A Menu for All Seasons-Summer

A Menu for All Seasons-Summer

'Worth the Journey!' trumpeted the Guide Michelin. Crammed into a dilapidated vintage car driven by her eccentric father, seven-year-old Pascale Beale raced across Europe from one three-star restaurant to another. These world- famous temples of La Haute Cuisine, Pere Bise, Paul Bocuse, La Pyramide, all had a profound effect on her culinary aspirations, and it was only natural that she eventually follow their illustrious chefs' footsteps into the realm of cooking. These gastronomic pilgrimages always left a drizzly London behind and headed south into France and summer. Her new book takes us there too, both in title and spirit. A mouth watering succession of recipes are like so many stops on a favorite road trip, each to be savored along the way, friends and family in tow. With delicious photographs illustrating the tempting menus, you can easily envision yourself pulling up chair at a sunny table and tasting the essence of summer in the meal before you. Pascale's good friend and mentor, the late Julia Child once said, 'You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.' In the pages of A Menu for All Seasons-Summer, you will see that this has become Pascale's motto. Summer: The Newest Menu For All Seasons Cookbook. In her second cookbook, Summer, Montecito resident Pascale Beale-Groom blends the flavors of France, England and California like an artist blends colors to produce something unique and memorable. This cookbook follows Spring, the first in the series. In Summer, Beale-Groom features the local seasonal foods she uses in her Montecito Country Kitchen summer cooking classes. Many ingredients come from our local farmers' markets. What will strike you first about this cookbook is the exquisite beauty of the photos. It's the kind of cookbook you could put on your coffee table. Beale-Groom took many of the photos herself. The inner liner photo of lavender fields in the South of France is from a trip to visit her family homestead. She grew up in England and spent summers in Provence cooking with her family in a 100-year-old farmhouse, feeding additional family and friends who came to visit during the summer. This book will not stay on your coffee table for long. The cover photo alone will send you rushing to the kitchen to try out the recipe. Beale-Groom slices and combines the lucious ripe peaches, sweet heirloom tomatoes and basil shown on the front cover. Then she adds a bit of fig puree, crumbled goat cheese and a pinch of sea salt to make a light, fresh summer salad. Each chapter is designed around a menu with a starter, a main course and a dessert. There is also a special chapter on the cheese course. The chapters include tips on working with special ingredients, personal comments and a bit of history on the origin of the ingredients used in the recipes. Following in the footsteps of her mentor, Julia Child, Beale-Groom provides clear, simple instructions to help even the beginning cook feel confident. Best of all, each chapter begins with a cooking schedule. Producing an exceptional meal and getting to enjoy it yourself always involves some planning ahead and multitasking. Beale-Groom helps you get it all on the table at the right time, cooked to perfection. And then come the best part: visiting with friends over a delicious meal. --Nancy Oster - Coastal Woman Magazine, Spring 2008 Pascale Beale-Groom, proprietor of the Montecito Country Kitchen cooking school and purveyor of finer cooking goodies, is writing her way through a Vivaldi-esque cookbook sequence, and fittingly Summer is just released. Michel Richard of our lost, lamented Citronelle provides the foreword, and while Beale-Groom's straightforword cooking has none of the visual puns Richard indulges, she does have the ability to yoke unique pairings, like a peach and heirloom tomato salad that practically says summer in neon. The book suggests lovely, Provence-inflected menus perfect for Santa Barbara, and even lays out when to make what for those who have trouble with kitchen timing. Beale-Groom will sign copies of the book at Barnes and Noble on Sunday July 27, from 1-3pm. --George Yatchisin - Santa Barbara Independent - July 2008 Summer's Bounty - 'If we slow down to enjoy what we eat, most people would find they would enjoy their day more,' says chef Pascale Beale-Groom, owner of the Montecito Country Kitchen cooking school. Her latest cookbook, 'Summer' (Olive Tree Publishing, $29.95) - the second in a series of four - reflects her kitchen philosophy of seasonal abundance. 'We are surrounded by organic produce' she says. 'Why buy something flown from the other side of the world when you can get the same item from less than 20 miles away?' Taught to cook by a French mother and grandmother, she learned early on that 'freshness is crucial' and that people need to take time to appreciate what they eat. Amoung Beale-Groom's favorite recipes is the simple but lucious peaches and tomato salad.'