Peaches are available year-round, yet we all know that the season for the most luscious fruit is in the summer. But did you know that the deep red blushing color of the skin occurs only on the side facing the sun?
Juicy, aromatic, sweet peaches make a delightful chilled soup. However this peach soup is even more intriguing with notes of exotic saffron, tart apple, and captivating vanilla. The addition of cayenne pepper adds another layer of complexity. And the texture is just what you would expect from peaches & cream – it’s velvety smooth and lush thanks to the efficiency of a high-performance blender (like Vitamix).
Joyeux Anniversaire Julia Child! Today would have been Julia’s 110th birthday. It has been an honor, a passion, and a tradition to celebrate her birthday on Taste With The Eyes ever since I started this blog in 2007.
This year, we are watching a super-charming episode of the cooking show Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home “IT’S SALMON DAY!” where they go on to prepare a half-dozen salmon dishes together.
Here we are going to spotlight their gravlax presentations from the show and from their cookbook. Julia calls hers “Quick Gravlax” and Jacques calls his “Instant Gravlax.” Both different and both fabulous.
Screen Shot: Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
The television series was the inspiration for the cookbook of the same name. In both, one can sense the pleasure the two have cooking together, tasting, exchanging ideas, joshing with each other, and raising a glass to savor the fruits of their labor.
In this one episode Julia gives Jacques a hard time about using black pepper instead of white pepper in a light colored dish…and he gives it right back.
Jacques asks Julia to add salt and pepper to the salmon tartare they are making together.
“Would you rather have black or white pepper?” teases Julia.
“Black, black without any question,” says Jacques.
“You like speckled food,” declares Julia.
“I do. I also like taste in the food and the black pepper has more taste than the white one,” retorts Jacques.
Again and again they demonstrate that cooking is endlessly fascinating and challenging, and while ultimately personal, it is a joy to be shared!
There are millions of recipes with the combination of spinach, cheese, and eggs – recipes from wildly different cultures including the Italian frittata, Greek spanakopita, Syrian jibn, French quiche, and so many more…
So why cook this one? Well, it’s easy and inexpensive! It’s crust-free, heavy on the vegetable and light on the eggs & cheese. It’s low-carb, gluten-free, vegetarian. And really quite tasty! A simple salad on the side is all it takes to make a fantastic brunch dish. Or slice it into cubes and serve it as part of a brunch buffet.
Originally listed on the menu as Poulet Reine Elizabeth, Coronation Chicken as it is now known, was created for Her Majesty’s guests at the 1953 Coronation Luncheon of Queen Elizabeth II by Chef Rosemary Hume of The Cordon Bleu Cookery School, London.
In honor of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we are recreating Poulet Reine Elizabeth. It was described back then as cold chicken, boned and coated in curried cream sauce. The delicately seasoned chicken was proclaimed a huge success at the luncheon.
The traditional recipe had subtle wine and herb flavors with a creamy pale pink color, unlike modern versions that are mostly bright yellow and often include such ingredients as golden raisins, grapes, celery, almonds, mango chutney, and cilantro. Most notably, Chef Hume’s 1950s recipe contained a good dollop of fresh whipped cream, whereas today’s cooks often substitute yogurt or crème fraîche.
The following cold curried chicken recipe closely resembles that original one, served at the Coronation Day banquet to three hundred fifty people in the Great Hall of Westminster School. It is plated on my newly acquired Royal Staffordshire English Ironstone vintage dinnerware.
“No one really knows how the game is played/
The art of the trade/
How the sausage gets made/
We just assume that it happens”
from Hamilton the Musical
A picture of my Boston Terrier “Oscar Goodman” posted on Facebook while he was hanging out in the pantry evoked some cute comments and questions about my Las Vegas kitchen… so I decided to share the whole enchilada here on Taste With The Eyes.
My house was built in 2018 on what, not so long ago, was a piece of dirt in the Mojave Desert. Now it is a wonderful thriving community called Inspirada, one of the top-rated master-planned communities in the country. As a bonus, Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area is an easy walk from my front door. And The Strip is a mere 21 minute drive away… It’s the best of all worlds.
