Fresh. Chunky. Homely. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Inspired both by a wandering through the artwork (not the cartoons) of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig, and the repeated suggestion from a friend to give other-handed drawing a go.

***

The meatless meals recipe - Beetroot and Bean Salad

I won't lie, this dish can take a while to prepare with cooking beetroot and brown rice, double shelling broadbeans and toasting sesame seeds. I don't make it very often, unless I have a glut of homegrown broadbeans straight from the garden and I want to really savour and enjoy their seasonal freshness.

Serves 2

250g double shelled broadbeans or edamame (start with about 300g single shelled broadbeans or 900-1000g unshelled/full broadbeans to end up with this amount)
250g beetroot
brown rice for 2 (about 2/3 cup uncooked) Properly cooked brown rice takes a good 40 minutes, despite what is often written on it's packaging. It should NOT be crunchy. At all.
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
about 180g goats cheese


Cook the brown rice.
Boil beetroot until tender all the way through.
Run under cold water to cool.
Chop into medium sized cubes.
Mix all the ingredients together and serve atop the rice.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Inspired by the flatness of poster art and the childlike fun of the artwork of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig. I like the idea of the eating paddock to plate, or in this case, garden to pie. Look how fresh this Spring pie is. The plants are still growing!!

***

The meatless meals recipe - Spring Pot Pie

It's not as much work as it seems! Don't be put off by the long recipe. This is really a straightforward pot pie where the actual vegetable filling can be flexible. Most of the flavour is in the stock which then makes a thick filling sauce and a pea sauce for topping. This is one of those recipes good for using up all sorts of odds and ends from the garden or left over in the fridge.

For 4 individual pot pies when served with mash

Stock

6 peppercorns
4 bay leaves
8-10 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons) Dried sage is far stronger than fresh so use far far less if substituting
2" fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
Liquid volume should total 1L:
1 tablespoon / 20ml olive oil
1 tablespoon / 20ml lemon juice
1 tablespoon / 20ml white wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
690ml water

Pie Filling

1 small-medium parsnip
2 cups finely shredded silverbeet or cabbage
1 leek or medium-large onion, chopped or sliced
240g cooked beans
1 small turnip or swede, chopped
1 1/2 medium carrots, sliced or diced

Thick Stock Sauce

1 cup stock liquid (after cooking)
1 tablespoon cornflour

Pea Sauce

2 cups peas
2 tablespoons fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2/3 cup / 180ml stock liquid (after cooking)


500g shortcrust or puff pastry for pie lining and lid


Put stock ingredients in a pot with a lid on.
Simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Add pie filling ingredients to the pot.
Simmer gently for another 15 minutes. Keep the lid on.
Test that veg are done and keep simmering if necessary.
Grease pie dishes with olive oil.
Line with pastry.
Strain pie filling ingredients. KEEP THE STOCK LIQUID. Remove bay leaves and rosemary stalk.
Fill pies.
Using 1 cup of stock liquid, make a thick stock sauce by whisking in 1 tablespoon of cornflour to thicken.
Pour equal amounts of the thick stock sauce into each pie.
Put pastry lids on the pies.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180c to cook the pastry.
Make the pea sauce by putting cooked peas, mint, parsley and stock into a blender and whizzing until smooth.

Serve pot pies with pea sauce and mashed potato.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Another painting inspired both by a wandering through the artwork (not the cartoons) of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig, and the repeated suggestion from a friend to give other-handed drawing a go.

***

The meatless meals recipe - French Toast

Once upon a time, it may have been when I was first introduced to the heaven that is French Toast, I cooked this up for breakfast, oh, every morning for at least a week. Or two. Or more? I can attest that even for a skinny someone with a crazy metabolism, this such a breakfast regime will put weight on you.
Moderation is key. Not too often. Not too much.
Unfortunately.

2 slices bread
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon butter
honey or similar to top

In a flat bottomed container (large enough to lie a slice of bread flat), beat the egg and milk together to blend thoroughly.
Heat the frypan up and melt the butter.
When the pan is quite hot, quickly dip each slice of bread in the egg/milk mix long enough to thoroughly coat each side.  There should be just enough mix for two slices of bread.
Fry immediately in the pan until golden and a little crispy (it will still be soft but should not be soggy).

