Crème Catalane

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

I’ve always had a hard time with that proverb, not because I don’t believe it’s true, but because I’ve always had a hard time with the visual nature of proverbs. I know that “when life hands you lemons…” is supposed to make you think of the hard parts of your life and how to change them to make them better, but as for me, I always just think of freshly squeezed lemonade.

I guess it’s the foodie in me.

But I do believe in the essence of the proverb, once I get over my obsession with freshly squeezed lemonade (add a little bit of raspberry, and I’m in heaven.) Although I prefer to think of it as, “when life gives you a botched recipe for crème catalane, use a blowtorch.”

And yes, don’t worry, I do plan to explain myself.

I’ve been combing through my pictures from this summer ever snce I got my new computer, and I found these, of a crème catalane that was saved thanks to Marc’s quick thinking and the fact that he even had a blow torch to begin with. For me, this metaphor runs even more true, perhaps just for the absurdity of it: I’m always the one ready to come up with a half-baked crazy idea out of left-field to solve even the most mundane of problems. Making mountains out of molehills, and all that jazz. (OK, OK, I’m stopping.)

At the end of the day, I just find it more fun: when things aren’t working out for me, instead of making a little change, I overhaul my life: I dye my hair a drastic new color, I pick up a completely new activity, I start going by a new nickname, and, of course, as so many of you on here are bound to be aware of by now, I move: to a new city, but more often, to an entirely new country. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for me.

When these crème catalanes didn’t brulée in the oven like the recipe swore they would (I had my doubts from the beginning), I could have just made a lovely caramel sauce for them and be done with it. They would have still been delicious: you can’t go wrong with creamy custard infused with delicate citrus and cinnamon.

Or, I could have trekked all over Perpignan looking for a kitchen torch, only to spy Marc’s heavy duty blowtorch, and have a little bit too much fun bruléeing 20 crème catalanes. Honestly, which one would you prefer?

So when life gives you lemons, go ahead and make lemonade, if you want to.

Or, you could come up with something just a little bit fantastic.

Creme Catalane (serves 6)

Creme catalane is the Catalan version of a simple crème brulée, infused with cinnamon and citrus. If you have a favorite crème brulée recipe already, you can easily add these flavors to your own recipe. If not, here’s how I do it.

1 liter whole milk
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick
70 g. flour
8 egg yolks
raw sugar (for bruléed topping)

Place the milk in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the zests and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and then reduce the heat, stirring every once in awhile. Cook for 15 minutes. Your kitchen should smell incredible.

Combine the flour and egg yolks with a whisk until the yolks have lightened in color and the flour is completely combined.

Enlist a friend for this step or risk being burned: while whisking continuously, pour the milk mixture in one fluid stream into the egg mixture. Return the whole mixture to the pot and place it back over the heat. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens and resembles thick cream.

Distribute the mixture in ramekins and chill in the fridge for at least three hours.

When ready to serve, remove from the fridge and top with a thin, even layer of raw sugar. Brulée the tops with a kitchen torch or a blowtorch… or really any torch you’ve got lying around the house.