Herbal Connection

My herbal garden is taking over at the moment and I was in urgent need to either cut it back and feed the compost or come up with some ideas on how to use a glut of herbs. Lemon balm and lemon verbena were the most dominant herbs and needed to be dealt with first.

Lemon balm is a lovely herb but - I think - limited to a few uses; tea comes to mind. But there is only so much tea you can drink. I tried to dry it but it loses a lot of its fragrance. As I was cooking dinner the other day, I thought of a dessert that includes lemon balm. The most quickest was lemon balm sorbet (Darina Allen has a lovely recipe). I left the raw egg white out as I didn't like the idea of it. Made a sugar syrup and infused it with the leaves of the lemon balm. Juice of 3 lemons went in as well and then off to the ice cream machine (no worry if you don't have one, you just needs to freeze it and take it out every hour or so and fork the sorbet up). The result was a very refreshing and soothing sorbet. Not bad at all. While searching for some ideas, I came across a recipe for lemon balm pesto which I will try next. So watch this space.

Lemon Verbena is one of my favourite herbs as the fragrance of it is so soothing, fresh, calming and is simply the essence of Summer. While my first verbena bush died a frosty death last year, this one is strong and growing as much as the lemon balm. You can eat the leaves uncooked as the taste is very bitter but infuse it in cream and you have the most aromatic smell going through your kitchen. It was my neighbours anniversary at the weekend and I wanted to give them some homemade chocolates. I had already finished a batch of cinnamon truffles but wanted to use the lemon verbena. So, brought some cream to the boil and added a handful of lemon verbena leaves. Left it to infuse for 15-20 mins, returned the cream to a boil and strained the cream into a bowl with white chocolate. Stirred until everything was combined and poured the cooled mixture in my prepared chocolate moulds. The result was a creamy fragrant truffle that - at least I thought so - was the essence of elegance. For more ideas and recipes - click here

My next herbal project is a variety of herbal oils and of course the lemon balm pesto.

How to Become a Food Stylist

My good friend Dianne is a first class food stylist (you can see her work in Easy Food) and I was wondering, how does one become a food stylist...... easy, you need to know how.

Food stylists are often the unsung heroes of the culinary world. They're the ones who make the dishes look irresistible in menus and on television. A good stylist can turn a single scoop of ice cream into a brilliant work of art. You don't need a degree. Most stylists are trained chef who prefer a career in the TV or media business.

1. Know your way around the kitchen. If you want to become a food stylist, you don't need a formal degree, but it certainly doesn't hurt if you do. Many people who graduate from culinary school choose food styling as a career. Some culinary schools offer styling classes to get you prepared for real-life situations. A love of baking and cooking is a major plus in this field.

2. Step 2

   Learn from the best. Most people who become food stylists start off assisting other stylists. This is a great way to get a feel for the industry and to learn invaluable tricks of the trade. A few years of assistant work can open all sorts of doors for you down the road.

3. Step 3

   Be a team player. A food stylist often has to be the go-between for several key individuals. Photographers, prop guys, directors and actors may all give you directions at the same time, so you need to know how to prioritize.

4. Step 4

   Be flexible. It often takes time to break into the market and become a food stylist, so it's important to be as flexible as possible. Do whatever work comes your way, and be willing to go where the work is.

Here are some links with more information:

• http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-i-become-a-food-stylist.htm
• http://www.helium.com/items/1367188-how-can-i-become-a-food-stylist-what-is-a-food-stylist-how-much-money-do-food-stylist-make
• http://www.howtodothings.com/careers/how-to-become-a-food-stylist