Chunky. Satisfying. Creamy. Filling.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. This textural image of rolling creamy wintery hills is exactly the kind of landscape that is perfect for stuffing your belly with a warming carb-fest such as this dish. I love printmaking but often find myself wishing prints had a more textural element to them. You may detect a Japanese influence here. Think of this painting as a textural Japanesque print of winter hills.

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

Most pasta bakes that I've come across require you to cook all the ingredients and then bake them together in the sauce. I'm not a fan of this method. It's too fiddly for my liking, takes longer than it needs to and makes a mess of several pans. Surely it's possible to cook everything together in one go? After a flurry of experimentation, I can confirm that yes, it is indeed possible to make a wonderful pasta bake in one easy step:

400g penne or similar, uncooked

500g pumpkin, julienned

200g chard, finely sliced

1/2 cup or 55g slivered almond

3 cups stock

1/2 cup white wine

600ml cream or milk

1 cup mozzarella, grated

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 onion, chopped fine

Put all ingredients in a lidded oven dish and stir together well. 

Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 170 degrees C. 

Stir every 30 minutes.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Fills 4.

Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Fingerfood.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin.

In perusing the interwebs for inspiration of the parsnippy variety I wandered across this Irish saying which involves said vegetable; "Soft words butter no parsnips". It's supposed to mean that kind words will not put food on the table, hence the empty bowl in the painting. The full saying is, "soft words butter no parsnips but they won't harden the heart of the cabbage either", which I interpret as, although kind words won't put food in your bowl, they won't do any harm either. I'm happy to be corrected. Style-wise this piece is after Irish artist Anji Allen who specialises in the beauty of everyday objects, often related to food.

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

I first came across parsnip chips in Scotland. They arrived on my plate along with a vegetarian haggis that I was trying in a cafe. I think it might have been the wonderful 'Lost Sock Diner' of Edinburgh which was helpfully attached to a laundromat. A useful, no genius, setup. Anyway, back to the food. The haggis wasn't bad, really. The Scots have had hundreds of years perfecting cooking with oatmeal, turnip, salt, pepper and not a lot else in the vege department. However it was the sweetish, crunchy parsnip chips that really grabbed my attention. And then my friends mentioned how unimpressed they were as parsnips chips were so easy to make at home. What?! Of course I had to try making them myself.

Note well that like tomatoes, organic parsnips have a LOT more flavour than their supermarket cousins.

parsnips, chopped into 1cm thick matchsticks (400g equals a snack for 2)

olive oil

salt

pepper

Heat your oven to around 215 C. I have found 200 C to be too low - the chips end up oily and soggy - and 230 C to be too hot - the chips burn as they cook. You will have to experiment a little because all ovens vary.

Figure out how many trays you need by test-placing the chips on trays in a single layer only.

Remove the chips and lightly cover the tray with oil. Put it in the oven when the oven has reached temperature. Leave it long enough to heat the oil up. Clue - if it's smoking it's definitely hot enough!

Meanwhile, put all the chips in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil  and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss to coat all over.

When the oiled tray is hot enough, tip and spread the chips out on the tray.

Roast for 15 minutes.

Stir and turn over.

Cook up to another 15 minutes. They may take less time as parsnips burn easily on account of their high sugar content so keep an eye on them.

Enjoy as a snack or side dish as a variation on potato chips. By the way, most root vegetables can be chipped successfully. Have a play! Imagine a mixed potato, carrot, parsnip chip adventure...

Warming. Easy. Satisfying. Chunky.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin.

Inspired by the style of Gus Leunig which absolutely makes me swoon and the symbols of Mexican folk art and pre Columbian petraglyphs.

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

Apparently the correct title for this would actually be 'chilli sin carne'. However, 'chilli non carne' makes sense to those of us who don't speak Spanish and is probably understandable to those who do as well. This recipe is a vegetarian adaptation of my mother-in-law's recipe for chilli con carne which hubby insisted we had to make into a vege version as it had been a childhood favourite. I can see why.

