Spaces Between The Gaps

Remarkable Recipes. Affordable Artworks. Enjoy the Good Life.

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:33:00 +0000

My press release for the very soon to be here Good Life Festival in Daylesford where I have a stall handing out recipes, talking about vegetarian food and showcasing the Autumn and Winter cookbook paintings. Saturday June 2, 2012.

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After years of carnivore friends telling her she should open a cafe, artist Fiona Morgan took their compliments on her vegetarian cooking and her general frustration with bland vegetarian food, and is combining her artwork and recipes into a book. Each individual recipe is personally tested until she feels it is at optimal deliciousness. If it wouldn’t be moreish to a carnivore, it doesn’t go in the collection.

Fiona will be at The Good Life Festival Daylesford on Saturday June 2 as a stallholder at Daylesford Primary School, freely giving out meatless meals recipes from the cookbook for you to take home and try. These are recipes that everyone will enjoy not just die hard hippies. Find out how easy and tasty vegetarian meals can be.

She will also be showcasing some of the artwork inspired by the recipes from the upcoming cookbook. All the foodie paintings are 30x30cm and affordably priced.

There is a long tradition of still life paintings of food from our cultural history. Careful arrangements of delicacies abundantly covering a table have been painted for centuries. Today the modern equivalent is food styling photography. Luscious posed shots of crafted gourmet meals abound in magazines and cookbooks.

What if the food images were inspired by the dish instead of literally presenting it? What if the main ingredient, or the history, or the culture of the recipe were represented? What if the essence of this particular food could be captured as a painting? That is exactly what Fiona aims to achieve in pairing her art with these recipes.

All the recipes and images are freely available online for people to use and share (with attribution). It’s all here, with more detail: www.wherefishsing.com/cookbook

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And to you - come celebrate 'The Good Life'. Live well, care for each other and the environment. Look at some of what will be on:

Saturday 2nd June Daylesford Primary School ‘Looking after our environment’

In conjunction with the Farmers Market, the Good Life Festival will kick off with stalls and workshops to be held at the Daylesford Primary School hall from 9.30 AM, Saturday 2nd June. There is something of interest for everyone ranging from keeping chooks, advice on successful worm farming through to the use of cultivated and wild plants for health, beauty and other purposes.

In addition the Festival will include a walking tour of productive gardens around Daylesford, a Garage Sale Trail and a Fashion Upcycling Workshop.

Sunday 3rd June Daylesford Town Hall 'Householders, Renovators and Home Builders'

The Good Life Festival continues at the Daylesford Town Hall from 10.00 AM on Sunday 3rd. The Town Hall will be bursting at the seams with stalls and information workshops highlighting how your home could be made more comfortable, reduce energy and water usage and save dollars in the bargain. Amongst other things, you could learn about pellet heaters, solar systems or ways to minimize your power bills. This is a day not to be missed, especially if you are considering renovating or building. Other activities include Earthship building workshop at our Tip and Open Day at the “Mens Shed” located at Victoria Park.

The Good Life Festival Daylesford 2012

Presented by the Sustainable Hepburn Association (SHARE) to share the wealth of knowledge and ideas of local individuals, businesses and community groups to help us all live the good life.

9.30am-4pm at locations around Daylesford, Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd June

Festival program

The Good Life Festival on Facebook

SHARE website

Shaggy and very edible

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Ever since doing an intensive and stunningly informative fungi ecology workshop with Alison Pouliot a year or so back, I have set myself the task of quietly foraging my way through the edible wild mushroom species. It's all fun and adventure.

The trick I have found is to learn all I need to know to positively identify one particular mushroom that I want to find and taste, then get outside and enjoy the forests. It's a slow method, but positive identification is the only safe way. I guess I could also get out there and pick one example of every mushroom I find and them attempt to identify them, but I have found identifying a bag full of unknown mushrooms to be so very time consuming.

Some of these foraged discoveries are a lot more edible than others! It's all part of the adventure.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have very quickly discovered that edible does not mean palatable or even delicious, it just means it won't harm or kill you. So it is a delight to discover (read - stumble upon while not looking, again while walking the dogs) a new gem.

