Great Food Photos: Valentina Solfrini

The great thing about the internet/social media is the ability to bring your own voice to the world. I love going through works by photographers that don't live in places I've been to. I love to travel but honestly, I doubt I'll be able to make it to every corner of the world and to catch a glimpse of lets say Via Fratta in Italy is quite amazing. Valentina Solfrini's photos are very intimate and inviting and homey. Even though NYC is practically the opposite of where she lives, it makes me feel happy that I get to see moments of her life in Italy and a chance to imagine what life could be like if I move to the Italian countryside. This is definitely making me want to work extra hard to save up and travel.

Q. Can you tell me what you’re trying to capture when you take your food photos? A. I try to capture moods, colors, textures and feelings that I feel are fine-tuned to my soul. Before I try to make the food look delicious, or even bother with composition, I always try to 'feel' the picture and see it in colors and lights that feel the closest to my heart. My aim is to take pictures as I was inviting you over for dinner, and be transported in a little corner of a different world where you could sit back and contemplate the light. I want to photograph a whole experience - not only food. I am always the happiest when people say 'Your pictures make me want to jump right into them!'

Q. Have you always been interested in photography? A. I have, kind of - I remember picking up my first camera when I was 11. It was an old Ricoh from the '70s, and I started playing around with film. Ever since then, I always made sure I had a camera to use. It was always seen as a waste of time by everyone around me, as my field of focus was illustration at first. My passion for photography only exploded less than two years ago, when I realized that it was a much better way for me to express my feelings and speak my mind.

Q. Has going from New York to Italy changed your point of view in photography and your creativity? A. I do not think so. If anything, every move I make helps me develop my creative process further. Seeing new things is one of the best ways to grow and, even though I much preferred the vibe in NYC, I do not want my surroundings to have anything to do with my photography. As long as I have a camera and some food to shoot, I can do my thing no matter where I am.

Q. What inspires your recipes? A. So many things! At first - just as I do for the photos, I visualize the colors I want to eat. I like variety in my recipes, and I always want to make sure that the food I make feels genuine. Most of the time, I develop based on color and textures in my head.

I love to look at old magazines, especially some my grandparents owned from some 20 years ago, and re-interpret the recipes and modernize them. That aside, Pinterest and magazines are a major source of inspiration.

Q. Any food photography heroes? If not any photography heroes? A. One of my first and most important sources of inspiration comes from the work made by a Swedish company called House of Radon on the blog 'Now you're Cooking'. I am always stunned by their work.

This aside, some of my favorite shoots come from photographers that focus on travel. Cole Rise is one of my favorites. My current photography hero is probably Hideaki Hamada. I love how he can freeze into film such simple, luminous moments of everyday life.

Q. Best meal you had in 2014 so far? A. Oh, this is such an unfair question. 2014 has been the year of the best meals of my life. The Asian burger I had in Vegas, or the Dim Sum at the Saveur event…nothing tasted as good as the hot, yet refreshing bowl of Korean Bibimbap that me and my travel buddies shared in a tiny restaurant in LA's Koreatown, after a long drive through the desert.

But the highlight of this year has been an home cooked meal by my mom, that I had the luck to share with a very special person. It was a seafood feast - seafood tagliolini, and two delicious, colorful salad. I saw the eyes of my friend light up, and as we sat there it felt like there was every possible good feeling in that bowl of pasta. These two food moments made my heart swell with joy like never before.

All photos courtesy from Valentina Solfrini of Hortus Cuisine.

Tattoo Project: Lila

Current occupation: A cheesemonger as well as a line cook and kitchen manager.

What made you decide to get your first tattoo? I'm not sure what made me get my first tattoo. Everyone except my mother has tattoos, and a lot of them at that. So for me it was just a matter of thinking (but not too hard) of the right one. I was 18 and had just gotten back from a year of living in Israel before college. My older brother came with me.

How many tattoos do you have? 11 (the 11th one being a full back piece)

Any special tattoos or ones that are more memorable? All of my tattoos are special. My first one was definitely the most thought out/planned. But all of them either have a meaning or at least a good story. My favorite one is the most simple: it's my dog's name written across the top of my left hand. I had gone through a bad break-up and had to pass off my dog to my brother while I couch surfed and looked for an apartment. My pup and I had lived together for 7 years at that point and I didn't know when I would see her next. So besides getting much too drunk every night following that break-up, I also got my dog's name tattooed. I went through a lot during that break up but giving her up seemed like the biggest sacrifice.

My favorite meal in 2014: Birthday dinner. March 7th at Roberta's. In addition to knowing much of the staff there, my boyfriend's roommate and good friend is also the GM. It was just the two of us for dinner on a Friday night. They didn't even give us a menu. The plates just kept coming out. And wine. And cocktails. When we asked for the bill they just shook their heads and sent us to the bar for more drinks. It was incredibly generous and fucking delicious. I still dream about that bowl of straciatella and sourdough bread. Even though we went to the bodega and got bags of Haribo gummy colas afterward.

