Peter Gordon‘s “Everyday” cookbook was recently re-published as “Eating Well, Everyday” by Jacqui Small. Peter’s book has the most recipes I cook, out of any of the books on my shelf, and was a particularly great project to work on, as I was given a lot of creative freedom. Peter is great like that. He puts a lot of faith into the people he chooses to work with. One of the things I really enjoy about shooting a cook book, is coming up with the theme for the book. How to bring all the recipes together and break the chapters up with chapter openers and incidentals.
In this case, with “Eating Well, Everyday” we used a lot of props, and I thought it could be fun to try and colour code each chapter, and create a chapter opener, using the props from the dishes that appears in that chapter. Stacking everything up in a simple and beautiful way, creating a natural pause between each chapter of the book. Off course some of the setups were rather time consuming to set up, and quite wobbly, despite their easy and serene look. I like to keep things real and simple, and using these principles in Peter’s “Everyday” book, seemed to work quite well.
Probably the “Everyday” recipe I cook the most out of anything I’ve ever shot! Something as simple as an omelette, you wouldn’t think requires much of a recipe, however this one gives you perfect, and tasty eggs, with the right amount of fluff and umami!
SMOKED SALMON AND GOATS CHEESE OMELETTE
Serves 2
You can use either hot-smoked or cold-smoked salmon, and the goat’s cheese can be
replaced with most other cheeses.
5 eggs
1 handful flat parsley, coarsely chopped
4 tbsp cold water
salt & pepper
2 knobs butter (or 1 tbsp olive oil)
100 g smoked salmon, sliced or flaked
80 g goat’s cheese, crumbled (or your fiavouite cheese)
hot buttered toast, to serve
1. Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add the parsley and the cold water. Season with salt and pepper and use a fork to beat the eggs for barely 4 seconds to break the yolks.
2. Place a 15-24 cm frying pan (ideally non-stick) over medium-high heat.
3. Add half the butter (or oil) and when it begins to sizzle pour in half the eggs. Swirl
it around a bit and use a spoon or spatula to bring the set outer egg into the centre until it all begins to set.
4. Lay half the salmon and half the cheese across the centre and leave for another 5 seconds. Carefully fold one edge over the filling, then gently flip the omelette over. Give it a few more seconds, then slide onto a hot plate while you cook the other one.
5. Serve immediately with hot buttered toast.
Recipe © Peter Gordon
Food styling and props by Grant Allen. Additional props by The Propsdepartment. Photography and styling by Manja Wachsmuth.
More cookbook snippets? How about Vanilla Table or Spice Health Heroes?
