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Showing posts with label Foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foods. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Creative juices are flowing: The incredible carvings painstakingly crafted from fruit and vegetables

By CHRIS SLACK


Spectacular: Russian vegetable carver Vadim Nefedjev applies the finishing touches to his eagle work during the first ever European carving competition

With steady hand and painstaking concentration, this artist applies the finish touches to his latest spectacular work.

But this sculpture of an eagle is created using a medium many conventional artists may not have considered - fruit and vegetables.

Using a mixture of fruits, the bird was created by Russian vegetable carver Vadim Nefedjev during yesterday's round of competition at the first ever European carving competition in Leipzig in eastern Germany.


The eagle has landed: Nefedjev places the bird on display for judging in the individual competition. He was battling 26 others at the event held in Leipzig, Germany


The competition, which has 26 individual competitors and 11 teams, is part of the 'Gaeste' Trade Fair in the city - which caters for the restaurant, hotel and catering business.

His eagle creation was in competition with carvers from nine different countries.

They included Czech chef Radek Vach, who created a staggering depiction of a Viking's head using only a pumpkin.

Another entrant was Winifried Karras who represented Germany, but chose to centre his piece around a carving of an Asian beauty on a melon.


Staggering: This detailed carving of a Viking's head was created on a pumpkin by Czech Radek Vach, who gets to work on another design in the background


This aubergine penguin, complete with carrot glasses was one entrant, while German carver Winifried Karras chose to centre his piece around a carving of an Asian beauty on a melon


This pair of frogs were created using cucumbers, with their tongues and eyes made from small pieces of carrot


Most fruit and vegetables were used at some point, with one entrant choosing to create a pair of frogs using nothing but a cucumber and strategically place pieces of carrot.

And another saw a penguin crafted from an aubergine, with the designer even crafting a pair of glasses from a carrot.

The pictures here come from the two days of individual competition.

Saturday's entrants had to create two pieces to be used for two cocktails and a plate of vegetables measuring around 30cm in diameter.


Intricate: A woman carves a flower design onto a mango as part of her entry in the competition


And yesterday saw competitors asked to make a show piece to go before the judges.
Within a four hour time limit they had to make the piece using a selection of melons, papayas, cabbages, cucumbers, radish and carrots and pumpkins.

Tomorrow's competition involves teams of three again being given four hours to create a blend of fruit and vegetable carvings of specific locations.

The European competition was founded by China's Xiang Wang, who has been crowned World Champion on two occasions.

source: dailymail

Friday, November 19, 2010

Home-made Christmas cake? It's so bad we've thrown it in the bin

By JAYA NARAIN


Don't bother: Our efforts at baking Christmas cake during the festive season are so bad they often end up in the bin


If you’re planning to bake a beautiful Christmas cake and ice it with a traditional winter scene – don’t bother.

Research has revealed that our baking efforts during the festive season are so bad they often end up in the bin.

Almost ten million of us will attempt to make a Christmas cake this year but three million will make a culinary creation so bad it will be thrown away.

And with a cost of £10 for ingredients for each failed attempt, the nation is tipping around £30million into the rubbish bin.

The research, carried out by Sainsbury’s, found that home baking has seen a major surge in popularity in recent years.

Television cookery shows have sparked a renewed interest in food and recipes across the country.


Sainsbury’s findings show one in five people said they were baking more in 2010 than they were in 2009.

On average, Britons say they spend around two hours each week producing everything from bread and pizzas to cakes and biscuits.

But our attempts at Christmas fare are proving a flop. In 2009, deflated by their poor attempts at festive baking, British cooks rushed out to the shops to buy ready-made Christmas puddings, with sales jumping by 71 per cent.

Researchers found that around half of us buy ready-made Christmas puddings, while one in five does not bake at all because of fears it will go wrong.

Now Sainsbury’s is to set up the UK’s first dedicated help-line for victims of Christmas cake baking disasters on November 21 – the day traditionally used to make Christmas cakes and puddings.

The supermarket giant is to provide an expert team to offer tips to avoid kitchen disasters.

They will give advice on how to rescue seemingly lost causes and will also be able to tell bakers when it is best to give up and go and buy one.