Coprinus comatus - Shaggy Ink Caps or Lawyers Wigs. Apparently cultivated in China as a food but completely overlooked here. Total waste.

As of last night, I can now say these are wonderful eating.

A purple treat

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:01:00 +0000

A wonderful unexpected discovery while walking the dogs and exploring a new patch of ground. A delightful bonus of taking the time to look and breathe. My favourite wild foraged mushroom.

In learning about wild foraged foods, it has been an adjustment to find that although there are many plants which are considered edible, that doesn't mean that you would want to eat them. Technically grass is edible. But why would you want to? Point made?

Edible. Palatable. Delightful.

There is quite a difference.

So it is a gleeful moment when I find one of the wild culinary delights. A truly delicious treat. This little lilac lovely is my favourite wild mushroom of the ones I have tried so far. It's lepista nuda, the blewitt.

Fried in a little butter and salt. The liquid they give out is a sublime and perfect cream of mushroom soup all on it's own. The mushrooms themselves are divinely flavourful. A simple zen treat.

Creative Cauldron - Sir Henry Raeburn

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:53:00 +0000

Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of Sir Henry Raeburn by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

While I was living in Edinburgh I became fascinated with the stories of the very very many inventive and creative Scots of times past from that city. You may be amazed at just how many breakthroughs we take for granted in modern life were Scottish in origin. Sir Henry Raeburn, as a venerated citizen of Edinburgh, came to my attention.

Anne Raeburn

It is as much Henry Raeburns' story as his paintings that catch my admiration. He was an outsider to the art establishment, who did the work necessary to become a great painter. Let me summarise:

William Robertson, Lord Robertson

Henry Raeburn began his working life as an apprentice goldsmith. For a bit of context, his era was 1756-1823 in Edinburgh, Scotland. As part of the job he was required to paint miniature portraits, for which it turned out he had some talent. His employer introduced him to Edinburgh's leading portrait artist of the day who gave him advice and loaned him pictures to practice copying.

Colonel Alastair Ranaldson Macdonell of Glengarry

He decided to become a portrait artist himself. To increase his skill he sought advice from the best artists in Britain and travelled to Italy to study the paintings there, as recommended. After two years of travel and study he returned to Edinburgh and established his portrait painting business, for which he built his own studio. He was successful and well regarded.

Commander Hugh Clapperton

A bad business investment bankrupted him but did not stop him. He painted his way out of debt, recovered his fortune and ended up being knighted.

Elizabeth Campbell Marchesa di Spineto

I love his story of perseverance, discipline, study and hard work (with a dash of entrepreneurial chutzpah) that took him from being an orphan with nothing and a complete outsider to the art establishment, to a technically accomplished and wealthy painter of portraits of high society.

Elizabeth Hamilton

Onto his actual painting. Usually this quite old (some would say classic) style of painting bores me silly. Yes, yes, I admire and appreciate the technical ability, but the murky shadows, highly dramatised lighting, period dress and stiffness of the sitters just fails to fill me with enthusiasm.

Miss Eleanor Urquhart

However, I do enjoy Raeburn's painting. He only painted from life, and I think it shows through in the way each sitter has a personality and a believably real pose.

Mrs R. Scott Moncrieff

The skin of the subjects in his paintings glow with light. The portraits are of live people! And although the highly dramatised lighting does irritate me (on some days, depending on what I've had for breakfast), I appreciate that the way the light is used to focus your eye is very effective. I find the full range of light to dark contrasts makes for bold, strong work.

Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch

I enjoy the sumptuous texture of the clothing in his paintings which is just tight enough to convey the fabric. In this way that he used his brushstrokes he was ahead of his time, with a confident and masterful square brush technique sometimes bordering on the modern bravura handling so popular today (both which enthrall me).

Sir Walter Scott

About the Creative Cauldron series of posts

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me.

The rest of the series is accessible via the links below. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.

