I've definitely heard of 'peaches and cream' before, but 'peaches and earl grey'? Hmm... this a bit of an experiment. The combination arose out of my "Flavour Bible" (by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page). A food bible, literally, with a dictionary of almost every ingredient you can think of, matched with their flavour/ingredient affinities. I use it a lot of the time, but especially when I have a beautiful ingredient I'd like to do something different with - or something unfamiliar to me at least. In any case… lets's see what you think. I have paired my earl grey peaches with a simple raw and vegan vanilla cream that has a base of soaked cashew nuts and coconut. Soaked cashew nuts are often used in raw food for creams, dressings, desserts (a lot of things!), for their neutral flavour. In the shot my cream is quite runny however you will find that by adding coconut oil (as I have done in the recipe), this will make it firmer.
I'd just like to mention that this recipe (with the exception of the peach tree), I shot a few months back, whilst I was still at my parents house at Papamoa beach and before my photography course at Kingsize. It’s interesting revisiting these photos, given that I have a wee bit more knowledge of my camera now. Although that’s not to say that taking pictures is any easier! In any case it’s nice to reflect and recognise progression over these past few months =). I hope you like the pictures and the recipe and have a lovely week! xo
how to:
Prepare the following components of the recipe, and plate for e.g. as I have done above.
peaches in early grey tea
serves 4
- 2 peaches
- 1 cup of organic early grey black tea
Make 2 cups of earl grey tea, according to the given instructions. Leave to cool completely.
Slice peaches and place in shallow bowl. Pour tea over peaches so that they are just covered and leave to marinate for 10 -15 minutes.. Alternatively place peaches and tea mixture in dehydrator for 30 minutes at 42 degrees celsius (105 degrees fahrenheit).
raw & vegan vanilla cream
- 1 cup of cashew nuts soaked in filtered water for a minimum of 2 hours
- 1/2 cup of agave syrup
- 1/2 cup of fresh coconut meat
- 1/4 cup of coconut oil melted
- seeds scraped from 1/2 a vanilla bean
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp filtered water
- 1/4 tsp himalaya mountain salt or sea salt
Blend all ingredients except for the coconut oil, in a high speed blender until completely smooth. When smooth, slowly add coconut oil whilst the blender is still running on a low speed. (Note: you will have quite a lot of cream left over which can be used for different desserts such as a fruit salad topping).
activated walnuts
Soak half a cup of walnuts in filtered water for 8 hours or overnight. Rehydrate in a dehydrator or oven at 42 degrees celsius (105 degrees fahrenheit) until dry.
If you would like the walnuts to take on a caramel flavour, mix the nuts with 1 tsp of maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt before dehydrating.
If you are not fussed about raw food, you could alternativley roast walnuts for a few minutes in the oven.