Big Dream Taste - Peach and Apricot

Loic brought four luscious ripe peaches home, from the man who has the good ones. He thinks it's a waste to do anything with them but eat them plain. I agree that plain they are wonderful, but I also believe that there is something to be said for the application of technique to Mother Nature's perfection.

I didn't make much ado as I quickly grabbed two of the peaches in passing, pulled off their skin, and cut them into pieces into a sauce pan. I heated them up with a little sugar, and they gave off lots of good liquid. I brought that up to to a boil and let it roll for about 3 minutes, and pureed what chunks were left into the syrup. I let it cool off heat for a moment, divided a super fresh egg, and beat the yolk into the hot syrup, making a quick custard. The remaining white was beaten until stiff peaks formed, and I folded them gently together. The mousse went into the freezer. It scooped quite nicely once it was frozen. The perfect peaches that melted on our tongues in mousse form were even better, so refreshing on that hot summer evening.

Something special happened when it was paired with an apricot macaron. The two flavors reverberated against one another and hit us again, haunting us like a big dream.

That big dream taste in certain combinations is always something I carefully note in my kitchen notebook because I can go back, revisit, and experiment in other ways with it. Sometimes we get the big dream with wine pairings, sometimes with herbs and certain meats or fish, sometimes with combinations of fruits. Big dream flavor combinations are special, especially when they are as simple as these two similar fruits. It is like a harmonious echo, reinforcement by repetition, but with just that much of a shift to make a natural spiral that turns and then turns back on itself. The pleasure multiplies within this simple system. The sensations engage your mind, making you understand something. Churn something. Something big.