I first attempted to make crème brûlée last spring at St. Mary's. I had Amish cream and organic free-range eggs from the farm, the best of the best as far as ingredients go. I followed the directions in the Joy of Cooking to a "T" and I must say that this is the only time Joy has ever failed me. The recipe said the custard was supposed to be in the oven for half an hour. Two hours later, I still had a liquid in my little mugs/make-shift ramicans (which also served as make-shift wine glasses). I was frustrated and didn't know what I did wrong so I tossed them...Only later to find out that they often need hours in the oven!
A friend I met in Tucson happened to be an expert crème brûlée maker, and so on Saturday we set off to make a successful batch. I don't remeber the exact recipe but it was something resembling the below:
Crème brûlée 4 cups heavy whipping cream 1 vanilla bean, split 6 egg yolks 1/2 C white sugar 1/2 C brown sugar Heat the cream and split vanilla bean in a pot to a light simmer. Mix egg yolks and sugar before slowly mixing in hot cream mixture. Pour custard into ramicans. Place in a boiling water bath in a pan and heat in a 325 degree oven, covered with tin foil for 1 1/2 hours (although I wouldn't trust any time on this, check with a fork after 30-45 minutes. If placed in the custard and comes out clean, it is ready) Then let it chill in the fridge for a few hours. Once chilled, lightly cover the top with qhite sugar and caramelize with a kitchen torch (ours was out of gas, so we put them under the broiler for a minute or two until bubbly). The broiler won't give you a nice brown color, but you will still have the fun little crunch sound!
The crème brûlée was wonderful! It is great topped with berries too :)
Next was th gnocchi. As you may remeber, Rose and I attempted to make gnocchi this past summer. While it ended up delishious, the humidity of DC caused it to take 5 or so extra cups of flour and a few hours of kneading since the dough kept soaking in the moisture from the air! This time I made it in Tucson where the is no humidity and it worked out wonderfully!
Rosemary Gnocchi 4 medium potatoes 1 C flour 1 tsp salt 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped Boil the potatoes until soft (about 45 minutes). Keep the water for later use. Skin the potatoes and mash while hot. Mix in the salt and flour by hand until it becomes a dough. Kned in the fresh rosemary. Roll the dough out into 3/4" strips and cut 1 inch pieces. Boil the gnocchi in the (above) water until they float to the top, about 2 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce!
All I can say is never try to make gnocchi on the east coast during the summer! While the gnocchis tasted great before they were super-dense because all the extra flour. These were very light, fluffy, and delicious!
This was a very successful cooking-filled weekend. I overcame two of my greatest kitchen fears! Now, if only I will try the caramel sauce again...Unlikely since last time I ended up with 2 boxes of sugar down and 4 hours lost. Maybe sometime!
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