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Once again, I would like pay tribute to Aran Goyoaga and her food photography workshop I attended in October. This was my dream come true. Since I started my journey with food photography I wanted to meet Aran. I wanted to see her thought process as she prepared to take pictures. How she arranges food and props on the set, what angles and light she prefers and how she processes her pictures. I wanted to take a step forward.

Aran began the workshop telling us more about herself, her move from Florida to Seattle, her new studio and new approach to light (which Seattle has way less than Florida). Then she moved to explaining what equipment she uses, how she points the camera, what’s important for her on the set, and many more technical details. At any time we were able to interrupt her and ask questions. She told us where she buys her props, and what’s important when buying ingredients for recipes. She shared with us how she promotes herself on social media, and advertising techniques she uses.

During lunch we were able to move around the studio and take pictures of anything we liked. Sunday Suppers staff made great soup and salad for lunch. They also had a lot of dishes and food items for us to photograph.

The second part was a little more “hands on photography”. Aran showed us the way she takes pictures and it was eye opening for me. It comes so naturally to her and her pictures look absolutely effortless. At the end, she showed us her photo processing work flow on Lightroom. I was surprised how little she has to improve in the post- processing; just a few details here and there. Each of us had one on one time with Aran, asking questions and sharing concerns.

I learned that although we paid to learn some new techniques, what we really experienced was meeting new people, cooking with them, talking, and exchanging experiences. I love watching people meet each other for the first time, approaching each other, starting conversations, eating together and at the end exchanging business cards and phone numbers.

This was an unforgettable experience for me, and I hope to do it again in the future. As a memory, I was left with pictures I took and this salad recipe we had for lunch.

Recipe

2 seasonal apples

1 fennel bulb with fronds

1 small red onion

1/2 toasted hazelnuts cup capers, 2 cups chopped watercress

2 TB chopped chives

orange zest

Goddess dressing:

amount for several salads, you can refrigerate up to 2-3 weeks.

1 cup mayo ( i used canola)

1 cup yogurt ( i used goat, but greek is good as well)

1 cup chopped scallions

3/4 cup fresh basil

1/4 cup of lemon, add more if needed

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp of anchovy paste ( or chopped anchovies )

1/2 tsp of salt

1tsp of black pepper

2 tbs of chives

1/4 tsp lemon zest

Peel and core apples. Pull a quantity of fronds from fennel, then clean bulbs. Peel onions and slice very thin. Slice apples and fennel bulbs on hand plane or mandoline. Toss with remaining ingredients and refrigerate. Combine all the dressing ingredients and blend for few minutes until dressing is smooth and creamy. Before serving mix it with dressing

Przepis:

2 Jablka

1 koper wloski

1 mala czerwona cebula

1/2 szklanki tostowanych orzechow laskowych

2 szklanki salaty ( rukiew wodna lub rukola)

2 lyzki posiekanego szczypiorku

otarta skorka z jednej cytryny

Obrac i pokroic jablka

oczyscic koper wloski

obrac cebule i pokroic bardzo cienko

poszatkowac jablka i koper wloski

wymieszac z pozostalymi skladnikami i wstawic do lodowki

Boski dressing :

Ilosc na kilka salatek, mozna przechowywac w lodowce przez kilka tygodni

1 szklanka majonezu ( ja uzylam z rzepaku)

1 szklanka jogurt ( kozi lub grecki)

1 szklanka posiekanej zielonej cebuli

3/4 szklanki posiekanej bazili ( swiezej )

1/4szklanki soku z cytryny

2 zabki czosnku

1 lyzeczka pasty z anchovies lub posiekane anchovies

1/2 lyzczki salt

1lyzeczka pieprzu

2lyzki posiekanego szczypiorku

1/4 lyzeczki skorki z cytryny

wszystkiego skladniki polaczyc i zblendowac w blenderze na kremowy dressing. dodac do salatki zaraz przed podaniem.

Greetings after a long break.

I am getting my hands back into cooking and photography, and will be piling on many new recipes and pictures for you.

In October, I joined Aran Goyoaga at her food and styling workshop organized in a beautiful Brooklyn loft. The loft is owned by another great photographer and foodie, Karen Mordechai, and her fabulous Sunday Suppers Club. I was very envious of the big windows, wonderful light, and long spacious marble counter tops. Karen organizes dinners for her club members and occasionally has a food styling or food photography workshop at her great space.

I learned about Karen through my Friend Kinga. It was not easy to get in to her workshop. I had missed one opportunity, in April, but with Kinga’s help I was able to get on the waiting list for the next one and ta-da… I was in for the October class.

The workshop lasted two days and was full of learning, eating, sharing pictures, styling, blogging and other fantastic experiences. I met wonderful people, who I hope to stay in touch with.

Aran is a great teacher, very approachable, warm and sweet. Her ability to style and take beautiful pictures is natural. She is a self taught artist who came to the States from Spain (Basque country). Her blog, Cannelle Et Vanille, is a finalist of the James Beard award for 2012 and 2013 Best Individual Food Blog. I came out from this workshop feeling like a new person and hopefully learned some new food photography tricks. I look at food and light from a different perspective now and will recommend her workshop to anyone.

We have photographed a lot of different objects and dishes; one of them was Aran’s apple pie. The recipe I tried at home is a little different from the one Aran used, but I can assure you it is as delicious and gluten free as Aran’s.

Recipe
I've become a bit more hesitant to use nut-flours for baking, since exposing them to high temperatures causes them to oxidize, so I'm trying out more recipes with coconut flour.
For the crust:
1 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup butter, soft ( you can use ghee)
3 eggs
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup shredded coconut
punch of salt
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp honey
Mix all the ingredients together, best way is to just use your hands. If the dough is a bit crumbly, add some water, but note that it will be a bit drier than regular dough
Next, peel and cut up about 5 apples, and add the following:

2/3 cup erythritol
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
Roll out pie crust into large circle and place it on large baking sheets. Place the apple mixture on the crust and fold over the edges of crust so that it covers 2 to 3 inches of the apple mixture . No need to be artistic – the more rustic the better Last, spread some egg white over the top and bake in the oven on about 180C (350F) for 50 mins.

Przepis
ciasto:
1 szklanka maki kokosowej
1/4 szklandki masla , w temperaturze pokojowej lub ghee
3 jajka
2 lyzki oleju kokosowego
1/2 szklanki wiorek kokosowych
Szczypta soli
1 lyzka wody
1 lyzka miodu
Wymieszaj wszystki skladnki, najlepiej uzyc do tego rak, jesli ciasto jest za bardzo kruche, dodaj wody, ale powinno byc troche bardziej suche niz tradycyjne ciasto.
Nastpenie obierz okolo 5 jablek, I dodaj :
2/3 szklanki eryterolu
2 lyzki soku z cytryny
1/4 lyzeczki galki muszkatulowej
1/4 lyzeczki startych gozdzikow
2 lyzeczki cynamonu,
2 lyzki oleju kokosowego
Rozwalkuj ciasto w ksztalcie duzego kola I poloz na papierze do pieczenia. Najlepiej walkowac juz na papierze. Przeloz jablka na spod ciasta I zagnij rogi ciasta tak zeby zakrylo 5 do 6 centymetrow pozostawiajac srodek odkryty. Wierzch mozna posmarowac bialkiem I piec w 180 C przez 50 min.