A pie adventure with Chelsea...

Chelsea and I share a mutual love for two things: dancing and food.
We met a few weeks back at a place here in Nashville that we both like to go dancing at regularly. We chatted for a bit and I learned that she was a chef who had just recently moved back to the city from San Francisco, CA. I reached out to her not long after we met asking if she'd want to get together and teach me some cooking tricks. We decided on a day and that we'd bake a couple of pies. It turned out to be such a lovely time filled with good conversation, a decent amount of laughter, and of course… delicious PIE!

Since I've moved down here I have been getting into taking photos while I cook. It's been mostly with my iPhone, but for this day I broke out the big camera. The following photos are what I captured during our pie making adventure. I hope it displays well how much fun we had, and the joy I take from both making and photographing food!

A simple dinner creation.

Cooking is something that I've always enjoyed, but lately I learned how much more fun it is for me if I can cook something that is delicious AND pretty enough to photograph. The photos below are of a simple vegetable recipe I made up for dinner one night. In case you're interested in trying it I'll include the ingredients and how I did it below.





(Because I love to listen to foreign music when I cook...)



Ingredients:
one small eggplant
one small zucchini
one medium, thinly sliced tomato
a garlic clove
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups of shredded (I used Dubliner) cheese of your choice
a few leaves of basil
1 cup of flour seasoned with salt + pepper in a bowl
a bowl of water
olive oil

Directions:
Preheat over to 300 degrees.
Peel the eggplant and slice it into half inch pieces. Thoroughly wet slices in the bowl of water, then dip into flour mixture and lay on a greased cookie sheet individually. Proceed by cutting the zucchini the same and then lay on top of the eggplant. Drip a bit of oil on top and put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until it browns slightly. While that's baking, mince the garlic and sauté it with the onions until it's nearly done, adding the mushrooms at the end so they aren't over cooked.
Take the cookie sheet out of the over and begin to lay a slice of tomato on top of your eggplant + zucchini patties. Next, sprinkle your shredded cheese on top. Put it in the over again for about five more minutes or until the cheese melts. When it's done, take it out of the over and transfer to a plate, put the sautéed mix over the top of the patties and garnish with a leaf or two of basil.


Bon appétit!