Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée

This is my first attempt at Crème Brûlée. I've never made it mostly because I'm not a huge custard eater - being non-compatible with milk and all. But I had leftover chocolate dough from the Lemon Tarts, and this was the other recipe in the book that used chocolate shells, so...

I baked the shells and I'm getting a little better with finessing the dough into the molds without overlap. I also need to use less flour when rolling them out so I don't get the little bubbles in the texture. I got to go to Surfas and buy a torch (whee! more kitchen toys!) to torch the sugary tops. 

The custard came out beautifully and didn't turn into scrambled eggs (I was warned about them doing that). I enjoyed smelling the Tahitian vanilla bean as it cooked too :) I totally forgot to take the shells out of the molds before I poured the filling. Oops. Good thing I buttered the molds well; after they were set I was able to invert them and pop them right out! So far so good. 

Now's when I blow it. I tried to carmelize the top and just totally screwed them up. They melted! And I didn't get a good surface. I think the heat was too low. I did it in two layers of sugars just like the directions said; one layer of sugar, melt. Then the second layer of sugar to bubble and caramelize. Nope. It took way too long and I got burn marks on my edges and unset custard underneath. We ate two anyway (they tasted fine!) and popped two back in the fridge to set overnight. Which wasn't ideal, but it worked. If anyone has any tips on caramelizing I'd be very happy to hear them.

(Recipe from "Book of Tarts" by Maury Rubin)

Biscuit-Topped Chicken Pot Pie

I always forget how long Chicken Pot Pie from scratch actually takes. Just chopping all the vegetables (I like them pretty and square) took me 20 minutes. I did get a roasted chicken from Whole Foods which saved me from having to do that part. I did it in 1.5 hours and since I made the full recipe it lasted us three days so I guess that's okay.

(Recipe from Sunset Magazine)

Mom's Italian Sausage Soup

I love cooking in my Flame Le Creuset dutch oven. It is arguably the most used piece of artillery in my kitchen! The weather was teasingly dropping into a proper fall pattern for a few days and I got all excited and made this soup from my childhood. Then we were right back into indian summer upwards of 85 degrees. Le Sigh.

Mom’s Italian Sausage Soup (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 lbs Italian mild sausage
• EVOO
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 28oz can Italian style pear tomatoes
• 3 14oz cans beef broth
• 1 1/2 C dry red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 T chopped fresh parsley
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 medium zucchini chopped 1/4” thick
• 3 C uncooked bow-tie pasta
• Garlic Bread & Parmesan cheese

1. Heat pan and add EVOO. Remove sausage from casing and add to the pan, breaking it up into large chunks with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add in garlic and onion and stir until limp. 
2. Add tomato & liquid and stir with a wooden spoon, breaking up tomato into pieces. Add broth, wine, and bay leaves. Simmer uncovered 30 minutes.
3. Add parsley, bell pepper, zucchini, and noodles. Cook until tender, approximately 8 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and grated or shaved parmesan cheese.

Lemon Tarts with Chocolate Shells / Spinach Salad

Tonight we have plans for dinner with Beeper and I'm bringing dessert and the salad. We chose Lemon Tarts with Chocolate Shells for dessert, so I made the dough this afternoon and baked the shells. Then I went next door and picked lemons from my neighbor's tree for the filling. Afterwards, I went to the Culver City Farmer's market and picked up spinach (the spinach in the photo is from we repeated this the following night!), walnuts, gorgonzola dressing, prosciutto, and a pear. We headed up to Simi Valley and she had made Coq au Vin and fingerling potatoes. X made French 75s while we finished the prep. I toasted the prosciutto and carmelized the walnuts. Then I prepared the lemon filling from eggs, lemon zest, sugar, and butter. That set in the shells while we ate. Well, while we stuffed ourselves! Everything was so good we all had two helpings!!

(Lemon Tarts with Chocolate Shells Recipe from "Book of Tarts" by Maury Rubin; Spinach Salad Recipe by us--see below)

Spinach Salad

• Cheese Marzetti Gorgonzola Cheese Dressing (find in the refrigerated section)
• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1/4 C dried cranberries or cherries
• 1 bartlett pear, thinly sliced
• 1/4 C chopped walnuts, caramelized (see below)
• 2 strips toasted prosciutto (see below)
• 1 T brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and lay out the prosciutto strips. Bake 10 minutes until slightly crisp. Remove and let cool, then blot with paper towel to degrease. 
2. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper approximately 4” wide. In a small fry pan over medium heat, toast the walnuts for 1 minute. Add 1 T brown sugar and let melt for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula until the sugar has melted and coated the nuts. Remove nuts to cool on the parchment. Immediately pour a cup of water into the pan and place back over medium heat, stir for 1 minute and rinse. 
3. Place the spinach, cranberries, and pear in a bowl. Cut the prosciutto into 1” strips and add to bowl. Toss thorougly with 1 heaping tablespoon of dressing. Sprinkle caramelized walnuts on top.
   

Chocolate & Candied Ginger Tartlets

This is a standby at our house. Whenever I have time to make tarts this is the first one I reach for. 

(Recipe from "Chocolate & Zucchini" by Clotilde Dusoulier)