1 medium to large onion, diced fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

100g stuffed green olives, sliced

1/2 cup white wine

400g tomato puree

1 3/4 cups or around 270g (400g tin) cooked red kidney beans

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder, or to taste

1/2 cup red lentils

1/2 cup TVP

1 to 1 1/2 cups stock

Fry onion until softened.

Add all the other ingredients. 

Cover and cook for 25 minutes.

Serves 4 on rice or mashed potato.

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

Once upon a time I was a horse mad girl without a horse. That changed, as in I got a horse, and then changed again to bring you up to now where I have neither horse nor huge interest in horses anymore, though I am still fond of them. So back to the horse mad era. While I was afflicted with this madness and still horseless I read every single book on horses and ponies that our local library had. Every. Single. One. Many of them were awful. Some of them were pure gold. Thelwell's books probably gave me more insight into the horse world than any other source.  He really nailed the characters of ponies and their riders and he could really, truly draw.

While I began reading Thelwell's books from a horse mad perspective, I kept reading them because this was a person who really knew how to observe humans and animals and the zany things we get up to, and then tease out just how silly we are being so that we laugh at ourselves. It really stayed with me that he could capture the essence of a situation and tell a story with a few well placed lines and an observant, witty mind.

I think this is what I enjoy about cartooning. There is no human photocopier in sight (those artists who just copy slavishly and emotionlessly). There is no extraneous detail. What I learned from reading Thelwell is that expressions, movement, energy and imagination are the things to focus on capturing in art. It's your interpretation that people are looking for, and in Thelwell's case, humour was his interpretation of what he saw and people loved his work for this exact quality.

More Thelwell links

Official Thelwell site

Wikipedia on Thelwell

I couldn't put this better myself and just had to include it. From The Bloghorn:

Thelwell is best remembered for his fat ponies and their long-suffering young riders, but he was a wide-ranging artist, who tackled many subjects for many papers and magazines, including Punch, with which he developed a close relationship over 25 years.

He had a strong understanding of the British character, and may be considered the post-war heir to Pont of Punch. From estate agents to battery farmers, hunt protesters to harassed motorists, Thelwell chronicled the minutiae of our (British) lives.

An accomplished landscape painter, Thelwell produced detailed, naturalistic settings for lively, comic figures that represent what he called, “the endearing lunacy of human behaviour”.

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 Creative Cauldron page. 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.

Unusual. Chunky. Spiced. Moreish.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on linen. In looking into Ecuadorian art I was delighted to find a style of artwork which stems from rock art. Rock art rocks my socks off, so I was pretty happy with this but I had no luck in finding culturally appropriate symbols. The symbol in this piece is from a petroglyph (rock carving) in the Mojave Desert in the USA. Try as I might (and I really did) I couldn't find much in the way of icons of any sort, even deities, much less potato or avocado or plant related from Ecuador. Peru, yes; Mexico, yes; American Indian, yes; Ecuador, ah ah. This one was chosen because it looks like a plant and I was wanting to celebrate the Ecuadorian plant staples of potato and avocado which still manage to grow high up in the Ecuadorian Andes in winter.

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

In the hunt for ethnic inspiration for tasty winter soup I stumbled across the notion of an Ecuadorian potato and cheese soup with avocado. It sounded a lot more appetizing than anything I could possibly do with turnip, celeriac, onion or brussel sprouts. I checked it out and immediately began salivating. Then I dashed up to the shop, grabbed all the ingredients and made possibly the most addictive soup I have ever had. It helps that I could happily make a meal of any of the main ingredients on their own, so put them together and as far as I am concerned, magic happens. This is adapted from the recipe by Laylita on her blog, Laylita's recipes and is filling enough to qualify as a main meal.

1.5kg potato (about 10 medium sized), chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or hot paprika or chilli powder
7 cups weak stock
1 cup milk
300g white or chinese cabbage, finely shredded
1 cup cottage cheese
50g fresh coriander, chopped fine
200g feta cheese, crumbled
3 avocados, sliced or diced
hot sauce (or chilli sauce/powder to taste mixed in 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar per bowl)

Melt butter and soften onion with garlic, cumin and cayenne.
Add potato pieces and stock and boil until potatoes are very well done.
Roughly mash the soup.
Reduce the heat to prevent this boiling over then add the milk and cabbage.
Cook gently until the cabbage is done to your liking.
Add cottage cheese and coriander. Mix thoroughly.
Remove from the heat.
Serve with half an avocado and a handful of feta in each bowl.
Add hot sauce to taste.