Top with honey or maple syrup to serve.

Tickles 1 tummy.

Cheesy. Easy. Homely. Quick.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. A nod to the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the three bears and the bowl of 'just right'.

***

The meatless meals recipe - Super Easy Goldilocks Mac and Cheese

Once upon a time I used to make a roux to thicken the cheese sauce of my mac and cheese. Now, I am not fond of unnecessary steps or waiting about for my food and so at some point I tried 'cheating' using a judicious amount of cornflour to thicken the sauce. It's much quicker and no, I could not tell the difference.

After trialling many many variations, this is my version of 'just right' mac and cheese. The thickness of the sauce is 'just right'. The cheesiness is 'just right'. The amount of sauce for the quantity of pasta is 'just right'. And it's quick, which is just right for me.


200g uncooked pasta (macaroni!)
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups grated tasty cheese (88g) For extra cheesyness, use 1 1/2 cups cheese (105g) but I think this is a bit strong
1 tablespoon cornflour
salt and pepper to taste


Cook pasta, drain and set aside.
Melt butter in a pan on low-medium heat.
Add most of the milk to the butter. Reserve some for mixing with the cornflour later.
Add cheese to the pot as well. Mix.
In a cup or small bowl, blend or whisk the cornflour and reserved milk.
When most of the cheese has melted, add the cornflour mix to the pot and whisk until thickened.
Take off the heat, add drained pasta into the cheese sauce and mix well.

Serve. Salt and pepper to taste.

The sauce takes 5 minutes to make. Mac and Cheese takes 5 minutes to eat.

 

 

For 2 

Fresh. Easy. Quick. Aromatic.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. An early spring garden of fresh new plants, entangled with spaghetti.

***

The meatless meals recipe - Pasta Primavera - Pasta with Spring Vegetables in Herb Sauce

The taste of early spring in a bowl in the time it takes to cook your favourite pasta shape.

 

pasta (papadelle is my favourite for this) for 2, about 200g
parmesan to taste
salt to taste
3 cups mixed spring veg, chopped into bite size pieces - recommended are:
peas, broadbeans, asparagus, broccoli, snap peas, snowpeas

Herb sauce:

1 cup chopped fresh parsley (about 10g)
about 7g finely chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup whole mint leaves (about 4g)
at least 1/4 cup olive oil

Cook pasta.
Pre cook mixed veg. Blanch, boil or steam as suits you. I find steaming the veg on top of the pasta or pouring the drained pasta water over the veg to blanch them both work well to save on washing up, water, energy and general effort!
Put the ingredients for the herb sauce in a blender and blend smooth.
To serve, pile pasta into bowls, then top with sauce then veges and parmesan and salt to taste. Be aware that mixing the pasta and sauce before transferring to the serving bowls leaves most of the sauce and flavour behind sticking to the pot or bowl in which they were mixed.

Satisfying. Thrifty. Easy. Homely.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Imagine a typical English grey day. You've been walking outside in the mist. It's cold. Everything in sight is a shade of twilight grey. The house is in sight, with a welcoming glow. You're half frozen, all your clothes are damp and you're starving. Now imagine the cosy warm feeling of homely comfort food. Perhaps bangers and mash? A huge helping of fluffy buttery mashed potatoes, some sausages and your favourite sides, all smothered in gravy. Heavenly.

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

***

The meatless meals recipe

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. This is one of those artworks where straightaway I had a really strong idea of what I wanted to do. Trying to get that idea to actually freaking work was really, really hard. I now know all sorts of ways not to try and take a print from a halved cabbage. Sometimes it's best to keep pushing at an idea until it resolves. Sometimes it's best to let it go and simmer in the unconscious for a while. After spending an entire day trying to take a print from a cabbage and sketching out variation upon variation on my idea, I decided to let it sit. In the meantime, it dawned on me where the idea was stemming from, and knowing this, the image resolved itself.  So a shoutout to cartoonist Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void for the inspiration for this rather abstract line based piece and no cabbage print in sight after all.

