Vietnamese Style Stirfry

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

food painting for the vegetarian cookbook by Fiona Morgan

Light. Quick. Easy. Zesty.

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Food painting artwork

30x30cm gouache on canvas. Inspired by the work of contemporary Vietnamese artist Phan Thu Trang and the sense of warm days lingering on past their season.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

So the days of summer are over. But that doesn't mean that the days are cold and grey. They sure seem to start out that way, but there are still surprisingly warm temperatures that don't lend themselves to hearty soups and casseroles. Which is where a warmed salad-y type meal is perfect. Lots of fresh stuff. Plenty of zest. Filling noodles. And a few veg.

cellophane noodles for 2 (rice/tapioca/bean)

a tablespoon or two of peanut or sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2cm fresh ginger, grated

125g firm tofu, cubed

8 medium sized cup mushrooms, in thin slices

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons LIGHT soy sauce (Thai/Vietnamese/Japanese). A heavy soy sauce such as Chinese masks these flavours rather than enhancing them

large handful fresh bean sprouts

5 spring onions, chopped

juice of 1/2 a lime

2 tablespoons finely sliced fresh mint (don't underdo the mint)

1/2 tablespoon rough chopped fresh coriander (don't overdo the coriander)

Put the noodles on first so they are ready to go. Follow the packet directions. This dish only takes a few minutes to cook once the chopping is done.

Fry the garlic and ginger in the mildly heated oil.

Turn the heat up to medium high and seal the tofu in the oil. It should be nice and golden all over.

Then add the mushrooms, carrot, sugar, salt and LIGHT soy sauce.

Stir fry until the veges are done.

This step is important: Remove the pan from the heat.

Mix in the bean sprouts so they become warmed through.

Let the dish cool somewhat (attend to the noodles?) and then mix in the herbs, spring onion and lime juice. You are almost aiming for a warm salad as opposed to a hot meal. The herbs shouldn't really shrivel up when they're mixed in.

Heap your cooked and drained noodles into mountains in bowls and then heap the vege mix on top.

Makes a meal for 2.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

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

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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autumn

Pesto

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

aromatic

Eggplant Risotto

Monday, March 29, 2010

Unusual. Easy. Minty. Aromatic.

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Food painting artwork

30x30cm oil on canvas. I've explored and blended all the lovely purpley and other colours that the eggplant gives in soft light. There's two eggplants in this painting...

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

You know how sometimes you first hear of someone's favourite sandwich, say peanut butter, banana and honey. And your instant reaction is, 'YUK!' And somehow, you are convinced against your better judgement to try it. Just one incy wincy tiny bite. And it's nowhere near as bad as you imagined. In fact, it's quite good. Well that's a bit like seeing the ingredients for this recipe. They don't look promising. You're unlikely to have tried this combination before. But it's actually delicious. I promise.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped, sliced or diced

1 large eggplant (aubergine), cut into small cubes

2 pinches salt

2 cups vege stock

1 cup arborio rice

3/4 cup or about 220g cooked chickpeas

4 tomatoes or about 200g, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon brown or raw sugar (if you use white sugar make sure the teaspoon measure is a level not rounded one)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Saute onion in oil until appealingly edible.

Add the eggplant and salt and cook until softened. A few spoonfuls of the stock will help here too.

Stir in the rice until it is as coated with as much oil as possible.

Add all the other ingredients.

Cook just below a simmer with the lid on for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is done.

Serves 2. I think. Feel free to update me if necessary.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

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

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

+++

autumn

Tangy Tomato Soup

Friday, March 26, 2010

aromatic

Chai Tea

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

autumn

Chilli Greens

Friday, March 19, 2010

autumn

Art Filled Seasonal Vegetarian Cookbook - Autumn

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Food painting for the vegetarian cookbook by Australian artist Fiona Morgan

In my part of the world it is Autumn. Some of you may know it as Fall. But our trees don't drop their leaves, so Fall is not appropriate.

Welcome to the start of my vegetarian cookbook! Over the course of the next four seasons you will find here seasonal recipes of the vegetarian persuasion.

Carnivores fear not!

This is for you too. How? Well now when you have your vegetarian friend/relative/significant other over for dinner, instead of throwing up your hands in despair and crying that you have no idea what to cook, just come here. No more serving up meat and three veg minus the meat. Now you can have your vege friends ask for the recipe of the delicious meal you served.

And why else? Well, Meatless Monday.

If you want to join in this worldwide movement but are a bit stuck for ideas, come here and try out a super tasty meatless meal.

And of course, this is for all the vegetarians out there

New and long time vegetarians, who want the most kickass collection of easy to make, seasonal, nutritious and simply divine meals that make everyone you know go, 'WOW!! That was amazing.'

All the vegetarian recipes are free and will be posted on this blog with an accompanying original food painting artwork inspired by the recipe.

Everything cookbook related will be archived here so you can find recipes easily. At the end of each season all the meals and pictures will be collected together in a real live printed book which will made available for sale. All the original artwork will be for sale too, details of this to be decided, as well as super-limited edition signed and numbered prints of each artwork.

If you have any fantastic favourite vego recipes, feel free to share. But only if they are the very best, most scrumptious recipes possible. If they have a habit of making other people swoon with delight, they'll be perfect. And you'll get published!

