Crème Brulée: "Burnt Cream"

Another classic french English dessert that is always a crowd pleaser especially when your guests get to flambé it themselves. 

The full Mark Bitmann recipe can be found here or below: 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy or light cream, or half-and-half
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar, more for topping

Directions:

• 1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a saucepan, combine cream and vanilla bean and cook over low heat just until hot. Let sit for a few minutes, then discard vanilla bean. (If using vanilla extract, add it now.)
• 2. In a bowl, beat yolks and sugar together until light. Stir about a quarter of the cream into this mixture, then pour sugar-egg mixture into cream and stir. Pour into four 6-ounce ramekins and place ramekins in a baking dish; fill dish with boiling water halfway up the sides of the dishes. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until centers are barely set. Cool. Ramekins can be wrapped tightly and refrigerated for a couple of days.
• 3. When ready to serve, top each custard with about a teaspoon of sugar in a thin layer. Place ramekins in a broiler 2 to 3 inches from heat source. Turn on broiler. Cook until sugar melts and browns or even blackens a bit, about 5 minutes. Serve within two hours.

Crispy sugary crust, smooth sweet cream with a touch of tartness from strawberries and blueberries.

Happy Flambéing!

*Edit! 

Thanks to Patrick, I have been informed that Crème Brulée is actually an ENGLISH dessert. A fun fact that you can now mention at stuffy dinner parties. ;) 

Thanksgiving Feast 2010

This year we decided to have a semi non-traditional Thanksgiving Feast. In lieu of turkey, we decided to try making dry-aged ribeye steak from Whole Foods. And for the surf with our turf, we got a lobster!

We definitely had the traditional sides of mac and cheese and stuffing.

The Spread.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's get crafty: Crochet Hat

I recently decided that I was going to teach myself how to crochet having coveted after the beautifully designed scarves and hats. I first made a hat with a single crochet stitch for practice, but then graduated myself to this hat. The youtube instructions can be found here and written instructions here.

I believe I used 4 ply yarn and I only had a H crochet needle, but it still worked in my book.

I used my favorite model for this project.

The hat seemed to look like a little sombrero on KK.  Here is what it looks like on a human head.

Family and friends, don't be surprised if these come your way for Christmas! 

Happy crocheting! 

Gadgets: Corn Dog Maker

No recent posts. I got sick and then got lazy, but I have renewed my determination to start cooking again. The Sister sent a nice package in the mail the other day containing our early Christmas present. Inside the box, we found this:

Corn dogs are by far the item that I crave every year during the NC/Texas State Fair so this might fix my random cravings during the rest of the year.  On top of that, this product promises crispy corn dog crust without deep frying... crispy and healthy...what more could I ask for.

We used this recipe instead of the recipe included with the machine. Given the reviews regarding the sizing of hot dogs, we chose the long and thin Nathan's hot dogs and they were perfect!!!

Crispy crust, tender and steamy hot dogs. These are fun little appetizers for children and adults! The reviewers also suggest making mozzarella sticks, jalapeno cheese sticks, and breakfast sausage with pancake batter... as far as I am concerned... the possibilities are endless! *For the vegetarian readers, veggie hot dogs would also work for this.

KK definitely approves ;)

Happy corn dog chomping!

Cold Weather? Hot Pot!

There is nothing that satisfies more in this cold weather than HOT POT. For those who are unfamiliar with hot pot, it basically consists of a broth and any assortment of vegetables, tofu, meat, seafood, etc that you can cook in the broth. Once all the items are sufficiently cook everyone starts grabbing their favorite items and munching away.

The Hubs enjoys dipping his items in a mixture of soy sauce, satay sauce, green onions, and a raw egg. Given my disdain of food poisoning, I include all items except for the egg.

A side of wine always helps ;)

Happy hot potting!

Bone Marrow

This is one that we'll be making in the future for our more adventurous foodie friends since digging for the contents inside bones is not always everyone's favorite appetizer.

However, we found some beef marrow at our local Asian grocery store and decided to give this a try. Simply take the bones and place them upright onto an oven-safe pan. We decided to season these after baking since we weren't sure exactly how much salt to include.

Ingredients:
Beef bones
Salt and pepper to taste
French baguette (sliced and toasted)
Balsamic vinegar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Bake in the oven in an oven-safe pan to catch all the drippings for approximately 15-20 minutes.

3. Toast baguette slices while baking the bones and remove once golden brown.

4. Broil the bones for 2 minutes prior to removing from oven.

5. Remove from oven and let rest a few minutes.

Scoop marrow on to toast, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

YUM! Super rich, protein flavor, but definitely buttery in texture. Probably portion out 1-2 bones per person (for health reasons).

* The marrow in this picture is a pretty pink. You likely want yours to be less pink and more yellow.

Happy eating!

Sugar Cane... sweet!

The other day, The Hubs brought home a sweet treat from our childhood. We both could remember our childhood trips to Taiwan where we chewed on freshly cut sugar cane in 100% humidity. The one that he brought home was probably as long as the ones we used to eat in Taiwan.

It was actually surprisingly easy to strip the outside layer and after chopping into bite-sized pieces we simply just started chewing away to get that the sweet, liquid-y goodness hidden between the fibrous segments.

Of course, KK took quite a liking to this sweet treat as well!

Happy chewing!

Beer Bread

I love that hoppy, barley-ish taste of beer but I can hardly tolerate more than one beer in one sitting. Especially when it takes me so long to drink it that it turns warm before I finish. So the prospect of having a baked product with that aromatic beer flavor was just what I needed.

Ingredients:
3 cups self-rising flour
1 12 fl oz beer
2 tbsp sour cream
8 tbsp sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all of the ingredients until sticky and uniformly mixed.

3. Place the batter into a well-buttered loaf pan.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Stick a wooden skewer or toothpick into the middle of the bread and if no gooeyness comes out, then it's done!

5. Slather with butter when hot (optional).

A little bat in celebration of Halloween!

Happy baking!

It's a Monster Mash!

Some post-Halloween pictures! This year, our little KK, suited up as a crosswalk guard for ghoulish minions.

One of my favorite little dessert dishes for this Halloween party. It really looks like a graveyard in there! 

My contribution to the party was making a brain. It was so incredibly easy, I will definitely be doing it again for next year!  

Ingredients:

1 small sized melon (honeydrew/watermelon)

Directions:

1. With a vegetable peeler, shave off the top layer of the melon to expose the membranes under neath.

2. Use a skewer or a toothpick to draw the various gyri of the brain. Make sure you create a middle crevice to divide the 2 hemispheres. If you'd like to be super nerdy, you can try to replicate the various regions of the brain (i.e., temporal, parietal lobes, cerebellum). 

3. Use a small, sharp paring knife to cut out the various lines that you've just drawn with the toothpick. Make sure you cut deep enough to create dimensionality to the melon. 

Happy belated Halloween!