Luxury Kitchen Gallery

Though aspiring chef Julie Powell struggles within the confines of a tiny apartment galley kitchen, Julia's kitchens are far more spacious and well equipped. Fine Lines stores offer  walk-in kitchen galleries designed for serious home cooks who appreciate exceptional equipment within beautiful surroundings. Sub-Zero, GE Monogram, Thermador and Wolf are all represented in the Fine Lines gallery. We're sure both Julia and Julie would approve.

In anticipation of Julie & Julia, Fine Lines is pleased to offer a quintessential recipe from Julia Child's classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or as Julie says, "MTAFC":

Pipérade
[Open-faced Omelette Garnished with Onions, Peppers, Tomatoes, and Ham]

This is a Basque specialty, and quick to make if the pipérade mixture has been prepared in advance. As the omelette is not folded, and is served in its cooking vessel, it is not a disaster if it sticks a little on the bottom. You may therefore cook the eggs in a low, glazed pottery dish, or a fancy skillet.
For 4 to 6 servings

8 to 12 strips of ham 1/4 inch thick and about 2 by 3 inches across
2 Tb olive oil or butter
An 8- to 9-inch enameled skillet

Brown the ham slices lightly on both sides in hot oil or butter. Set them aside, and reheat just before using them at the end of the recipe.

1/2 cup thinly sliced yellow onions
1/2 cup thinly sliced green or red bell peppers
Salt and pepper to taste

In the same oil or butter in which you browned the ham, cook the onions and peppers slowly, covering the skillet, until they are tender but not browned. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

1/2 clove mashed garlic
Speck of cayenne pepper
2 or 3 firm, ripe, red tomatoes peeled, seeded, juiced and sliced, page 505
Salt and pepper

Stir in the garlic and pepper. Lay the tomatoes over the onions and sprinkle with salt. Cover and cook slowly for 5 minutes. Uncover, raise heat, and a few minutes, shaking the pan occasionally until the juice from the tomatoes has almost entirely evaporated. Season to taste, and reheat just before using. (*) Recipe may be prepared ahead to this point.

1 1/2 Tb olive oil or butter
An 11- to 12-inch serving skillet or shallow, fireproof serving dish
8 to 10 eggs beaten lightly with 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper
A large table fork
2 to 3 Tb minced parsley or mixed fresh green herbs

Heat the oil or butter in the skillet or dish. When very hot, pour in the eggs. Stir rapidly with a fork until the eggs have just set into a creamy mass. Remove from heat and spread over them the hot pipérade, mixing a bit of it delicately into the eggs. Lay the warm ham strips over the pipérade. Sprinkle with the herbs and serve immediately.

Bon appetit!

Gourmet kitchens are made for entertaining. With restaurant quality ranges from Wolf and Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezers and wine storage, cooking for a hungry holiday crowd may not be effortless, but it will be a pleasure.

Fourth of July is the perfect opportunity to put your Fine Lines kitchen to work. Make it easy with do-ahead dishes, plenty of items tagged for the grill and an elegant ice cream dessert. With temperatures soaring, you know you can rely on your Sub-Zero to keep everything chilled until serving time.

Try this Southern classic from Dailey's in downtown Atlanta, a delicious ice cream pie featuring fresh peaches.

Peach and Ice Cream Pie
Hands on time: 30 minutes 
Total time: 4 hours 
Serves: 8

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups (about 4 whole) peeled and sliced peaches, divided
45 vanilla wafers, divided
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions:
In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Chop 2 cups of the peaches into small pieces and stir them into the sugar mixture (reserve remaining 2 cups peaches for the peach sauce, below). Cook the mixture over medium heat about 5 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly but the peaches are still crisp. Remove from heat and cool completely, about 1 hour.

To prepare the crust: In the bowl of a food processor, combine 35 of the vanilla wafers and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and process until fine. Add the melted butter and process until well-combined. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Freeze the crust about 30 minutes.

Allow the vanilla ice cream to sit at room temperature until slightly softened, about 15 minutes. Coarsely crush the remaining 10 vanilla wafers. Place the ice cream in a large bowl and carefully stir in the cooled peach mixture and the coarsely crushed wafers until the ice cream is just swirled in a marble pattern. Pour the filling into the crust, mounding in the center and smoothing the surface, and freeze until hard, at least 3 hours.

To prepare the peach sauce: In a food processor or blender, combine the remaining 2 cups peaches with 1/4 cup sugar. Puree and store in the refrigerator. To prepare the sweetened whipping cream, beat the cream with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar until soft peaks form. Store in the refrigerator.

To serve, drizzle each dessert plate with peach sauce. Place a slice of pie on top of the sauce, then top the pie with whipped cream.

Fine Lines is pleased to offer luxury kitchen appliances. Get out of the heat this weekend and visit our showrooms.