To use this related posts listing:

First give the script that collects all the relevant posts a moment or two to load. It should be done by the time you get down to reading this sentence. If not, get up, turn in a circle and recheck your screen, and that should do it.

There is a short preview of each post when you hover the cursor over the title.
Titles are in alphabetical order, but you can click on the date column header, 'POST DATE', to sort in ascending or descending order.
Click on a specific label (not the column header) to display only the posts tagged with that label ie. Australian artist
To go back to the full list, just click the column header, 'LABELS'.

If you want to do a plain search of this blog, use the Blogger search box which is at the very, very top of this page on the LHS, next to the B outlined in orange.

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Creative Cauldron - Tom Thomson

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:53:00 +0000

Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of Tom Thomson by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

After the Sleet Storm

It's only quite recently that I have become aware of the paintings of Canadian artist Tom Thomson.

Algonquin Park

Decorative Landscape Birches

Apparently he holds legendary status in Canada in a similar way to Tom Roberts here in Australia. His paintings were done at a culturally important time for the nation and manage to embody a kind of national spirit. Not being Canadian I did not see or feel this when I discovered his paintings, it's something that has been brought to my attention in research. Instead I was instantly grabbed by three standout elements of his work.

Early Spring

Pattern. Many artists rearrange what they see in front of them to form a pleasing composition (and this is something many amateurs don't seem to understand). Tom Thomson takes this to a greater extreme than most, actually making it a feature instead of a subtle way to improve a painting.

Evening, Canoe Lake

In the Northland

The patterns are the strongest design element. There are shades of Japanese design and Art Nouveau in his arrangements. The patterning is so strong that you can change the colours in his images and the overall design stays strong. The patterns are so strong and such a feature that they become decorative. I mean this as a compliment, not in a snooty nosed derisive manner. I love the decorativeness of his patterns, the way he has rearranged the landscape before him into beautiful shapes.

Maple Saplings

Northern River

Apparently he was a self taught painter, with a background as a graphic designer. His era was the early 1900's, when graphic design was illustration and poster design. It was a goldern era for illustration, where high technical skill was normal and the ability to compose or design in an eye-grabbing manner and lead the viewers eye around, was expected. I see a strong similarity between the poster design of the era, and the design of his paintings. It's a large part of my admiration for his work.

Pine Trees at Sunset

Sombre Day

Colour. The way Tom Thomson uses or chooses colour makes me swoon. Restricted palette. Subtle groups of related colours. Bright yet not dancing around with it's pants off. Wonderful contrasts of lights and darks. I am working toward somewhat toning down my palette, and I consider the balance he has found to be an ideal to work towards.

Spring Algonquin

The Birch Grove, Autumn

Texture. Something I love when I discover it and would like to do more of myself is putting texture in the paint. This is a hallmark of Van Gogh's work, and also an aspect I admire of Criss Canning's paintings. The brushstrokes are part of the patterning. The paint is highlighted. His works are paintings, not images.

The Drive

The Pool

To me his work is so strong and compelling that I had great difficulty in choosing which paintings to include in this post. His work completely knocked me out when I first discovered it, which is not something that happens often anymore. And funnily enough, this painter has once again highlighted to me my soft spot for landscape paintings. Hmmm....

Woodland Waterfall

About the Creative Cauldron series of posts

To use this related posts listing:

There is a short preview of each post when you hover the cursor over the title.
Titles are in alphabetical order, but you can click on the date column header, 'POST DATE', to sort in ascending or descending order.
Click on a specific label (not the column header) to display only the posts tagged with that label ie. Australian artist
To go back to the full list, just click the column header, 'LABELS'.

If you want to do a plain search of this blog, use the Blogger search box which is at the very, very top of this page on the LHS, next to the B outlined in orange.

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All framed up & ready to go

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:24:00 +0000

Seven paintings all framed up and ready to be loaded into the car before they were hung at Gourmet Cafe @ The Mill in Bendigo this afternoon. These have replaced the paintings that were hung there as part of Art In The Streets.

