Nordstrom’s Crème Brulee

This is another favorite recipe of ours.  We made this for Dad (Bryan) once and he talked about it for days!  It has simple ingredients and is not too difficult.  The vanilla beans add fantastic flavor and it is NOT the same with vanilla extract so splurge for the beans!

Ingredients: 

6 large egg yolks

¾ c. sugar, plus more for sprinkling

3 c. heavy whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

½ pint raspberries

3 Tbsp. shaved white chocolate

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 300°.  Have ready six ¾-cup ovenproof custard cups or ramekins set in a baking pan large enough to hold them without crowding.  
• In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and ¾ cup sugar until pale yellow and fairly thick.  
• In a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream and vanilla bean and heat just until steam rises.  Cover the pan, remove from the heat, and let steep for 10 minutes.  
• Remove the vanilla bean, and with the flat side of a paring knife, scrape out the seeds.  Return the seeds to the cream and discard the pod.  
• Whisking constantly, gradually drizzle the cream into the egg yolk mixture, continuing to whisk until smooth and well blended.  (If the cream is too hot, the eggs will curdle.)  
• Divide the cream mixture evenly among the custard cups.  Pour hot water into the baking pan to reach halfway up the sides of the bowls / ramekins.  Bake the custards until they are just set – a little wobbly in the middle but definitely not runny when the baking pan is nudged – 25 to 30 minutes.  
• ***If your oven heats unevenly, you may need to rotate the pan 180 degrees at the halfway point.  Remove the ramekins from the water bath, let cool on wire racks, and then cover and refrigerate until the custards are chilled.  
• About 10 minutes before serving, adjust the oven rack so it’s 5 to 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the broiler, OR use a crème brulee torch.  Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar evenly over the top of each custard.  Place the custards under the broiler and, watching carefully, broil until the sugar is caramelized and a thin, glasslike coating forms on top, 1 to 2 minutes.  If using a crème brulee torch, torch each custard until you get the same result as using the broiler.  Serve at once, garnished with raspberries and white chocolate.  Makes 6 servings.

*This recipe often takes almost 50 minutes to bake.  Keep an eye on it and check it about every 5 minutes after 25 minutes.

Basil Cream Sauce Chicken

My neighbor Dilene gave me this recipe this week and we tried it and LOVED it!  It is so good and so easy!  We served it with medium shell pasta so the extra sauce went over the shells and the boys thought it was like gourmet mac and cheese.  This will definitely be a keeper at our house!

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 4 chicken breasts cut into halves (8 pieces)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

• Optional: I like to pound and flatten the chicken out a little so it cooks evenly throughout.
• Place milk and bread crumbs in seperate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with crumbs. In a skillet over medium heat cook chicken in butter until browned on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet and keep in a 9x13 pan in the oven on warm.
• Add chicken broth to skillet and stir to loosen up browned bits from pan. Stir in cream, basil, and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and whisk in parmesan cheese. Pour sauce over the chicken and serve.

Gulliven's Corn

Amanda Short

1 (20 oz.) bag of frozen whole kernel corn

1 c. heavy cream

3 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour

1 tsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese

Place corn in sauce pan with cream.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.  Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in small pan.  Stir in sugar and flour – do not brown.  Stir flour mixture into corn.  Stir and cook until slightly thickened.  Turn into oven safe dish.  Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. melted butter and parmesan cheese.  Brown very lightly in broiler.

* Mandy’s grandmother made this for Sunday dinner.