Makes 6 chunky, filling bowlfuls.

Warming. Easy. Thrifty. Aromatic.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin.

Although the basic ingredients for this soup are ones that I think are very English, the added spices send the end result to a different part of the world. When I made this for friends the consensus was 'South American'. And so in looking for painting inspiration I researched the patterns and folk art of South America. If it looks rather 70's to you, it may be because that was the time that orange in designs and Mexican folk art were popular.

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

We used to be fed a mash of carrot and parsnip as a side when I was a kid. It was an unusual change from our staples of boiled or roast veges and one of the few ways I actually enjoy the taste of carrot. In trying to concoct a recipe that has carrot as a main flavour (I was thrown down a challenge!) I remembered this parsnip and carrot mash and thought it would make a great soup. Yep. It does. And it's another way I can stomach carrots which are close to my least favourite vegetable.

1 large onion, chopped

1 tablespoon butter or oil

1 teaspoon cumin powder

2 teaspoons coriander powder

5 cups stock

4 pinches hot paprika

1 pinch dried thyme

1 bay leaf

about 185g carrot, diced

about 185g parsnip, diced

1 3/4 cups or 270g cooked chickpeas

Melt butter. Soften onion with cumin and coriander.
Add all the other ingredients.
Simmer on low, lid ON, until everything is nice and soft.
Remove the bay leaf. Puree.

Warms 4.

Easy. Versatile. Tangy. Moreish.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Here we have a pickled eggplant. Figuratively. Thanks to Joe Sorren for his wonderfully quirky, gentle characters in somewhat surreal and intimate moments. And his lush colours and brushwork. I'm quite a fan.

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

This recipe originated with some family friends of my husband. He insisted on making it for me to show me how good it was and that it should go in the recipe book. I was skeptical. Pickled eggplant did not sound like something I wanted to try, let alone let into my collection of kick arse recipes. Well I was wrong. So wrong, in fact, that friends who came to stay ate an entire half a jar in one sitting. And that was before we'd tweaked it into shape!

1 large eggplant

2 tablespoons salt

3/4 cup white wine vinegar (quite tart) or apple cider vinegar (quite mild) according to your taste preferences.

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

up to 500ml olive oil

3-6 garlic cloves (optional)

1 cup fresh basil leaves (optional)

a couple of dried chillies (optional)

Cut the eggplant into pencil sized strips and put into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of salt. Place a small plate on top with a weight.

Leave for 12 hours or overnight.

Tip off the juice and then rinse off the eggplant, otherwise it ends up extremely salty.

Cover with vinegar and water. Weight the eggplant down again and leave for another 12 hours.

Drain and pat the eggplant dry.

Sprinkle with just one teaspoon of salt.

Put in a sterilized jar and layer with your chosen flavourings such as garlic, basil and chilli. Fill the jar with the olive oil and squeeze on the lid.

Keep in the fridge and try not to nibble at it for at least several weeks. The flavours really develop over time. It's super good after 3 months.

Makes one 500ml jar of pickled deliciousness.
Goes well on sandwiches or in salads.

Creamy. Delicate. Quick. Easy.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. In this piece I was aiming for a modern damask style arrangement that celebrates the crazy patterns of the walnut which is the centrepiece of this dish.

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

Hooray, another yummy pasta dish that does not involve tomatoes! This is so easy it almost doesn't count as cooking.

pasta for 4, something like spinach and ricotta ravioli is ideal

200g shelled walnuts

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 slices bread, no crust, soaked in milk

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup of the water used to cook the pasta (or other very hot water)

salt to taste ( this may be up to 1/2 teaspoon)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Cook the pasta.

Put the walnuts, olive oil, milk-soaked bread, parmesan and butter in a blender and whizz until smooth.

Taste and adjust for salt and mix thoroughly.

Pour onto cooked pasta and top with the fresh thyme.

Feeds 4.