Tangy Tomato Soup and Okonomiyaki

Dong Gu Tofu and Beetroot Pasta

Creamy Cabbage Casserole and Pumpkin Pasta Bake

Bangers and Mash and Creamy Cabbage Casserole

Bangers and Mash, Creamy Cabbage Casserole and Pumpkin Pasta Bake

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash (Vegetable Spaghetti)

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:40:00 +0000

Unusual. Easy. Light. Leisurely.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. The spaghetti squash is, to me, a cartoon of a vegetable. It always makes me giggle. It's an amusing absurdity, a cheeky poke at serious food. In Japan it's name translates as golden thread melon, which is a supurb description. Here the golden thread melon has cheekily unspurled itself in squiggles all over this painting.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. Postage is $20 within Australia. You are welcome to arrange to come and look at paintings, just contact me.

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The meatless meals recipe

A small example of a spaghetti squash or vegetable spaghetti. They are usually around 20cm or 8" long.

Vegetable spaghetti was big in the 1970's. If you've never cooked it before, the flesh falls apart into spaghetti strands as it comes out of the shell with no coaxing needed at all. It can just be boiled and served as a gluten free or paleo diet spaghetti, but.... well, it doesn't have a strong flavour and boiling it doesn't do it any real favours. Like tofu, it soaks up the taste (and juices) of whatever it's cooked with, so I prefer tomato juice and spices over water. Stuffing the spaghetti squash makes use of this tendency. Serving it with plenty of sauce would work too. This particular stuffing is Lebanese inspired, mild and fresh, with a satisfying 'every mouthful is different' blend of rough chopped ingredients.

By the way, if you can grow pumpkins, you can grow vegetable spaghetti. Same family, same vigorous and prolific tendencies. Just save the seed from one before you cook it.

one spaghetti squash approximately 20cm long and 12cm in diameter

dash of oil

To make the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 large onion, minced or sliced fine
200g tomato, finely diced
1 3/4 cups cooked lentils
2 tablespoons crushed nuts
1/2 teaspoon treacle or honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
optional squeeze of lemon juice

Cut the ends off the spaghetti squash, then cut it in half, down the middle of it's longest side.

Scoop out the seeds.

Place both halves face down on an oiled oven tray and bake at 190C / 375F for 40 minutes.

To make the filling, soften the onion in a frypan with a little oil.

Then also soften the tomato in with the onion.

When these are done, put the lentils, nuts, honey, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl with the softened onion and tomato.

After 40 minutes of baking, remove the spaghetti squash from the oven, scrape all the flesh out into a large mixing bowl, making sure to keep the shell intact.

Mix the vegetable spaghetti and the stuffing together.

Put this mix back into the shells of the spaghetti squash.

Continue baking at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

Top with dill, parsley and mint before serving (and a squeeze of lemon juice if you please).

This will make a meal for 4 with the addition of a salad or roast potatoes or similar side dish. It looks like a lot of food but it's quite light and not quite enough to be filling on it's own.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with cooking conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Where are the rest of the vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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Ginger Tea

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:48:00 +0000

Warming. Aromatic. Robust. Easy.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on Saunders Waterford 100% cotton archival paper. A design in the style of the heraldic crests (kamon) of Japan. This is the strength, the shield, the warrior which protects against and wards off colds.

Original painting for you?

Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available for $AU150 shortly. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

All throughout asia there exists ginger tea as a warming, cold fighting drink. It's so common and popular that you can buy boxes of little sachets of it, ready at the addition of boiling water. They are very convenient, and also so very, very sweet and usually somewhat lacking in the robustness of fresh ginger. Here's how to make the real thing. It's much, much better.

50g fresh ginger, sliced. It can be peeled or unpeeled. Peeled will minimise any scum formation. Unpeeled will have more biting gingery warmth. It's up to you.

3 tablespoons honey

5 cups water.

Put all the ingredients in a pot together and simmer gently for half an hour.

This makes 4 mugs of fresh ginger tea.

The ginger can be reused once. It will still have it's ginger flavour, but no 'kick'. It may also require less honey. 2 tablespoons instead of 3 usually does the trick.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with cooking conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Where are the rest of the vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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What is the secret to growing beans?

