FOOD CHALLENGE | April | Pasta

Several days late, here we are.  The real Pasta post.

In case you aren't aware, I'm participating in a Food Styling creative project with a group of photographers around the country who are interesting in learning about food photography, just like me. In fact, we've named our group:  The Inspired Plate.   Every month of 2012 we have a difference theme to photograph, and this month is Pasta.  I lovelovelove pasta, so I was very excited for this month's challenge.  However, I've tried pasta before with my Capellini Pomodoro post and my photos are evidence:  photographing pasta well is harder than it looks.

I've had a family favorite recipe on my "blog this someday" list for a long, long time and this was just the nudge I needed to make it real.  Without further ado, here is Guy Fieri's Tequila Turkey Fettucini.

Back in my previous life (before kids), the Food Network was a big part of my life.  I watched both the first and second seasons of FN's The Next Food Network Star.  In one of the second season episodes in 2006, we watched Guy prepare this dish and could not wait to try it out.  It looked simple but utterly delicious.  And dude. It was, and it still is.  It became the dish that Shawn requested for any special occasion.  The recipe has almost all of my favorite foods:  cilantro, lemon, lime, real parmesan, cilantro, pasta, tomato, cream, cilantro... oh and did I mention, cilantro?



Now, of course, this is me we're dealing with and because of that, I tweak the recipe.  Rarely do I make things to the recipe, exactly.  So my changes....  we don't drink alcohol, so instead of tequila, I use lime juice to deglaze my pan.  Dude, I love lime.  Also, my favorite way to do the turkey is to use a turkey tenderloin.  I sear my tenderloin in the pan and get it nice and brown on the outside (see my photos??). I put it in the oven to finish cooking in a separate pan and then use those drippings in the original pan to cook the vegetables.  Much more flavor this way (but the sauce has a more brown tone to it).  I use way more jalapeno that is suggested and probably less onion.  And then... I stinking forgot the tomatoes for my photos!!!!  It is NOT the same without the tomatoes.  But I realized too late for these images. You'll have to forgive me.  But please, if you make it, don't omit the fresh tomatoes at the end.




I love this recipe because it is with fresh ingredients.  It is a cream sauce, but not from a jar with all those synthetic additional ingredients.  It uses turkey which is a very underutilized meat in my opinion, and throws some variety into our family meals.  It is truly simple, but oh so delicious.

I learned a lot about photographing pasta for this challenge.  For the photograph, you really need to prepare the dish differently than you would for your family.  To arrange pasta, you must use your hands and you will be a mess if it involves sauce:  this is okay.  I wish I'd used a slightly larger bowl - mine is really very small and to show the turkey, garnish AND pasta.... well, I wish more pasta were showing.  And I didn't even have to worry about the tomatoes since I forgot them.  And lastly, every time I shoot one of these food images, I'm utterly shocked at the aperture required.  I'm so used to shooting a f2.0 or less for my lifestyle images of my kids.... but I'm shooting these food images at f6 and sometimes f8.  That is just foreign to me!



Please take a moment to visit the rest of my awesome comrades in my Food Styling Challenge Circle.  Next up is Kim Kelly | San Diego CA | Food and Travel writer.  One of my favorite things about Kim is that she loves words, just like I do.  A visit to her blog blesses you with fabulous food images, but words that warm your heart as well.


I shot these with my D90 &  Nikon 85mm f1.8.