Crème Brûlé

A nice warm dessert for an extra special occasion!

For step-by-step pictoral directions see: Cooking for Engineers

Ingredients:
1 Cup Whipping Cream (30% fat)
4 Egg Yolks
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Vanilla-Butter (this is the German version of vanilla extract in liquid form)
4 Custard dishes (small bowl or baking forms that are oven safe)
1 large Casserole Dish
Water
Propane Blow Torch or Kitchen Butane Torch
some extra Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250°F(121°C).
In a bowl beet Sugar and Egg Yolks until smooth. In a small sauce pan heat the Whipping Cream until almost simmering, and let it cook for 1 minute. Then, add warmed Whipping Cream to the Egg Yolk mixture a little at a time and stir together. **If you pour the war Whipping Cream in all at once it will cook the egg yolks and it will ruin the whole recipe by making scrabled eggs.** Pour the mixture of the Egg Yolks, Sugar, and Whipping Cream through a sieve into another bowl to catch any clumps. Mix in the Vanilla Extract after the mixture has run through the sieve. Pour the mixture into 4 Custard containers.

Place the large Casserole Dish on the middle wrack of the preheated-oven and place the filled Custard Dishes in the Caserole Dish. Fill the Casserole Dish with enough water to be half-way up the sides of the Custard Dishes. Bake for 40-60 minutes. Then "check to see if the custards are done. We want them to be set on the outside edge, but jiggly (like jello) at the center. The easiest way to do this is to take a pair of tongs with food grade rubber bands wrapped around the ends to help grip the ramekins. Pick up a ramekin and shake to see if the centers jiggle. If the only the center jiggles a little, it's done. If the whole thing is set, remove immediately - it'll be a little over done, but still delicious. If it's not done, just put it back in the water bath and check again in ten minutes. Once the custards are done, let them cool on a cooling rack to room temperature. This will let the custards finish cooking the centers on their own."--Cooking for Engineers

Once cooled, place the Custard Dishes in a fire-safe location, such as on a metal table or a cutting board wrapped in aluminum foil, away from any objects that may catch fire, such as house plants, napkins, etc. Sprinkle some extra Sugar over the Custard in each dish until the entire surface is lightly covered. With the Blow torch, heat the sugar until it browns (don't burn..turn black) by placing the blow torch over the sugar on the Custard until each location turns a light golden brown, then move to the next location. Pick up with oven mits..it will be very hot! Then, enjoy!


*You may also make it a day ahead of time and refrigerate, this will make the Crème Brûlé a bit cooler since it has been chilled for a few hours, but it will still be good. I experimented with both eating it only 1 hour after cooking it and the next day after chilling it, and I prefere to eat it the same day when it is still warm all the way through.

Shrimp and Onion Medley

Shrimp Cocktail
Ingredients:
400g (about 1/2Lb.) of uncooked shrimp, shell removed, sheel on the tail left on
water
vegetable steamer

Directions:
Place the vegetable steamer in a small to medium sized pot and fill the pot up with water to right bellow the bottom of the vegetable steamer. Place the shrimp in the vegetable steamer and turn the stove top on to the highest temperature. Cover the pot. Set a timer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes check to see if the shrimp have attained their pink color, if not, depending on how much grey is left, let the shrimp steam for another 3 minutes, or until they are fully pink. Quickly remove them from the steamer at this point and place them in a bowl with ice water. This is make sure that the shrimp do not continue to cook and become rubbery.

Serve with some lemon and salt, or with cocktail sauce.

Beer Battered Shrimp & Onions
Ingredients:
400g (about 1/2Lb.) of uncooked shrimp, shell removed, sheel on the tail left on
1 large sweet Onion, cut into large rings
Vegetable Oil for frying
1 Cup of unbleached Flour
Salt
Onion Powder

Marinade
1/4 Cup Worchestershire sauce
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice (Juice of 1 large Lemon)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Batter
700mL (24Oz.) of Beer *choose a beer with a strong flavor that you would not mind drinking; avoid light beers or "watery-flavored" beers
2 Cups unbleached Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Paprika

Directions:
In a medium-large bowl, carefully pour in the beer and makesure it does not foam too much (or you will be cleaning it off of your counter top instead of making bater with it). *Take a sift* and pour the flour through to make sure that the flour does not clump up in the beer. Whisk in the four. Pour the Baking Powder through the shift to make sure it does not clump. Pour the Paprika through the shift to make sure it does not clump. Whisk together. Place the batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Marinate the shrimp in the marinade for at least 30 minutes (in the refrigerator).

Heat the oil in a pot to 365°F. Make sure that the Oil is at least 4 inches deep and that the side of the pot are about 4-5 inches higher than the level of oil in the pot.

Remove the Batter from the refrigerator and whisk again.

