I was looking through some images I shot for fun with food stylist Jenny Park. She did this beautiful recipe of stuffed shells. It seemed really simple and came out so pretty. Cooked large pasta shells, stuffed with whatever you want then baked.  Yum.

Here is an interesting recipe I found on Martha Stewart.com. It has such pretty presentation that I had to try it.

Find the recipe here.
And here:

Crispy Potato Roast
Serves 8

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
4 shallots, thickly sliced lengthwise
Coarse salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes (optional)
8 sprigs thyme

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine butter and oil. Brush bottom of a round 9-inch baking dish with some butter mixture. With a sharp knife or mandoline, slice potatoes very thinly crosswise.

2. Arrange potato slices vertically in dish. Wedge shallots throughout. Sprinkle with salt and red-pepper flakes (if using); brush with remaining butter mixture. Bake 1 1/4 hours. Add thyme and bake until potatoes are cooked through with a crisp top, about 35 minutes more.

*Please note that the recipe is the photo is doubled.

This is one more recipe from the shoot I did with Jenny Park. Thanks Jenny so much for sharing these!

Here is another recipe from Jenny Park from out test shoot together. Chilaquilies! Enjoy!

I did a test shoot a couple of days ago with the talented food stylist Jenny Park. We did a kind of Mexican themed buffet with a bunch of dishes. Jenny was kind enough to share some recipes of the food I photographed. One of the dishes we photographed was a beautiful Mexican couscous.

Mexican Couscous

Servings: 3-5

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 chipotle pepper in adobe, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1½ cups couscous
½ cup black beans, drained
½ cup tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/3 cup red onions, minced
¼ cup cilantro, minced
¼ cup cotija cheese for garnish, optional

Directions:

1) In a medium saucepan combine first seven ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil and pour in couscous. Gently stir, cover and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff mixture with a fork and fold in remaining ingredients. Place in refrigerator for at least an hour and serve cold topped with cotija cheese (optional).

Recipe by Jenny Park. Thank so much Jenny!

The best rainy day soup ever. This soup is really easy to make, and is loaded with really great veggies which makes the soup really chunky. I love this soup on a really cold and rainy day. Its a really great comfort food recipe. Yummy Yummy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup chopped onion
5 garlic cloves minced
3 1/2 cups of water
4 teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1 cup cubed red potatoes
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped yellow squash
2 cups half and half
3 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large stock pot melt butter and sauté onions and garlic until tender.
2. Add water and bouillon powder, and bring to a boil.
3. Measure out flour in a separate bowl and add some broth from the other pot and which together.
4. Slowly add the flour mix to the rest of the broth.
5. Add the broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash. You will notice that the water barley covers the veggies, so cover the pot with a top and stir until the veggies are tender.
6. Add the half and half and the cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Don’t let the soup come to a boil, as the cheese will burn.

Serve and enjoy.

Serves about 4 people.

I love a good corn chowder. I especially love making a huge batch of it so I can keep eating it for a week. I love corn everything.

2 tablespoons of butter
some extra virgin olive oil
1 onion diced
4 or 5 or more garlic cloves minced
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2.5 cups of diced or grated carrots
1.5 cups of celery
1/4 cup flour
6 to 8 red potatoes, cubed, not peeled
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 cans of light coconut milk
6 cups of vegetable stock
2 cans of corn ( or fresh corn about 6 ears)

Heat the butter and some olive oil in a soup pot over medium. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, celery, and thyme. Cook until they are soft. Stir in the flour to give everything some body. Now add the vegetable stock and bring it to a boil. Now add the coconut milk and potatoes, and boil until the potatoes are done cooking. Add the corn and season with salt and pepper. Then stir in the parsley, and add some olive oil. I also made some croutons by cutting up some sourdough bread, pouring some olive oil on it and sprinkling some garlic salt over it and putting it in an oven in broil until its done. Its a nice contrast to the textures in the soup.