

Simone (junglefrog) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:30:22 +0000

Mozarella, pesto and prosciutto sandwich

It’s funny how autumn seems to have sneaked up on us without us being here. When we left the country only four weeks ago it was still middle of summer. Bright and hard light, but now that we’ve come back the light is all of a sudden so much softer and has that autumn quality to it. What is it really that makes you realize that autumn is upon us? What is it exactly in the light that changes? Yes, the sun is going lower in the sky, but I don’t think that is the only thing that really changes, is it? It feels different, it smells different too!

I love autumn; I truly do. I love autumn storms and rain and cold weather and snuggling up on the couch indoors… Ok, after a few weeks of bad weather I do long for sunshine again, don’t get me wrong, but I am truly an “all-weather” girl. And an “all seasons” girl too. Although, maybe they could make the seasons a little shorter. Three months is really too long for bad weather, so maybe we should have seasons that last – mmm – let’s say 1,5 to 2 months max. O, we could have a slightly longer summer, that’s no problem, but for the colder seasons 1,5 months would be sufficient. And while we’re on the subject; can I then also please have a real winter? The ones where you have ice and snow and not just boring rain and grey skies? (because that I do NOT like!)

O well, I guess so much for wistful thinking…

I have nothing fancy for you today, just a little snack to enjoy with delicious ingredients. A good piece of bread, some homemade pesto on top, add some chunks of buffalo mozarella and top with a slice of prosciutto ham and a bit of basil. Now that is a good lunch anytime of the year!

Prosciutto, pea & mozarella salad with mint vinaigrette

Simone (junglefrog) — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:04:51 +0000

Prosciutto, pea and mozarella salad

I really felt like eating something healthy today. After a weekend full of unhealthy stuff… it was about time! I had spend the weekend going through my (enormous) pile of cooking magazines and re-organized everything by title. You see; I have this magazine addiction which can take on very large proportions. I have to clean my ‘office’ once every so many months or it would be impossible to enter the room due to the piles and piles of magazines. Because; apart from having the addiction I also have a hard time letting go. Which means that there is stuff there that I really should be tossing out…

So yesterday I finally managed to do just that. I tossed out ALL magazines with the exception of all the cookings mags. I can always keep them with the excuse that they contain valuable information that I might one day need aka recipes… Considering the amount of cookbooks I also have, I really don’t need all the magazines but it’s just so much fun! I can spend days reading my cooking magazines and yes, I do re-read them. They are (for now) all neatly arranged by title; Delicious, Olive, GoodFood, Donna Hay and then there is the pile of things I buy at random. I have German magazines, but also Italian ones!! And really; I do not speak more then two words Italian (Ciao and the equivalent of goodmorning, which I don’t know how to write…)

But ok, they are all neatly arranged, so I decided that today I needed to cook something from the latest Good Food which had a stack of great recipes in there and for lunch I wanted to have a salad, so I chose the Crispy prosciutto, pea & mozarella salad with mint vinaigrette.

Now the supermarket was out of mint, so that didn’t help and there was no other store anywhere in sight. I also did not have the option to use fresh peas so these came out of a can as you can – unfortunately – tell by the color. O well, the taste was quite lovely, even though I did not use the dressing that it was supposed to have.

For dinner I made another recipe from the same magazine which featured green asparagus, also prosciutto, cherry tomatoes and pasta and was absolutely delicious. No pictures though, so I will have to eat it again which is absolutely no punishment!

Here is the recipe of the salad: (serves 2)

4 slices of prosciutto

100 gr peas, fresh or frozen

1 ball of buffalo mozarella (aprox. 125 gr, torn into large pieces)

For the vinaigrette:

Juice 1/2 orange

1 tbsp olive oil

small handfull of mint, leaves finely chopped, plus extra small leaves to serve.

1. Heat a fryingpan. Without adding any oil, fry the prosciutto slices untill wrinkled and crisp. Place on a sheet of kitchen roll, leave to cool, break into large shards then set aside.