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

***

The meatless meals recipe

Cabbage rolls are a common and very popular dish throughout eastern europe. This recipe is  adapted from a cabbage rolls recipe I used to make quite often, until I became fed up with the finicky rolling process. So now I make unrolls. Basically the same ingredients. Very similar method. No effort required. And way more flavour than you would expect from cabbage.

After a bit of sleuthing I believe this recipe to be of Turkish origin. I'm pretty sure I copied the ingredients list on the grounds the recipe 'looked interesting' from a library book I borrowed at least 10 years ago. I didn't note the details of this book at the time. The recipe has gone through quite a few changes to end up in this form - it's now vegetarian, the rice flavourings have been added and it's been adjusted to work as 'unrolls'. However the spice combinations which work so well are exactly as I found them, and I would like to be able to give credit to the author of that book I borrowed all that time ago. Consider it done if I do manage to track that book down.

2 teaspoons butter

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/4 cups frozen vege mince OR 3/4 cup dried TVP plus 3/4 cup water OR 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils

1 1/2 cups stock

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon thyme

3 pinches clove powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 big pinches ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons raisens or sultanas or currants

2 tablespoons / 45g slivered almonds

225g cabbage, finely sliced

440g tomato, chopped or pureed (perfect for excess tomatoes bottled in Autumn)

2 cups rice

4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander - about 24g

zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

Fry the onion and garlic in butter until golden.

Add mince/tvp/lentils, any extra water as directed and the stock. Then add the oregano, thyme, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, bay leaf, raisens/sultanas/currants and almonds.

Stir well and simmer with the lid off until the liquid is gone, around 20 minutes.

Add tomato and cabbage and simmer for another 30 minutes (or more) until cabbage is nicely soft.

Meanwhile, cook the rice as you usually do. Drain and rinse if necessary.

Mix the coriander and lemon zest only (not juice) through the rice just before serving.

Serve the sauce on the rice and drizzle everything with the lemon juice.

Heartily feeds 4.

Easy. Versatile. Tangy. Moreish.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

Chunky. Filling. Moreish. Easy.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Influenced by the magical realism of Vietnamese born US artist Duy Huynh (pronounced yee wun), my ever present interest in cartoons, and the kid's song, ten green bottles. Now add these all together and shake, shake shake... and mind the hiccups.

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

***

The meatless meals recipe

A South American standard that I recreated after watching a former El Salvadorean housemate make it. So I've probably unintentionally bastardised it, but it tastes fantastic, is quick, easy, satisfying and involves finishing off the bottle of beer while you wait for it to cook involves cooking with beer. I'm going to be really sexist and say that cooking with beer is a sure fire way to make a guy say something like, 'mmm, this is really tasty, what's the secret ingredient?'. Only it does almost always happen when I serve a beer cooked meal to guys. Connection? I think so. Sorry guys!

oil or butter for sauting

1 medium onion

2 very large cloves garlic

1 small red chilli

400g tomato, roughly chopped

375ml / 1 1/2 cups beer, preferably a dark beer

520g / 4 cups cooked beans such as kidney, pinto, chickpeas

1 tablespoon salt

up to 2 cups of other vegetables chopped into bean sized pieces (carrot, green beans, capsicum, celery, potato, mushroom)

Makes 6 bowls.

Versatile. Leisurely. Easy. Moreish.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Again inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee. This time it's his paintings from about 1915 to about 1925 which are purely abstract and composed of coloured rectangles. According to Wikipedia, 'The colored rectangle became his basic building block, what some scholars associate with a musical note, which Klee combined with other colored blocks to create a color harmony analogous to a musical composition. His selection of a particular color palette emulates a musical key. Sometimes he uses complementary pairs of colors, and other times “dissonant” colors, again reflecting his connection with musicality.'

Well I'm not connecting this artwork to music. As you know, it's connected to food. In particular, the rectangular strips of tofu and their tasty golden brown tones of this recipe.

