What's Cooking EDF? #4

[BK_]

No, but I just checked out the description and reviews and it sounds like exactly what I was looking for. I think I'm going to get it this weekend.

Last week I bought The Improvisational Chef and I like it alot so far.

[turnipmonster]

just ordered fresh direct for the first time, they seem to have great selection in some areas and very limited in others. any other nycers have good/bad things to say about fresh direct?

[BK_]

I order from fresh direct on a pretty regular basis. I have found that it isnt any more expensive (and often cheaper) than a nyc grocery store or things like paper towels, canned goods, spices, soap, etc. Even sharon's sorbet, which you can find for 2.50 each on fresh direct versus 3 dollars plus at a normal grocery store Plus you don't have to worry about carrying those large items back to your apartment.

I generally don't get meat, chicken, fish, veggies, or fruit from fresh direct because it isn't really any cheaper and I would prefer to hand pick these sorts of products. But for anything where consistancy doesn't fluctate alot I would rather just get it delivered.

[Dids]

A few that I'm pretty proud of as of late:

Steak and Blue Cheese Flatbread



Orange Ginger Chicken



Chicken Breast in Artichoke Cream Sauce

[tshort]

Dids,

Those all look awesome. Would you want to provide some prep details for those?

Especially the chicken dishes.

[nuSFwck]

BK,

This is a pretty cool site to start clicking around on:

http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/

[guids]

dids, recipe for artichoke cream sauce pls.

[secretprankster]

Dids,

Avg. time that it takes you to prep each photo for EDF?

[Dids]

Phot prep is short. It's basically "crop, adjust levels, adjust contrast". Maybe 5 minutes. The biggest key is that I work flashless, which keeps from washing out a lot of color. Then you use the levels function to bring back some light, and the contrast to make everything look sexy.

The orange ginger chicken was just marinated in orange juice concentrate and dice ginger for a bit and then grilled. It was topped with a sauce made with the concentrage, balsamic and (very little bit of) apple cider vinegar, honey, ginger, and a splash of seseame oil.

Here's what went into the artichoke sauce (from my blog)

-took canned artichoke hearts and rinsed and drained them
-diced and sweated shallot and onion and some fresh thyme
-added chicken stock to the pan
-added the artichoke hearts, more thyme and then some cream
-let that reduce by about 60% while added more salt, pepper and thyme

[slamdunkpro]

Crab Towers with Avocado & Gazpacho Salsa