Recipes Soup Cold Soup Chilled Peach Soup with Fresh Goat Cheese 5.0 (2,174) 4 Reviews Chef Jason Franey of Seattle's Canlis makes this sweet and tangy summer soup by marinating fresh peaches overnight with dried apricots, honey, vinegar and olive oil and then pureeing the mixture. Since peaches can vary in flavor, Franey suggests seasoning with vinegar to taste as you puree. Best New Chef 2011: Jason Franey More Cold Soups By Jason Franey Jason Franey F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Chef: Jason Franey Restaurants: Restaurant 1833 (Monterey, CA) Experience: Canlis (Seattle, WA); Campton Place (San Francisco); Eleven Madison Park (NYC) Who taught you how to cook? What is the most important thing you learned from that person? My basic foundation came from working at the Breakers when I was quite young. That’s where I learned the fine dining foundations and banqueting. What was the first dish you ever cooked yourself? And what is the best dish for a neophyte cook to try? The first thing I remember making was when I was in middle school and I baked a streusel. I did it all by myself and surprised my mom when she got home. I judge chefs and myself by how we cook soups. That’s a great thing for a neophyte. A home cook should learn to cook a soup properly: sweating the vegetables and onions and building a great base. That’s the ground-breaking technique. Who is your food mentor? What is the most important thing you learned from him/her? Daniel Humm really molded me into how I’ll cook for the rest of my career. His style is so European, simple but sophisticated at the same time. The flavors were clean; the style was very European; and I just adapted to that. Favorite cookbook of all time? Fredy Giradet’s Recipes from a Master of French Cuisine. It’s timeless and Daniel used to work for him. He’s the godfather of haute cuisine. What's the most important skill you need to be a great cook? Organization is the key to everything. You can’t do anything without being organized. It’s what I teach all my sous chefs: Be organized and think about it before you do it. Is there a culinary skill or type of dish that you wish you were better at? Macarons. I don’t do them often. When I do do them, it’s a disaster. It’s a very hard technique to learn and that’s why I have a pastry chef. What is the best bang-for-the-buck ingredient and how do you use it? Kale. I use it for smoothies. My girlfriend and I make smoothies with banana, kale, a scoop of protein powder and chia seeds. What is your current food obsession? I eat pho twice a week. I love pickles too. Name restaurants you are dying to go to and why. Restaurant de L'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, Switzerland, which used to be Giradet. It’s the closest thing to eating Giradet’s food. I also really want to go to Magnus Nilsson’s Fäviken Magasinet. They’re doing really neat things there. With the woods and the farm to forage and harvest from, they have incredible resources to create new, innovative dishes. Best bang-for-the-buck food trip—where would you go and why? I want to go to Vietnam very badly. I’ve never been there. What do you consider your other talent(s) besides cooking? I like to think I’m a good snowboarder, but I’m really not. I do love it, though. I play racquetball. If you could invent a restaurant for your next (imaginary) project, what would it be? It would be small in scale, very farm to table. I’d love to work on a farm in the middle of nowhere and cook off the land. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s every chef’s dream to grow the food, cook the food, take care of the food and come full circle. If you were facing an emergency and could only take one backpack of supplies, what would you bring, and what would you make? I’m not sure how I would do it, but my vision would be to cook pho. I’d somehow pack beef bones, onions, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, a lot of water and a huge pot. I’d make a big pot of soup for everybody to eat. What ingredient will people be talking about in five years? I think in five years there are going to be so many new techniques for fermenting. Noma has done things with fish that have never been done before. You’re taking rotting food and making it delicious. It’s pretty amazing. What do you eat straight out of the fridge, standing up? What is your favorite snack? I eat pickles that I’ve made myself. I’m doing a lot of fermentation right now. So the easiest ones are dill pickles with cucumbers, but I’m also doing kimchi and sauerkraut. It makes your house stink. Best new store-bought ingredient/product, and why? Herdez Salsa. It’s a canned salsa that’s one of the best you can get, unless you make it yourself. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on July 29, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © Anna Williams Active Time: 20 mins Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins Yield: 4 Ingredients 3 cups sliced peeled peaches (about 4 peaches) ¼ cup finely diced peeled seedless cucumber (plus thin slices for garnish) ¼ cup finely diced yellow bell pepper (plus thin slices for garnish) ¼ cup diced dried apricots 2 tablespoons honey 3 tablespoons crumbled fresh goat cheese (plus more for garnish) ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar (plus more for seasoning) ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (plus more for drizzling) Kosher salt 1 large garlic clove 2 cups diced baguette (1/ inch) Basil leaves (for garnish) Freshly ground black pepper Directions In a bowl, toss the peaches, diced cucumber, yellow pepper and apricots. Add the honey, 3 tablespoons of goat cheese, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Add the garlic. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Discard the garlic. Transfer the contents of the bowl to a blender and puree. Add 1/4 cup of water and puree until very smooth and creamy; add more water if the soup seems too thick. Season with salt and vinegar. Refrigerate the soup until very cold, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the diced bread and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the croutons to paper towels and season with salt. Pour the peach soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the sliced cucumber, sliced bell pepper, goat cheese, croutons and basil. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, season with black pepper and serve. Suggested Pairing Pairing wine with soup can sometimes feel like too much liquid at once, but in this case, a glass of Champagne gives a nice lift to this fruity soup. Pour a refreshing Brut like the NV Henriot Brut Souverain or the NV Gosset Excellence Brut. Rate it Print