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

***

The meatless meals recipe

When I was living in London I became friends with a lovely South Korean by the name of So-Young. When I went to visit her in her home outside London where she was studying, this is one of the dishes she had prepared. It made quite an impression on me and for a year or so I was asking for the recipe. I gather that this was seen as a bit strange as this dish for Koreans is a bit like cooking toast for Westerners. It's just something you do all the time, no recipe required. Anyway, we did end up doing a little recipe swap. Yay - tofu strips for chocolate cake! This is So-Young's recipe with quantities added and put into my words.

I'm not sure what the Korean name for this dish is. I call it tofu strips which is not the most imaginative title, but it does describe it in a 'call a spade a spade' sort of way. So-Young has recently posted me an absolute gem of a book called 'Invitation to Korean Cuisine' by Han Youngsil. In there is a recipe for Braised Pan Fried Bean Curd. It's basically the same dish! Use whichever name you prefer.

250g firm tofu
1/2 small to medium onion, sliced fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1-2 teaspoons sugar, to taste
a sprinkling of salt, to taste (remember that soy sauce is quite salty)
about 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 spring onions, chopped
1-2 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil
chilli to taste

Slice tofu into your favourite shape. Pieces about 1/2 to 1cm thick are good.
Use the oil and lightly fry the tofu pieces until gold but not brown on both sides with a sprinkling of salt.
Remove the tofu from the pan.
Turn the heat right down low.
Lay the onion in the bottom of the pan and place the tofu on top.
Sprinkle with the sugar, garlic and chilli and cover with the spring onion.
Carefully drizzle the tofu pieces with soy sauce. Get as much on the tofu, as opposed to in the pan, as possible.
Cook long and slow until the spring onion begins to wilt.
Taste test and adjust the sugar, salt, soy sauce and chilli to your preference.
Keep cooking slowly until the spring onion has fully wilted.

Serve on top of stir fried veg and rice or noodles and it will make 4 meals. Or use as tofu burgers for 2. Or just snack on it by itself.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. This piece is inspired by the artwork of another artist local to me, Dale Fort. His work is rich with layered marks and he often depicts landscapes, especially rolling hills. As this recipe is a layered mountain of food, the landscape analogy caught my eye.

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

***

The meatless meals recipe

Apparently eggplant parma (as it's known here in Australia) is almost always on the menu as a vegetarian option in Melbourne restaurants and is almost always hated by vegetarians at said restaurants, apparently due to it's overexposure. This is odd as there is only one time I've encountered it on a menu, and I was so impressed I went home and recreated it. This is a no-bake version, which is a lot less all-the-flavours-slopped-together, and quicker, than the baked version.

1200g potato

dash olive oil

1 onion, diced

400g tomato, pureed or diced

20g fresh basil, roughly chopped

1/4 cup red or white wine

500g spinach or 250g chard, chopped

1 or more tablespoons butter

500g eggplant, cut into 1cm thick slices

6 cloves garlic, minced

salt to taste

1/2 cup water

grated tasty or parmesan cheese for topping

Prepare the potatoes:

Boil and mash potato with milk and butter or as you like it.

Make the tomato sauce:

Soften onion in oil.

Add tomato, basil and wine. Simmer for as long as you dare without allowing it to catch on the bottom.

Prepare the spinach:

Steam it, boil it or blanch it. Whichever way you like it.

Fry the eggplant slices:

Melt butter in a large flat frypan.

Place eggplant slices in the pan cut side up if there is a choice.

Cover with minced garlic and salt generously. Do try and keep the garlic on the eggplant so it doesn't burn.

Fry eggplant until golden on the first side. Add more butter if needed.

Flip slices and add water to help soften and cook eggplant.

Continue cooking until all water has evaporated and the eggplant is soft all through and fried golden brown on both sides. Add more butter if needed.

To serve:

Make a ring of mash on each plate.

Fill the ring with spinach.

Cover with tomato sauce.

Place eggplant slices on top and sprinkle with cheese.

Makes 4 meals.

As the final installment of my investigations into artist's canvas, this time I'm looking at canvas keys, gallery wrapped canvas vs traditional profile canvas and the idea of unstretched canvas.

