Chicken, ginger & lemon stirfry

Chicken, lemon and ginger stirfry

After a long and lazy morning I had to go to the studio as I was having a workshop to give. I don’t do a lot of workshop but every once in a while I have a workshop on how to take photos of cakes. I know it sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it? But it’s one of those things that just came into being by a spontaneous action and have let a life of it’s own from there on. Obviously the main customers are people that love to bake cake and I am talking serious cakes here; weddingscakes, but also beautifully decorated cupcakes or whatever cake you can think of. For some it’s a hobby for others it’s a profession. But what they all want is to take better photos. Keep in mind that most people are having point and shoot camera’s and other then the button where to turn it on, they really have no clue on how the thing works.

For me that is the fun part and also sometimes the frustrating part. There is a lot of terms in photography such as shutterspeed, iso or aperture that have become almost second nature to me. But I am now talking to people who look at me as if I’m speaking Russian all of a sudden.. I usually do a very short bit of theory (you have to know where to find the buttons after all) and then we start by actually doing it. Which is usually the part where something clicks and they start to understand what I am talking about. And honestly I keep it simple; daylight only and some basic reflectionmaterial and the use of exposure compensation. Works miracles everytime!

Anyways…when I got home I felt like making something fairly simple and quick, so I picked another recipe from Donna Hay Magazine; the chicken with ginger and lemon. Ofcourse I forgot to get myself some veggies and stores were closed by the time I figured out I was veggie-less, so hence no vegetables here… I think this is definitely a dish with potential but the basic version was to salty for my taste. Although part of that could be due to the fact that I had to recalcute the qtys from four to one and I have been known to not really follow the recipe guidelines here, so maybe it was me. But the oystersauce that was in it, is quite salty, add chickenstock to that and well… overall too much salt. But as I said definitely a great base recipe which will be good with lots of other things.

Catch of the day

Now I thought it would be fun to share the photo that I received last night of one of the fishes that the guys have caught in Norway. I did tell you that the previous two fishing trips (in France) they didn’t catch a thing right? Well, it seems that this trip is certainly making up for that, because last night alone they caught 21 fishes!!! Wow…. This poor thing is one of them… Not sure what it is, except big..

It sounds like they’re having a great time and that good. I hate it when they come home unhappy… What’s the fun in that right?

So here is over to the recipe for the chicken:

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

2 skinless chicken filets, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 lemon, sliced

4 cm ginger, grated or minced

2 gloves or garlic, minced

1/4 cup (60 ml) oyster sauce

1/4 cup (60 ml) chicken broth

1/2 cup of Thai basil leaves

Heat a wok or large non-stick frying pan over high heat until hot. Add the oil and heat until just smoking. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and lemon slices and cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add the oystersauce and chicken stock and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.

Remove from the heat and add basil to serve. Serves 4.