donna hay challenge

So I recently stumbled across this, over at Jungle Frog Blog: a monthly challenge to replicate a recipe, style & shoot featured in one of Donna Hay's magazines.  I am obsessed with Mrs. Hay's work, aka she is one of the primary reasons/inspirations for my 

"AHA! I love to photograph food the most.  Oh, and I also love to cook and have such a keen interest in styling...so why not do them all!" 

{or die trying.}

{just kidding}

 Needless to say, I was thrilled to have found this challenge, and that I made it just in time for the end of month deadline.  The original image [hi-res] and recipe found here.

Original image, copyright & courtesy of the amazingly talented Chris Court

Inevitably, being my hustling-twenty-something-BoBo-self, my M.O. is to make do with what I have.... not only because I have to ball on a budget, but also because I like to take stands: 

We {ie [young]Americans} like to believe that we never have enough; we always need more more more.  We never seem to be satisfied-- nothing is ever this enough or that enough because we have forgotten and {sadly} do not qualify the skill, grace, and creativity of making something out of nothing, a priority or commendable way of being.  Same with the apparent lack of appreciation to practice re-interpretation of generations past....

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With that banter out of the way, now on to my cook/style/shoot/{eat} experience...

It is a very simple recipe, quite delectable, and made with basics most everyone already has in the pantry.  I made some minor changes, simply because I was too lazy to go to the store and didn't want to spend a few extra bones on specific items just for this {no offense, Donna}: 

I used dried red chilis instead of fresh, cilantro instead of flat leave parsley, white wine vinegar instead of red, feta cheese instead of ricotta... I figured all of my replacements looked the same as the original ingredients, still making it acceptable to partake in the affair.

Then I realized that we're still eating on our fancy Chinet dinnerware...  So I'd have to use one of the two real {last weekend's garage sale extravaganza} bowls we have to style the salad, neither of which are white {or shaped, for that matter} like the one in the original image.

Last three images copyright of Kate LeSueur

Oh, and I added capers (after shooting)... just because they're in my fridge.  And I generally want capers on everything.

A reason why I enjoy Mrs. Hay's work, style and mission {other than the incredible styling and photography}, is that she really does keep things simple; she breaks the paradigm that cooking and eating delicious meals are solely a result of recipes & ingredients being fancy, complicated, arduous, labor of love aggravation, etc.  Chances are, the best and tastiest repast in which we indulge are made with fewer ingredients, and the least amount of stress...

 

Which brings me to my next stand:

It's about time you quit measuring things too carefully and taking recipes too seriously.

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