Previous related posts cover all about painting substrates, all about the types of artists canvas and stretching your own canvas.

Canvas Keys

Some stretched canvasses come with little wooden wedges. What are these for? They are known as canvas keys. They should fit into slots in the inner corners of the canvas stretcher. They are a traditional method for tightening up a canvas that has begun to sag. Unfortunately, they are not a very good method for doing this. Any canvas that has developed a sag should be carefully taken off it's stretcher and re-stretched.

Using canvas keys to take the sag out of a painting risks damaging the painting. It is possible to accidentally hammer the back of the painting if the keys are missed, breaking the paint. Using keys puts a great deal of stress on the corners of a painting which can eventually tear the canvas. The keys will invariably change the shape of the stretcher and it will no longer be square and the painting may no longer fit into it's frame, if it had one.

Skip the dodgy canvas keys. Traditional, but not very smart. Take the canvas off the stretcher altogether and re-stretch it!

This video explains the same information in visual form:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSLhkuFO3G0

Bracing a Stretched Canvas

A canvas stretcher or strainer is under quite a bit of tension once a canvas has been secured onto it. They are usually made from timber and so are prone to warping under tension and changing atmospheric conditions. It is recommended that they include a cross-bar every 60 cm (or 2 feet) or so in each direction to help prevent any warping.

Traditional Stretched Canvas

A traditional stretched canvas requires framing. The tacks or staples show on the sides of the finished piece. Traditional canvases also tend to have a shallow profile. They are usually only about half an inch thick from the back of the canvas to the front.

Gallery Wrapped Canvas

This is a very modern style of stretching canvas. The canvas is wrapped around two edges of the stretcher bars and secured at the back where the staples or tacks can't show. Often the sides are painted.  No visible staples or nails means a neat finish is achieved and no framing is required.  Usually this style has quite a deep profile, more than an inch thick from the back of the canvas to the front, though they can also be shallow. The deep profile is the current trend.

Artists love gallery wrapped canvas as their artworks are ready to hang as soon as the varnish is dry. Many art collectors prefer it too as it allows them to skip the often substantial costs of framing. Anecdotally, gallery wrapped canvasses nearly put many framers out of business when it first came out as so many people suddenly didn't require their services. Though if you prefer your art in a frame, as some do, gallery wrapped canvas can be framed if you want.

Unstretched Canvas

It was a revelation to me when I was introduced to the idea of working on unstretched canvas. I was at the exhibition opening of a local artist who had oil pastel paintings on massive canvasses about 1 x 2 m. They were unstretched and looked wonderful.

Depending on your point of view, unstretched canvas is either fabulous or awful to paint on. It has a very different working feel to the drum-like bounce of a stretched canvas. To me it's wonderful and predictable. The give in the surface of a stretched canvas is something I find disconcerting. Different artists, different preferences. I guess it's like working on fabric textured board or paper.

For the artist there are some significant advantages to working on canvas unstretched. There are time savings as no pre-stretching is required. There are financial savings as no stretchers need to be bought. There are space savings as unused canvas can be stored rolled and once painted, can be stacked flat. Believe me, plain canvas takes up a LOT less room than a stack of stretched canvasses. And lastly, unstretched canvas is cheaper to post for a buyer as it weighs less.

For the art collector, unstretched canvas can be presented in a number of already familiar ways. It can be lightly stretched onto stretchers/strainers and ends up looking just like regular stretched canvas.  Or it can be framed just like any paper artwork. For extra rigidity, it can be mounted (glued) to board before framing. All very normal procedures for your framer.

The only downside to unstretched canvas that I can see is that someone needs to frame it.

More art technique articles

This article is one in an ongoing series of technical articles for artists, all archived together and accessible from here. The topics range from details on materials, to the business of art, to specific art techniques. Please make use of this resource.

Stretching canvas. All you need to know in one place. Why would you? What do you need? How is it done? (with a selection of curated videos).

Why would you?

Artists are always looking for ways to save money on materials without skimping on quality. Stretching your own canvas instead of buying it already stretched is a real dollar saver. It also allows an artist to have full control over the canvas they paint on and how it is prepared, and to have any size they choose. So not only can it be cheaper, but better quality too!