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 23:44:00 +0000

The bounty of the summer season is winding up in the vege garden. Each year I become a little more adept at growing the veg we eat the most. Apparently I have mastered zucchini as we never buy any over summer. Beans however, elude me. My crops are always dismal. Plenty of flowers then all I get to harvest is a handful. The photo above is my total bean crop this year.

Any bean growing masters out there with some solid advice?

Creative Cauldron - Yarn Bombing

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:58:00 +0000

Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to yarn bombing by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

Yarn bombing. Where statues get some dressing up, trees are snuggled into wool and street furniture is fair game for being transposed into the realm of bright and cheerful. It's cosy, it's granny-like and subversive all at once.

The spirit of this new form of graffiti - it's colourful, it's non-destructive, it's cheeky and the intent is to light up your face with a smile - is what I appreciate. Puffed up macho tagging gives me the shits. And although yarn bombing is, strictly speaking, grafitti, the result is that it humanises a city space rather than making it even more alienating than it already is.

photo by Djinn76

photo by PB-PSBear

photo by sapheron

photo by jenniferworthen

photo by ShapeThings

photo by Lord Jim

photo by mysteryship

photo by gracerodriguez

photo by Larry He's So Fine

photo by Urban Sea Star

photo by Sweet One

photo by La Belle Province

photo by waltarrrrr

photo by Roxie Carpenter

About the Creative Cauldron series of posts

To use this related posts listing:

There is a short preview of each post when you hover the cursor over the title.
Titles are in alphabetical order, but you can click on the date column header, 'POST DATE', to sort in ascending or descending order.
Click on a specific label (not the column header) to display only the posts tagged with that label ie. Australian artist
To go back to the full list, just click the column header, 'LABELS'.

If you want to do a plain search of this blog, use the Blogger search box which is at the very, very top of this page on the LHS, next to the B outlined in orange.

Hide TOC

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I'm not usually into soft drinks, though I occasionally go mad for Chinotto

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:52:00 +0000

Rhubarb fizz. Just like liquid sherbert. Super sweet, tingly & powdery on the tongue. And pink. It's my first attempt at a homemade sparkling non alcoholic brew. Just divine. Recipe from 'A Year in a Bottle' by Sally Wise. Rhubarb, lemons, sugar, water. So easy a kid could make it.

Eggs In Piquant Sauce

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Moreish. Satisfying. Easy. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. A dancing pattern of eggs, capsicum, tomato and peas, with plenty of painterly texture which you should be able to see in the close up photos below.

Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This meal is of Spanish origin, I believe. It's simple. It's tasty. And it celebrates eggs. I've been making this on and off for about 10 years, and every time I wonder why I left it so long since the last time. It's a subtle good one.

8 boiled eggs, halved or sliced

3 tablespoons oil or as needed

1 onion, chopped

2 capsicums, chopped

2 tablespoons plain flour
600g tomatoes, chopped or pureed (about 6 tomatoes)
1/2 cup wine

1 cup peas or a similar veg in pea sized pieces
4 pinches hot paprika

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Pre boil the eggs then cut them up. I find cooking the eggs in with the rice/potato/pasta to save time and washing up.

Saute the onion and capsicum in oil until the capsicum is completely soft. This may take half an hour.

Stirring, add the flour slowly and then any extra oil as needed to soak up all the flour.

Cook this paste until it looses it's floury smell and gains a golden colour.

Add the tomatoes, wine and peas. Then add the paprika.

Simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add extra wine or stock if more liquid is needed.

Then add the eggs, garlic and half the parsley.

Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve topped with the remaining parsley on top of rice, potato, pasta or cous cous.

For 4.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with cooking conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Where are the rest of the vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

+++

Awfully close to done now...

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:28:00 +0000

And now with added hints of capsicum, tomato & peas

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:13:00 +0000

With heuvos...

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:32:00 +0000

Yes it is a dish of Spanish origin.

The beginnings - Eggs in piquant sauce

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:06:00 +0000

Not much to see at this stage. Just a plain coloured, slightly textured background. I really despise working on white canvas. The green border is painters masking tape for delicate surfaces.