A Sort Of Bouillabaisse

Couple weeks ago, I was at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket. I went there looking for fruits but left with a heavy bag of fish heads. I couldn't help it, they were free! Such an impulse thing to do. As I was walking back to my apartment, I kept going through a list of things I can do with the fish heads. Though really, the only thing to do with fish heads is to make stock. When I got back to my apartment and finally saw what was in the bag, I freaked out a little. I didn't think I would react this way. Seeing two lifeless heads with their bones and fins and tails still attached, kind of grossed me out. But there was stock to be made! I grabbed the big stock pot available and dumped the heads in. After cooking the fish heads with few carrots, I ended up with 2.5 quartz of fish stock.

Okay, another question popped into my head, what to do with all this fish stock?

Thanks to Camille Becerra, she gave me the idea to make bouillabaisse.

Traditionally a bouillabaisse is made with many types of fish and is tomato based. Can the dish I made be called bouillabaisse? Probably not. When I was picking up ingredients, I totally forgot to get tomatoes. Well that and also I only bought 1 type of fish, perch. I really need to write down what I need to buy. Like just the other day when I walked into CVS for toothpaste, medicine, tissue, and paper towels. I walked out with everything except the toothpaste. Anyways, we can call this a "sort of" bouillabaisse or maybe just a plain ole seafood stew.

Serves 3-4

Dozen clams Dozen shrimp 1/2 lb perch (or whatever fish you like) 4 medium sized potatoes 2 tablespoon miso paste 1 onion Few cloves of garlic Peas Salt + pepper Fish stock

Fish stock Put bones from 2 fish into a large pot, along with few carrots and couple daikons. I used already peeled frozen shrimp for the seafood stew or else I would've added the shells from the shrimp into the pot as well. Add enough water to cover everything. Turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Once the water starts to boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 30mins or so. After that, strain the liquid. You can freeze whatever you're not using for later.

Fish stew Add oil to a tall pan or pot or Dutch oven. Throw in diced onion and garlic and cook till fragrant, then add the diced potatoes. Saute for about 15mins and add in a quart of the fish stock. Bring it to a boil and lower the heat to let it simmer for another 15mins or until the potatoes are soft.

Stir in the miso paste to dissolve. Add the shrimp, fish, and clams and cover the pot. Leave the lid on for 5mins before checking if all the clams have opened their shell. Some of them may still be closed. If so, put the lid back on for another minute or 2. Add more fish stock if you want more liquid in the stew. Season to taste.

Turn off the heat. Add creme friache or heavy cream if you like and a handful of peas. Give the stew a good stir. Serve it with slices of thick toasty bread.

Scrambled Eggs With Shrimp

I love eggs. I go through a dozen a week. Poached, fried, sunny side up, over easy, scrambled, hard boiled, soft boiled, omelettes, and steamed (think chawanmushi). One of my favorite dishes to get at Chinese restaurants is the scrambled eggs with shrimp.

When I was still living in Hong Kong (oh.....pre-1985), every time my family got take-outs there would always be scrambled eggs with shrimp. Besides the baked pork chop rice, the scrambled eggs with shrimp was probably my favorite thing to eat. It's a Cantonese classic dish and thankfully I can get some really tasty ones here in NY (and in LA). Ever since I learned how to cook for myself, I've been trying to replicate this dish but I can never get it right (texture and taste wise). My mom said the cooks add MSG to the dish and obviously uses a wok.

Check out my recipe for scrambled eggs with shrimp and peas. I use my mom's method of cooking eggs. Instead of using salt, she adds few squirts of Maggi seasoning and undercooks it so it doesn't dry out.

Serves 1

2 eggs 8 shrimp (Cause it's a lucky number?) Handful of peas (Or no peas if you hate peas) Salt and pepper Maggi seasoning (No Maggi? Try a splash of soy sauce)

Put a frying pan on medium flames and add oil to the pan. When the oil and pan are hot, add in the shrimp. While the pieces of shrimp are frying, crack 2 eggs into a bowl, add few dashes of the maggie seasoning and pepper. Beat and whisk the eggs till none of the egg whites are visible.

When the pieces of shrimp are pink, throw in the peas. Season with salt and pepper. Give the shrimp and peas a good stir and cook for another 30seconds. If the pan is a little dry, add some more oil.

Pour in the egg and let it sit on the pan for a moment. Let the egg set around the edge a bit before stirring it. Stir and turn the egg mixture until it's done but still a little bit runny. You want to leave it runny cause it'll keep cooking itself afterwards. You don't want dry scrambled eggs.

Other variations: My mom usually cooks eggs with just slices of plain onions or whitebait or yellow chives. They are all delicious.

Funny fact: When I was around 7, almost every morning my mom would make scrambled eggs over toast for me for breakfast before going to school. I'm not sure why but I remember hating it. BUT, when she makes it over the weekend, I couldn't get enough of it. Weird.