creme brulee and flan
Perhaps one of my favorite foods is Creme Brulee. This custardy dessert with French origins dating back to the 1600′s, topped with caramelized sugar has warmed my heart from meal to meal over the past twenty years. I am a purist when it comes to this dessert. Don’t give me berries or lemon ginger or rum raisin – just the slightly yellowy strongly vanilla-y flavor that melts in my mouth.
Creme Brulee is not that difficult to make. You whisk egg yolks and sugar with vanilla from a fresh vanilla bean. Then you add cream and mix well. The mixture is poured into individual cups and baked in a bain-marie or water bath. After cooling and refrigerating over night, sprinkle sugar on top of each cup and either broil or use a torch to melt the sugar until it forms a crispy crust of melted sugar on top. Here is a popular Epicurious recipe for Creme Brulee.
I am sure that readers have had Creme Brulee at many restaurants in the SCV. Probably the most accessible, generous and reasonable Creme Brulee that I know of is at Elephant Bar, believe it or not. For less than $8 and 1,200 calories, its worth the splurge! Trader Joe’s has a respectable frozen product. The box comes with four chocolate cups filled with velvety custard – just defrost and enjoy!
Flan is a Latin American dessert also consisting of egg yolks, sugar, cream and vanilla but also containing milk and egg whites. Flan is a lighter version of Creme Brulee and its caramel taste comes from a layer of caramel on the bottom which when inverted provides a soft caramel crust to the custard.
I have not always liked flan because of the gelatinous texture. However, recently, I have discovered the similarities between Creme Brulee and Flan and have come to appreciate Flan’s creamy yet firm texture. Just Thursday night, I had the most luxurious Flan at Barcelona Tapas Lounge, a new Stevenson Ranch restaurant where Barbacoa and Wild Thyme used to be. Chef Dominik, trained in France at Le Cordon Bleu, makes his desserts from scratch daily.
I know that at the beginning of the year we are all looking to make changes in our lives in relation to exercise and diet. But we need to enjoy the finer things in life sometimes – and Creme Brulee and Flan are just that!
Dawn’smost successful culinary adventure is Dawn’s Dinners. Chef Dawn prepares fresh dinners for families in the Santa Clarita Valley. Chef Dawn also offers fresh frozen meals, complete with reheating instructions, ready to take home and defrost. Not only do families get healthy home-style cooked meals, but the meals are usually $25 for four people and $35 for six! Also, starting in February, Dawn and friend/chef Rena Slabich will be giving cooking classes again. Surf over to Chef Dawn’s website www.chefdawn.com where you can see what is on the menu for dinner tonight and the schedule for cooking classes. When Chef Dawn is not cooking, which is rare, she enjoys spending time and camping with her amazing husband, four daughters, Truffles the dog and Puff and Custard, the dragons.