The most common problem reported by Christmas cooks is currants, sultanas and walnuts sinking to the bottom of their cakes.


source: dailymail

Monday, October 25, 2010

Recipe: Autumn vegetables with lamb

By DAILY MAIL RECIPE

For a wholesome Halloween dinner, serve your pumpkin or squash with lamb and cous cous.


Seasonal comfort food: Autumn vegetables with lamb


SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS
1 large butternut squash or small to medium pumpkin
2 red peppers and 2 yellow peppers
3 red onions
8 lamb chops, seasoned
4 sprigs fresh thyme
75ml (2½fl oz) olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g (9oz) instant cous cous
375ml (12½fl oz) boiling water
3 bunches fresh herbs (eg, oregano, basil, parsley), roughly chopped
½-1tsp salt


METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C/gas 4. Deseed and peel the butternut squash or pumpkin and cut the flesh into wedges. Place in a large baking dish and add the four peppers, deseeded and cut into 8 pieces lengthwise. Peel and cut the onions into wedges.

Add the onions, lamb chops and a few sprigs of fresh thyme to the baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, put the cous cous and salt into a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Cover and leave for 10 minutes until the water has been absorbed. Fluff up with a fork, stir in the chopped herbs and serve.


source :dailymail

Frightfully tasty party treats: Pumpkin cakes

By XANTHE MILTON

A great way to use up pumpkin flesh, these delicious cupcakes are flavoured with orange and vanilla.


Making scary faces: Pumpkin cupcakes that taste as good as they look


MAKES 12

INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs
170g (6oz) dark muscovado sugar
160ml (5½ floz) sunflower oil
1tsp vanilla extract
100g (3½oz) self-raising flour
1tsp cinnamon
55g (2oz) pecans, roughly chopped
55g (2oz) sultanas
100g (3½oz) pumpkin flesh, grated

For the icing
450g (1lb) icing sugar
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
110g (4oz) cream cheese
Juice and grated rind of 1 orange
Orange food colouring
48 black bat sprinkles (visit www.cakescookiesandcrafts shop.co.uk)


METHOD
Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas 3. Line a 12-hole non-stick muffin tray with paper muffin cases. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the sugar for a couple of minutes, then add the oil and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and the cinnamon, followed by the pecan nuts, sultanas and the grated pumpkin.

Divide the mixture between the paper cases. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until firm to the touch. Remove and rest the cakes on a cooling rack.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl. Mix in the butter, cream cheese and the orange juice and rind. Add a couple of drops of orange colouring for a bright pumpkin colour.

When the cakes are cool, put some icing into a piping bag and pipe onto each cake using a star nozzle. Use the bat sprinkles to create the eyes and mouth.

Extracted from Eat Me! by Xanthe Milton, published by Ebury Press at £15. © 2010, Xanthe Milton. To order a copy for £13.99 (p&p free), call 0845 155 072.


source :dailymail

Recipe: Pumpkin soup

By DAILY MAIL RECIPE

Pumpkins make delicious soup - and if you can resist carving the shells into scary faces, you can use them as serving bowls too.


Happy Halloween! Pumpkins make a delicious autumnal soup

SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS
25g (1oz) butter
900g (2lbs) pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stick of celery, chopped
1ltr (1¾pt) vegetable stock
250ml (9fl oz) double cream
Chives to garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


METHOD
Over a medium heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the vegetables, sweating them gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the stock and simmer gently until the vegetables are just cooked.

Purée with an electric blender until smooth and return the vegetables to the saucepan. Add the double cream, warm gently and season the soup to taste. Ladle the soup into the pumpkin bowls, sprinkle with chives and serve.

HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN BOWLS
Using a sharp knife, cut the tops from the pumpkins to form a zig-zag shaped opening. Scoop out and discard the seeds and pulp from each pumpkin and pumpkin lid (retain the pumpkin flesh for the soup).

When the pumpkin is neatly hollowed, cover thinly with lemon juice to prevent the flesh from discolouring. You might also wish to cut the base of the pumpkin to allow the bowls to sit flat.


source : dailymail

Frightfully tasty party treats: Spooky ghost cakes

By XANTHE MILTON

Don't be scared! These spooky ghost-shaped meringue cakes are actually easy to prepare.