Summer Essence - Coconut rice with herbs and greens

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:49:00 +0000

Fresh. Versatile. Satisfying. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on panel. All the leaves and petals of summer together on a hazy warm and sunny day.

Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This recipe was one of those wild experiments that I embarked upon one evening when we had guests. It has been raved about ever since, and it has taken quite some time to recreate to the same rave worthy high standard. The secret is the sheer amount of herbs. This dish is really only economic to make if you grow your own herbs or can buy in bulk. Those tinsey wincey little packets the supermarkets sell won't go very far at all here. The downside of making this is all the chopping and measuring. Enlist help with the chopping! Besides, it's fun to chatter over food preparation before eating together. The upside is that it's quite a flexible recipe. Really, you can top it with whatever summery veges you have to clean out the fridge or help empty the garden.

Coconut rice (SERVES 4):

1 cup coconut milk (not cream, it's too rich)

2 cups rice

3 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

Put all the coconut rice ingredients in a pot and cook at a slow simmer with a lid on until all liquid is absorbed.

Then leave the rice to steam itself dry in the pot with the lid on.

Or put all the ingredients in a rice cooker and cook normally, leaving the rice on 'warm' until ready to serve.

Herbs (PER SERVE):

3 tablespoons chopped coriander
3 tablespoons chopped basil

2 tablespoons chopped mint

2 tablespoons chopped chives

2 teaspoons chopped dill

pinch sugar

juice of half a lime
small handful of a peppery leafy green ie rocket, mizuna, nasturtium leaves

optional herbs:
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon chopped sage

A selection of other toppings:

Edible flowers - nasturtium, borage, calendula, violet or others that you know of

Vegetables - raw and julienned or sliced fine; or cooked as you please - carrot, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant, cucumber, spinach, corn, beans

Scrambled egg, tempeh or (fried or marinated) tofu

When the coconut rice is cooked, all the herbs are chopped and the other toppings have been prepared, serve the rice into bowls, and mix in the herbs, sugar and lime juice.
Add the peppery leafy green, then top with the other toppings selected.

Add a dash of soy sauce to taste if necessary.

+++

More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with cooking conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Where are the rest of the vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

+++

Done. Finally.

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:12:00 +0000

One final step...

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 04:28:00 +0000

Getting there...

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:27:00 +0000

Background of summery aqua done...

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:49:00 +0000

Layout drawing - coconut rice with herbs & greens

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:35:00 +0000

Caramelised Onion Jam

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:03:00 +0000

Versatile. Thrifty. Leisurely. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. You may know by now that I am quite a fan of rock art, petroglyphs and ancient Neolithic symbols. Onion jam, which starts out as a very large pile of rings of our ancient onion friend, seemed a perfect excuse to explore the ancient symbols of spirals and concentric rings.

Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

There are so many cooking notes to go with this. I made at least ten versions, testing out all sorts of variables. Where do I start?

Ok first, the onions. It doesn't matter which colour you use. The long slow cooking is the real secret to this recipe. Red onions do give a fuller deeper rich colour, as you may expect, but the flavour is most affected by thoroughly caramelising whichever onions you use.

Sweetener. Either white or brown sugar in the quantities given works well, but avoid honey as it's sweetness is too unpredictable. One version I did was sickly with just 1/4 cup of honey. That is not right. Honey is usually less sweet than sugar, but this is not reliable.

Vinegars. Balsamic vinegar gives the most robust and flavoursome onion jam by far of all the variations I tried. If you prefer something milder, I recommend red wine which was easily the tastiest of the milder variations. Then there is white wine (untested), white wine vinegar (insipid), apple cider vinegar (really weak flavour with no depth), red wine vinegar (ok, a bit weak and lacking in flavour depth), malt vinegar (good - mild but acceptable), or sherry (really weak flavour with no depth). If you decide to use one of the weaker flavoured vinegars, cutting back the sugar a little seems to help them in the taste department.

