dinner with bill

It's always a pleasure to cook for my friend Bill, who loves food and has a hearty appetite. We started with  a salad  of just-harvested arugula, grown from Italian seed and with a piquant pepperiness. I dressed it with a fig vinaigrette, it's slight sweetness a nice counterpoint to the bitter green. Next, curried chicken with peaches, a perfect dish at this time of year with such a bounty of gorgeous peaches. I served it with rice and roasted pepper strips and put out small bowls of chutney and peanuts. Dessert was a plum tart, the glazed plum slices resting on a lemon shortbread crust. With the scent of the herbs growing just outside carried in by a nice breeze it was a perfect evening.