” A pure extract is the most important ingredient.”
Marcus Camisoni
Ginger Lemon Crème Brûlée … the boy discovered the chefs torch one day while scrabbling through my cupboards. I had a hard time keeping my cool as I don’t like anyone going through my stuff! He said he was looking for ‘something to do’!
“Found it mama“, he announced. “Now lets make Crème Brûlée”! Thein house baker is used to getting sudden requests and is always game for inspiration! Even though eggy desserts don’t feature prominently in my list of ‘want to bake now‘, it’s nice to try something different! I really wanted brûlée ‘something’. The lovely Finla had sent me a chefs torch through her better half some time back. I was glad to have an opportunity to put it to good use.
Summer vacations, a keen new interest in honing his culinary skills, and the need for dessert on the pooches birthday seemed reason enough for him. “Coco has cake, but what about us”, he whined. Then charmingly suggested, “Crème brûlée”?I gave in quite easily because I had more reason. The sweet Carmen Rossi from Camisoni, a premium cooking and baking extract company, founded in Portofino, Italy, had sent me some extracts to sample – lemon, vanilla and coffee!Lemon was what I reached out for to make my summer crème brûlée. The deep, heady aroma almost knocked me out when I unscrewed the generous glass bottle. One small whiff and you realise how potent the stuff is! I ran it past the rest of the folk at home, and each one had this surprised expression. Whoa … that is strong!!
This was good stuff, and I soon figured what my crème brûlée flavours were going to be. A dash of ginger would pair well with lemon. Fresh root ginger is something you will always find in Asian homes. Turned out to be a beautiful choice.
Lemon and ginger both lent delicate undertones to the well set crème brûlée. It was fun to see the lads brûléeing enthusiasm. Under my watchful eye, E A C H grain of sugar was lovingly caramelised.
This was the first of my adventures with the rich aromatic extracts that I received from Camisoni. With vanilla, lemon and coffee extracts on hand, I dream of the good days that lie ahead. I also tried the coffee extract which has a real full bodied, deep coffee aroma. The resultant cake was love at first bite!
Watch out for that post to come. Until then, please leave your favourite and trusted / trick as a comment and get entered into the Camisoni extract giveaway.
Tips and Tricks Contest.
To enter the giveaway
Please send in one culinary tip/trick you swear by. Be as creative as you can be. I am sure each one of us has ‘one special magic trick‘ under our belt.
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Preheat oven to 170C°. Place 4 3/4 cup ramekins in 1 pan.
Place cream, sugar, ginger and vanilla beans in a heavy-duty pan over low heat. Simmer until the sugar melts, stirring often. Turn off heat, cover and allow flavours to infuse for 10 minutes.
Place yolks in a large pan and whisk with a balloon whisk. Strain the infused mixture over the yolks and blend well to mix.
Divide between the four ramekins. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come up halfway up the ramekins.
Carefully transfer pan to oven.
Bake custards until almost set in center when pans are gently shaken, about 45 minutes.
Using metal spatula, transfer custards in dishes to cooling rack.
Chill for at least 3 hours. {or overnight}
Make Crème Brûlée:
Sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar evenly over each custard. Working with 1 custard at a time, hold blowtorch so that flame is 2 inches above surface. Direct flame so that sugar melts and browns, about 2 minutes.
Refrigerate until custards are firm again but topping is still brittle, at least 2 hours but no longer than 4 hours so that topping doesn’t soften.
A name like Orange Zinger seems so right for this time of the year, warm, spicy and zippy! It’s a cocktail from a newly released ‘cookbook’ {Food, Wines & Beverages category} in India, The Tulleho! Book of Cocktails. An almost unassuming book, yet one overflowing with mouthwatering mixes like Anarkali, Instant Karma … and of course this Orange Zinger! The book is a must have for cocktail lovers.When Blogadda, the largest community of bloggers in India, {who recently interviewed me too}, asked if I’d like to review a new cookbook, it was an instant YES, even though a book on cocktails was slightly out of my comfort zone. The name intrigued me, and the reins were promptly handed over to Mr PAB. An occasional cocktail is wonderful, but for someone who has NO CLUE about how to get one going, this book is the answer.Turn the pages and feel a happy high … for beginners in the world of cocktails, the pages hold your hand and guide you through gently, telling you that ‘making a cocktail is no rocket science‘! Bar ware, stocking up, mixology … a book that helps you get the mixes right, helps you talk liquor with the ‘best of them’, and helps you pretend to know all about stuff even if you’ve never touched it.… and in case you are in the ‘ultra confident, been there, done that‘ category, know it all in the world of tippling, then head straight for either the Tullee Tipple which offers in-house special and contributions from the tullee community, or then to Classics – tipples that have been around for quite a while.The book offers an eclectic and stylish mix of cocktails – Desi Dhamaka which uses local Indian ingredients, Market Fresh using at least one fresh ingredient, Old Boys’ Club which is obviously the male bastion, Dessert cocktails, Ladies Specials {hmmm???}, andquite fascinatingly, Herbs and Spices!Mr PAB quite predictably reached for the Old Boys’ Club and spent quite an hour pouring over the pages, recipe by recipe. The foodie in me helped pick out a warming, fall sounding recipe which was spicy and had orange in the listed ingredients {more specifically, bitter orange marmalade}.That made me take notice and painted my thoughts orange! NICE!!Also a good choice because I still have a jar of homemade bitter orange marmalade which I made earlier this year! This is possibly the quickest edible thing Mr PAB has ever made and served…LOL! He enjoyed it, the flavours pairing beautifully … can’t go wrong with orange and ginger.Warm and spicy undertones of bitter orange marmalade and the slight edge of ginger paired well with the whiskey. Mr PAB gave it high fives, and immediate set off turning pages of the book. If you like cocktails, try this. I like it because it has standard everyday ingredients and is a great fit for the holiday season. The passion of the authors shines through!Tulleeho!!