Spices. A clove or two of garlic, a couple of chillis, and olives are other spices that are sometimes added to onion jam. Whatever floats your boat. I didn't like any of these variations.

1-4 tablespoons olive or canola oil, as required to prevent sticking
550-580g onion slices - about 4 large onions of any colour (white, brown or red)
1/4 cup white sugar or 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 x 5cm stick cinnamon
2-3 star anise, or a few big pinches of ground nutmeg if you detest anise flavour

Cook the onions long and slow in a pan with enough oil to prevent them sticking. Stir frequently. Do not let them burn or crisp at any stage. Keep cooking. They need to be FULLY softened with absolutely no crunch whatsoever. If in doubt, keep cooking. I find this stage takes at least 20 minutes.

Then add in the sugar, vinegar and spices.

Keep cooking long and slow, stirring as needed, until the onions have fully caramelised into one dark sweet sticky mass. I find this takes about an hour.
Again, if in doubt, keep on cooking.

Makes about 1 cup of onion jam. Keep in a container in the fridge. It improves with age :)

Enjoy as an accompaniment to cheese or roast tomatoes (OMG!). Use it wherever you might use chutney. It tends to pair very well with eggs, cheese and tomatoes, and in some instances, potatoes and pumpkin.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with cooking conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Where are the rest of the vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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Onion jam painting progress - all at once

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:01:00 +0000

Time for a few shots of a painting's progress. I've just finished the painting for onion jam. Here's how it developed...

Summer Veg Corn Chowder

fi@wherefishsing.com (Fi of WhereFishSing.com) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:51:00 +0000

Chunky. Unusual. Creamy. Moreish.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. The idea of using corn cobs as stamps, similar to how I'd used apples as stamps in Apple and Barley Soup, did not go according to plan as the corn stamps were so indistinct. No matter, this didn't stop me creating the bright, bold and dreamy ode to corn in a once-was-seafood dish, that I'd had in mind.

Interior photo by this_could_be_my_house

Original paintings for you.

Like the artwork? Tell a friend! And if you already have, THANK YOU.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left, or email me (fi at wherefishsing dot com) to express your interest.

***

The meatless meals recipe

Chowder is a very American dish (from the New England area), surprisingly uncommon here in Australia. Luckily, there is was a terrific cafe not far from me, run by an American chef, called the Chowder House. Guess what they serve? So it was there that I was introduced to this versatile and satisfying meal in a bowl. After being so impressed with chowder, I voraciously read up on ingredients and variations and methods and got all experimental in the kitchen. Most chowders are seafood based, even the corn ones. Not this one, the synthesis of all that cerebral and experimental research.

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2 3/4 cups HOT stock
kernals from 2 corn cobs (200-240g corn kernals)
around 120g sweet potato or pumpkin cut into bite size chunks
2 small capsicums, in small pieces or chunks
1/2 large carrot, in small pieces or chunks
around 300g potato, cut into bite size chunks
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pinches turmeric
3 pinches white pepper
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped dill
chilli, to taste

Melt butter in a big pot.
Cook the onion on low heat in the butter until softened and clear.
Add flour and cook until the flour is brown, stirring frequently. This takes about 10 minutes.
Gradually add the HOT stock, stirring to prevent lumps (using hot stock makes it MUCH easier to avoid lumps than using cold).
Add in everything else except chilli.
Put the lid on the pot to keep the liquid from evaporating. Cook at a simmer for at least 30 minutes until the potato is done. If this boils it will boil over - lid or no lid. Be careful.
Add the chilli, take the lid off and cook for another 5 minutes.

Makes a meal for 2.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with cooking conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Where are the rest of the vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

+++

Spaces Between The Gaps

Remarkable Recipes. Affordable Artworks. Enjoy the Good Life.

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About the Creative Cauldron series of posts

Creative Cauldron - Tom Thomson

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All framed up & ready to go

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One final step...

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Background of summery aqua done...

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Onion jam painting progress - all at once

Summer Veg Corn Chowder

Food painting artwork

Original paintings for you.

The meatless meals recipe

More vegetarian cookbook goodies