2. Boil the peas in a pan of salted water for 2 minutes untill just tender. Meanwhile, mix all the vinaigrette ingredients together, season, then set aside. If making ahead, do not add the chopped mint until ready to serve, as it will discolour. When the peas are cooked, drain, then run them under cold water until completely cool. Pat dry with kitchen paper.

3. To serve, divide the mozarella between 2 plates, scatter the peas over and sit the prosciutto shards on top. Drizzle the dressing over and around and scatter with the mint leaves.

Young potatoes with herbal cream cheese and prosciutto

Simone (junglefrog) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:03:14 +0000

Delicious potato dish with prosciutto and creamcheese

See in the title where it says “young” potatoe? Well.., let’s just say that if you are planning on replicating this recipe, then make sure that you pick young potatoes and not just any old potatoe you have lying around in the house..:)
It’s been a while since I have tried out some new recipes so I figured today would be a good day to try something new. I always like trying out new recipes when there is no one else around but me. At least no one else can complain, other then me!
As I mentioned I used the wrong potatoes and also the wrong ham. Unfortunately I live in an area where you can’t really buy a lot of things that do not fall within the normal cooking guidelines. So everytime I want a specific vegetable, meat or basically almost anything other then regular cabbage, meatloaf and potatoes I would need to go to another shopping area, which is just not always convenient to do.
I have found a fantastic supply of all things that I would want to use at some point in time, but it is in Amsterdam. Without any traffic, that would mean at least half an hour to go there, which would not be too bad if I could do it once a week, but the problem with Amsterdam is the horrendous amount of traffic jams… Anyway, I just have to find a good source of fresh produce!! Mission for the next month!
Over to the recipe; it is not a lot of work other then the fact it needs to cook and then stay in the oven for about 30 minutes, but during that time you can do other stuff, so I don’t mind! Again; using the right kind of potatoe would be a bonus. This recipe if from the delicious and Jill Dupleix. She recommends using Jersey Royale as potatoe, which unfortunately is almost impossible to find in Holland, so if you’re Dutch try another potatoe and let me know if you find a good one!!

Young potatoes with herbal cream cheese and prosciutto

Recipe type: Sidedish, main

Author: Jill Duplex

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4

Do make sure to use young potatoes and not any old potatoes you have lying around. You will notice the difference; I promise!

Ingredients

12 young potatoes, leave the skin on
Oil for greasing the baking tray
2,5 tbsp olive oil extra vierge
1 large clove of garlic, pureed
2 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp finely chopped thyme leaves
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh basil leaves
150g creme fraiche, ricotta or creamcheese
12 slices of Italian prosciuttoham
85g watercress

Instructions

Boil the potatoes for 15 min. in boiling water with plenty of salt. Leave them to drain well and cool them down slightly.
Preheat the oven to 240 degrees C. Divide the potatoes over a lightly oiled baking tray or cover with baking paper. Press each potato flat with a spoon or other tool. Sprinkle with olive oil and add salt and pepper.
Bake the potatoes for about 20-30 minutes or untill crispy and golden brown. Leave to cool for about 10-15 minutes.
Whisk the garlic, herbs and creme fraiche (or ricotta or creamcheese) together in a bowl and put a spoonfull on top of each potato. Put a slice of prosiutto on top and serve the potatoes on a bit of watercress.

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Junglefrog Cooking » prosciutto

Bruschetta with arugulapesto – DHSPC #6

Bruschetta with mozarella, prosciutto and rocketpesto

Ingredients

Arugulapesto

Directions

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Sage and prosciutto corn cakes – Donna Hay Styling and photo Challenge #4

Sage and prosciutto corn cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Note

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Quick bite

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Prosciutto, pea & mozarella salad with mint vinaigrette

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Young potatoes with herbal cream cheese and prosciutto

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