Otherwise, sit back, relax, and download the Autumn picture if you desire it, as a seasonal computer wallpaper. 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200

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Food painting artwork

30x30cm watercolour on canvas. It's a symbolic painting of moving from summer (the beach) to the dark clouds of winter on the horizon. And making the journey is a pumpkin boat filled with autumnal vegetables.

art

Artist's Canvas Explained

Monday, March 15, 2010

Thanks to Cara B Anderson for the photo.

Not all canvas 'for artists' is actually any good. Here's my notes from educating myself, written up into a readable form.

Rolled and Stretched and Primed

Canvas for artists is generally available in three forms. Stretched (and primed), unstretched and primed and unstretched and unprimed.

Naturally the form that saves an artist the most time is also the most expensive as all the preparation work has been done. I am talking here about the prestretched and preprimed canvases. There is nothing to do but take any wrapping off and get to being creative. This is a time saver that is not to be underestimated. The down side of ready to go canvas is that you have to take what's on offer. Which is not necessarily so bad. However, if you are after a non standard size or are particular about the weight of canvas on which you work or fussy about the gesso used and the surface finish you like to paint on, then the small number of options of prestretched canvas will probably drive you nuts.

So on to unstretched canvas. This is usually priced per length from a roll and cut when you buy. There is a lot more choice with this form of canvas, but some preparation work before painting.

Unstretched canvas does not have to be stretched onto a frame, but that is the conventional way. It is perfectly possible to work on canvas as you do a piece of paper. The stretching is to give a nice flat and smooth surface to paint on. Most painters like the bounce or give in a canvas stretched on a frame. I'm not going to give a how to on stretching canvas right here, but just say that if you buy canvas off a roll, you are more than likely going to stretch it onto a frame yourself. That takes time, of course. But you can make the frame any crazy size you want.

Canvas bought from a roll comes in two forms. Primed and unprimed. Primed means that once you've managed the stretching, you can get right to painting. Probably a good choice for an unusual sized frame where you're not too fussy about the gesso primer and the finish of the surface you paint on. Although it is certainly possible to reprime and/or sand a preprimed canvas to your heart's content.

The most labour intensive, for the artist, is to use unprimed unstretched canvas. Here you will be both stretching and priming your painting surface. If you are super particular about your painting surface, this one's for you. Though be warned, you will spend about half your 'painting time' in stretching and priming. But you will be able to get *exactly* what you want.

But There's Canvas and There's Canvas

That was meant to be a quick rundown on the forms that art canvas comes in. There is also variation in the actual canvas itself.

Jute or hessian

Jute or hessian is dirt cheap, has a very rough and open weaved texture and quickly weakens and becomes brittle with age. Not recommended for longevity! But what a texture.

Synthetic canvas

There are synthetic canvases usually made from polyester. Photo or giclee printing onto canvas tends to use synthetic canvases. They tend to have a much more even, tight weave which lacks character. Or bestows supreme consistency, depending on your taste. They are said (by the manufacturers) to stand up much better than cotton and linen when exposed to the elements and to be immune to bacteria, mildew and air pollution. Professional art supply stores call synthetic canvas 'cheap' (which is quite an advantage, I think) and tend to take a sneering tone toward it. I have not managed to turn up any unbiased information on it's artistic archival properties (ie, how it reacts over time to gesso and paint), however the tent and boating industries sing the praises of synthetic canvas, citing it's longevity over traditional cotton canvas. And if it performs in those tough environments, the omens seem good to me. One to watch.

On blended yarns: "Blends of fibre (ie cotton/polyster or cotton/linen) should be avoided as the final product is usually unstable due to the different weights, strengths and characteristics of the two yarns. They are only suitable if the blend is in the thread, and exists in equal weight ratio in the warp and weft." Thanks.

Cotton duck

This is the one to go for if you are buying cotton canvas. It is more tightly woven than plain canvas. Cotton canvas is the most conventional surface for painting (oils and acrylics obviously). It's properties are well known and it's available everywhere. It is flexible, easy to stretch properly and not too expensive. For large paintings it is too flexible. Large being over a metre square.

Linen

From the flax plant. Belgian is considered the best. If you are after absolute quality, this is the type of canvas to go for. Although linen is difficult to prime and stretch properly, it has the best archival properties. Because it has less flexibility than cotton, it expands and contracts less with changes in temperature and humidity. This means the paint on top has a much more stable surface and is far less likely to crack. And it's strong and stiff enough to support large paintings (over 1m square). Cotton fibres are short and flat (only 4 to 5cm long) whereas linen fibres are round and can range from 25 to 90cm in length. Many painters also like the uneven, natural texture of linen. Oh, and by the way, it's brown.

How Much Does It Weigh and Why You Might Care

Just to be clear here, I'm talking about cotton and linen. The synthetic canvases are much stronger per weight, so these figures don't apply.

7-8 oz. Beware! Not good enough for long lasting art. Often used for prestretched canvases. Usually poor quality loose weave and not very stable or strong. Avoid.

10 oz. The world's most popular art canvas weight. Fine for small artworks or situations where there will be little strain on the canvas. The main thing to watch out for is that most cotton canvas of this weight is twice as strong in one direction than the other (2:1 weave). Which reduces its dimensional stability. Warp and weft threads should be of equal weight, strength and material. The ideal yarn is closely and tightly woven with a square (1:1 or 2:2) weave.

12-15 oz. The best weight for painting. Nice and strong. Now you know.