Two Heart Warmers: A Dog’s Tale and Some Caramel Custard

It was their midweek movie night. A ritual she and he have been following for many months now. They would finish their dinner, do all the chores for the day, curl up in bed and click a movie on. Tonight it was Hachiko: A Dog’s  Story. 

They laughed while they watched. She giggled each time Professor Parker Wilson’s Akita puppy refused to fetch ball. His heart warmed at the story of a special bond between a dog and his master. And melted when he saw tears roll down her eyes.


He stroked her hair when she wept, watching Hachi wait at the station for his companion, who’d never come back…

They walked up to the balcony in silence. The late night air was not nippy enough for their warm hearts and her hot, pug-nose. Since she was a child, her nose always got hot at the tip when she cried a lot. She never knew why!

They sat on the balcony talking about their own pets. He had Sultan, Moshi and Kaya. She, Jimmy, Gittu, Doogie and Miss Webby. He told him once again how Kaya, his Cocker Spaniel would rest her snout on his neck and sleep. She chirped (for the upteempth time) about how she would put the German Spitz twins Doogie and Webby in her t-shirt and roam around. They continued talking about their own doggy memories…

The light from the receding traffic fell on their faces, revealing the glint in their eyes. That’s when he abruptly said- let’s never get a dog. And she nodded in silence. Too scared to go through the pain and loss both him and her had gone through in their past.

He squeezed her hand and went in to get the Caramel Custard she had made earlier that evening. Maybe that could act as a picker upper, he thought.

The Caramel Custard was still warm. The familiar taste of the amber-colored caramel caressed their taste buds, helping them to loosen up a bit. The jiggle-y custard underneath was the perfect soul soother, these two dog lovers so needed tonight…

Ingredients for Caramel Custard are:

3 cups milk
4 eggs
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup sugar
Vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon butter (unsalted)

Pre-heat oven to 325° C.

Boil milk still scalding hot. Caramelize one-fourth cup of the sugar in a saucepan till you get a nice amber color. Line the ramekins with butter. Pour the caramel immediately into the ramekins to coat the base evenly.

Beat eggs in a glass bowl. Start adding the hot milk little by little. Keep mixing with a whisk so that you don’t “scramble” the eggs! Add one-fourth cup of sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Pour the milk and egg mixture into the caramel-lined ramekins. (Use any other baking dish if you don’t have ramekins.)
Keep all the ramekins in a larger baking dish. Pour hot water into the dish to cover three-fourths of the ramekins. Bake for 45 minutes. Poke a small skewer at the center of the custard. If it comes out clean, the Caramel Custard is done.

Let it cool down before you chill for a few hours.

Slide a knife around the edge of the custard, invert on a clean plate and serve.

Fresh Fruit and Cream Cake

I first had the Fresh Fruit and Cream Cake at my BFF’s kiddie’s birthday party in India. I am not too fond of desserts and cakes, but this one did surprise me in a good way.

I made this cake for a friend’s barbecue party this last weekend, and though I cheated a bit to save on time, I did the layering with fruit and cream pretty much without any previous experience!

I used one box of Duncan Hines French Vanilla cake mix and made two separate cakes. Beat whipping cream with some vanilla essence and sugar and slobbered it in between the two cakes. Sneaking some kiwi slices in too.

For fruits I used fresh slices of kiwi, strawberry, handful of blueberries and pomegranate. So far, so good. I’d like to know from you what other seasonal fresh fruits can be used in a cake like this? I was thinking of Mangoes if you are doing it for a summer treat in India, where you get the best mangoes.

Frenchified With Maple Crème Brûlée

Maybe, just maybe if you ever thought this Bengali could not do any French cuisine, I am going to dispel that stereotype today. Like the French, we Bengalis think, talk and eat a lot of food. Like the French, food is a ritual for us, an art. And when I say food is an establishment for both the Bengalis and the French, I am not in the least bit exaggerating.

My knowledge of the French language starts and ends with oui, and maybe an occasional bonjour and merci since I have moved to Canada. And my initiation to gourmet French cooking is only as recent as last year -- thanks to the double dose of Julie and Julia and French Food At Home hosted by Laura Calder. I love watching her on Food Network every morning. Even more, I love her kitchen and her chic wrap around dresses! Okay, I have a vague feeling I am digressing.  So I will move back to my attempt of making Crème Brûlée (French for “burnt cream”), an easy French dessert I once saw Laura Calder make. Her recipe had sugar, I have substituted it with maple syrup. Which we find here in abundance.
I started by having all the ingredients and measurements for the Maple Crème Brûlée (pronounced krehm broo-lay) right -

2 cups of heavy cream
Half cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
2 eggs 

Start by heating the heavy cream and maple syrup in a saucepan. I stopped just before boiling and removed from the heat. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks, eggs and the vanilla extract. Slowly start adding the cream-syrup mixture, stirring continuously. Adding little by little of the hot cream mixture is the way to go since we do not want to scramble the eggs.
Transfer the mixture onto individual ramekins (or custard cups) – I used all four for this quantity of cream and eggs. Place the ramekins in a baking dish and pour enough water to reach halfway of the ramekins. Water baths are mainly used for baking, as this technique helps to cook evenly and prevents cracking.
Preheat oven to 350°F and bake till the liquid mixture sets around the edges but jiggly at the center. This should take about 40-45 minutes.
I cooled them to a room temperature (in the same water bath), and then chilled them.
Just before serving, I sprinkled them with some sugar (plain white) and put them in the broiler for about two minutes or less to melt all that sugar. But do keep an eye on it, don't leave it in. Else you might just end up getting a crisp, charcoal topping on your crème. The broiler worked for me since I do not have a blowtorch. This way I got the creamy custard base and the top crust of caramel.
Elegant and easy. Looks like I will just go ahead and pat my back when no one is looking!
Bon Appétit. Just the way Julia “Meryl” Child says it!