Place the 1 Cup of Flour on a small plate. When the oil is hot enough for frying, remove 1 shrimp from the marinade and roll it in the *flour on the plate, dip it in the batter, and then carefully place it in the oil. Let it fry for about 1-2 minutes and then remove it with tongs. Try this with only 1 shrimp at a time until you get the hang of it, then you can do 2 shrimp at a time. I know it sems tedious to only do 2 at a time, and if you have a larger pot, you can do more at a time, it just requires a lot of coordination and timing to take the shrimp out in time. Also, regularly scoop loos batterout of the oil to prevent it from burning.

Place fried shrimp on a plate with paper towel on it in order to soak up some of the oil dripping from the shrimp.

Onion Rings
Directions:
This recipe usues the same batter as the Beer Battered Shrimp; there should be enough for the shrimp and the onion rings.
Place the Onions that you have cut into rings in the marinade from the shrimp (after you have fried the shrimp). Remove 1 onion ring and roll it around in Flour, dip in batter, and then place carefully in the frying oil. Depending on the settings of your stove stop, the temperature of the Oil may needto be lowered slightly to allow the onion within the batter to actually cook, or you will be eating raw battered onion rings. The onion rings need approximatley 7 minutes to completely cook, turning once within those 7 minutes so that each side browns.

Place fried onion rings on a plate with paper towel on it in order to soak up some of the oil dripping from the onion rings. Sprinklewith some salt and garlic powder.

*It is VERY important that you roll the shrimp and the onion rings in the flour before you dip them in the batter. The flour will allow the batter to stick to the shrimp/onion ring while it is frying. You can do a test to see what happenes if you don'tpre-roll them in oil. Basically, the batter fries off of the shrimp/onion ring and does not puff up.

I recomend drinking a small amount of alcohal or eating a salad with vinegar on it to help digest this greesey meal, but it is not a necessary step.

Fried Pickles
Although not pictured above, you can make fried pickles similar to how you make the onion rings. Just use large pickles that are cut in half length-wise, roll the pickles in flour, dip them in batter, and fry them. Only allow them to frylong enough to toastthe batter becausethe pikle will start to disintegrateif it stays in too long.

Stuffed Vegetables

This is a very quick and delicious recipe that I have made with Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Bell Peppers(not shown above).

Ingredients:
2 medium sized Tomatoes, top cut off and seeds removed with a spoon - body should be left intact
1 English Cumber, cut in half length-wise, seeds removed - body should be left intact
2 Green Bell Peppers, tops cut off, seeds removed - bod should be left intact
300g (10,5 oz - or a little over half a pound) ground Beef
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Mojoram
2 teaspoons Worchestershire Sauce
2 Eggs
1 Cup of plain Bread Crumbs
1/4-1/2 Cup of warm Water

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (417°F). In a medium sized bowl, soak the bread crumbs in 1/4 Cup of Water. If 1/4 is not enough, add another 1/4 Cup to make sure they are soft and mushy, but not swimming in water. Mix in all other ingredients and mash together thoroughly. Add the mixture to the hollowedout vegetables. Pleace the filled vegetables on the center rack of the oven on a baking sheet or cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil or in a casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Depending on the size of the Bell Peppers, the Bell Peppers may need to stay an extra 20-30 minutes in the oven.

Sprinkle some Parmasean Cheese on forsome extra flavor.

Savory Pork Chops, Salad, and Rice

Pork Chops
Ingredients:
4 Pork Chops
200g Whipping Cream
200g Crème Fraiche
280g Mushrooms, from a jar
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
Salt to taste
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley (optional)

Directions:
In a large skillet, heat the Vegetable Oil. Once oil is heated, place the pork chops in andlet them brown. Once the pork chops are cooked. Add the mushrroms and let them brown a little. Add all other ingredients and and let simmer on medium low heat. Serve with rice.

Rice (this is a base recipe for 2 servings, multiply accordingly)
Ingredients:
1 Cup of Bastmati Rice
2 Cups of Water
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil (optional)
1 teaspoon of Salt (optional)

Directions:
Put all ingredients in a small pot and set the stovetop to the highest heat. Let boil for 8 minutes and watch. The liquid in/on the rice will start to look foamy and holes will form in the rice mass. When this happens (sometime between 8-10 minutes after setting the rice on the stove top), lower the temperature to the low and put the lid on. Place the lid on the pot and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Prick the rice with a fork and remove a few grains to taste and see if it is tender enough.
*The Olive Oil and Salt give the rice a better flavor and help it not stick to the pot, but are not vital to cooking the rice, this is just my version.

Salad
Ingredients:
Crunchy red tipped Lettuce, torn to smaller peicesby hand
2 yellow Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 of a Green Onion (green part only), sliced
-Dressing Ingredients:-
Salt
Pepper
1/4 Cup Redwine Vinegar
1 teaspoon Hazelnut Oil

Directions:
Place salad ingredients in a large bowl (1/2 larger than the actual sald). Sprinkle some salt on for taste and toss the salad with 2 forks. Repeat the previous step with the pepper. These 2 steps are important inorder for the lettuce to soak-in the dressing ingredients. Dribel the vinegar over the salad (use less vinegar than suggested if you have a small salad) and then toss with the forks, do the same with the Hazelnut Oil.