Spooky: These meringue ghost cakes will be a hit at any party

MAKES 8

INGREDIENTS

170g (6oz) self-raising flour
½tsp baking powder
75g (2½oz) caster sugar
150ml (5fl oz) milk
1 medium egg
2tbsp sunflower oil
For the meringue icing
170g (6oz) caster sugar
1 large egg white
2tbsp hot water
Pinch of cream of tartar
16 currants, lightly flattened

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Lightly grease eight dariole moulds. Cut 8 small circles of greaseproof paper to fit in the base of each mould so that the cakes will come out easily.

Sift the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl. Gently whisk together the milk, egg and oil and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix to get rid of any lumps.

Pour the mixture into the moulds so they are almost full, then place on a baking sheet and bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes. Check that the tops of the cakes feel firm and an inserted skewer comes out clean, then remove to a cooling rack.

Ease the cakes out of the moulds and turn upside down so their narrowest point is at the top.

To make the icing, put all the ingredients in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Beat with an electric whisk until soft peaks form, about 5-6 minutes.

Working quickly, top the cakes with icing. Spoon about a tablespoon onto each one, then use a palette knife to ease the icing down until it covers the whole cake. Use the currants for eyes.

Extracted from Eat Me! by Xanthe Milton, published by Ebury Press at £15. © 2010, Xanthe Milton. To order a copy for £13.99 (p&p free), call 0845 155 072.


source : dailymail

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

You want flies with that? McDonald's Happy Meal shows no sign of decomposing after SIX MONTHS

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Fresh: The Happy Meal on the day it was bought by artist Sally Davies in New York


Looking almost as fresh as the day it was bought, this McDonald's Happy Meal is in fact a staggering six months old.

Photographed every day for the past half a year by Manhattan artist Sally Davies the kids meal of fries and burger is without a hint of mould or decay.

Entitled 'The Happy Meal Project', Mrs Davies, 54, has charted the seemingly indestructible fast food meals progress as it refuses to yield to the forces of nature.


Tasty: Looking a little dry and with an 'acrylic sheen', but the burger has no signs of mould - not even on the bun


Sitting on a shelf in her apartment, Sally has watched the Happy Meal with increasing shock and even her dogs have resisted the urge to try and steal a free tasty snack.

'I bought the meal on April 10 of this year and brought it home with the express intention of leaving it out to see how it fared,' she said.

'I chose McDonald's because it was nearest to my house, but the project could have been about any other of the myriad of fast food joints in New York.

'The first thing that struck me on day two of the experiment was that it no longer emitted any smell.

'And then the second point of note was that on the second day, my dogs stopped circling the shelf it was sitting on trying to see what was up there.'


Fast food: Five months into the experiment, and although the burger patty has shrunk a bit it doesn't look that different to the original


Worrying: More than three months in and the usual effects of time appear to have had no impact


Expecting the food to begin moulding after a few days, Mrs Davies' surprise turned to shock as the fries and burger still had not shown any signs of decomposition after two weeks.

'It was then that I realised that something strange might be going on with this food that I had bought,' she explained.

'The fries shrivelled slightly as did the burger patty, but the overall appearance of the food did not change as the weeks turned to months.

'And now, at six months old, the food is plastic to the touch and has an acrylic sheen to it.

'The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock.'



Tucking in: Mrs Davies bought the Happy Meal and put it on a shelf in her home. She said even her dogs are no longer interested in eating it


Even though she is a vegan, Mrs Davies' experiment has brought her amusement rather than fear.

'I don't really see this experiment as scary, I see it almost as an amusement,' she said.

'Although, I would be frightened at seeing this if I was a meat eater. Why hasn't even the bun become speckled with mould? It is odd.'

When asked if their food was not biodegradable, McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud said: 'This is nothing more than an outlandish claim and is completely false.'

It comes after Denver grandmother Joann Bruso left a Happy Meal to decay for a year until March to highlight the nutritional dangers of fast food.

Morgan Spurlock also made the film Super Size Me in 2004 charting the changes to his body eating just fast food for 28 days had.


source: dailymail