However, before getting outlandishly excited, stretching canvas does take time, so if you're not quick at it, perhaps buying ready-mades would be less expensive in the long run.  There is also the option of having canvas stretched for you by professionals. Obviously this costs though you get the exact specifications you want and can focus on painting, which is presumably what you do best.

What do you need?

How is it done?

Rather than write up a long winded explanation, I instead sought out a bunch of the most useful videos. There are an awful lot out there and most of them are awful! I've sat through as many as I could stand (about 20) to bring you the pick of the bunch.

A good general introduction

http://video.about.com/painting/How-to-Stretch-a-Canvas.htm

This is a 5 minute video which deals with stretching up to about the 2 minute mark has some neat tips with razor blades and misting sprays.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-271921060817845354#

Gallery wrapping of pre-painted canvas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkToBRa-O-U

A leisurely series on making stretcher bars and stretching canvas with plenty of handy tips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7iRiF1k7s4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY5-7a6QX8s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ5H05A4184

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKey4crHzmc

More art technique articles

This article is one in an ongoing series of technical articles for artists, all archived together and accessible from here. The topics range from details on materials, to the business of art, to specific art techniques. Please make use of this resource.

Fun. Moreish. Leisurely. Fingerfood.

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Heavily influenced by kawaii (super-cute) Japanese cartoon animals. If you look closely you may see the giant gyoza in the background.

Nowhere as difficult to make as you might first imagine, but gyoza are a little bit of work (well worth it I say).

Gyoza are a type of dumpling also known as pot-stickers. They are partly steamed and partly fried and very delicious. Especially with an evening of beer, chatting and friends around to help. Usually they are served as an appetiser or snack, but seriously, if you're going to go to the effort of making them, it's worthwhile to make an entire meal of them. No one will complain.

Remember to get a packet or two of wrappers. Wonton, jiaozi or gyoza.

The filling:

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon sherry or sake or mirin

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 cup or 50g of finely shredded and chopped chinese cabbage

6 spring onions, white and green parts chopped fine

3/4 cup or 50g finely chopped tempeh

3/4 cup finely chopped shitake mushrooms - equivalent to 20g dried shitake mushrooms that need to be rehydrated for 30mins and squeezed mostly dry or 80g of already rehydrated shitake mushrooms that have been squeezed mostly dry.

If you are feeling lazy, the ingredients can be put in a blender together. This is much quicker than chopping everything up fine, but the final texture is not as good and you end up with less gyoza (about 30 instead of 38).

Mix all the ingredients together very well. You don't want any clumps of ginger or salt! It's easiest if the ingredients are put in a bowl one by one in the order given and mixed thoroughly after every addition.

Now for some photos. This part is quite simple, just tricky to explain in words only.

It's quickest to work in batches. I can fit about a dozen into my pan, so that's how many I prepare at once.

Take your plain gyoza wrapper...

and take a rounded teaspoon of filling...

and place the filling on one half of the wrapper, leaving a border around the edge. Do not overfill!

Dip your fingers in water...

and wet all around the edges of the wrapper. This is so it will stick together when folded in half.

Now fold the empty half over the filling...

and press down in the middle...

and all around the edges. Done! Then repeat for all of them.

Now for the cooking. It will need to be done in batches according to how many you can fit in your frypan.

So, put enough sesame or peanut oil in the bottom of your frypan to prevent the gyoza from sticking.

When the pan is HOT place the gyoza in the pan and wriggle them about to help stop them sticking.

Fry until golden on one side.

Then throw 1/3 cup or 80ml water into the pan to steam them. Immediately put a lid on the pan.

Leave them for 3 minutes - time it.

Remove lid and remove tasty gyoza to a plate to be scoffed.

Serve with dipping sauce. Hoisin or sweet chilli or soy sauce or chilli sauce all work well. So does this one:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon mirin

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 spring onion, white part only finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chilli paste to taste

Mix all the ingredients in the dipping bowl.

This recipe makes 38 gyoza. Which is a light meal for 2 or a decent meal for 1.

+++

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.

+++