Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie - Technical Difficulties and an Injury

This week, our Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Lemon Custard Cup-a very simple recipe that uses just four ingredients. When I told Dave I was making a custard he was very enthusiastic. I think just about all of his favorite desserts are custard-y to some degree-rice pudding, bread pudding, ice cream, custard pies. He especially loves traditional custards like this Lemon Custard Cup. So, though I am not a big custard person, I was happy to make it since Dave would probably eat it all in one sitting.

Things were moving right along as I was making this today; I had the lemon steeping in the milk, and the custard cups all prepared, and the eggs beaten. I turned on the oven to preheat, and instead of a nice hot oven, I ended up with an ice cold oven and a house that smelled like natural gas. Yuk! I hate that smell. Apparently, my oven is broken. I am having the repair people come out on Friday.

I really didn't want to waste the custard ingredients, so I thought about all the things that I could make without an oven. Ice cream would work, but I didn't have enough ice. The only other thing I could think of was a pudding. So, I cooked the custard mix in a double boiler. I had no idea if it would turn out. I added a bit of corn starch, and some heavy cream. For extra flavoring, I added some orange oil. I cooked the custard until it reached a temperature of 140F. Once it was at 140F, I kept it over the heat for about 5 minutes. I gave it a really good whisking, and then let it cool.

Amazingly, it turned out really well. When I served it to Dave I added a bunch of sliced bananas and told him it was banana pudding. He loved it.

All in all, I think the Lemon Custard Cups recipe was a success. My methods were a bit unorthodox, but I eneded up with an edible dessert.

Here is the link to the blog hosting the post, "The Way The Cookie Crumbles". Please check out Bridget's blog, and her beautiful photographs. http://crumblycookie.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/lemon-cup-custard/
Also, please check-out some of the other Tuesday with Dorie Bakers.



Part two - the injury:

I ended up dropping the very heavy, very large, saucepan that I was using as the bottom of the double boiler directly on my big toe. Ouch!

12 comments:

  1. Ouch! That hurts just looking at it. Sorry about the oven. It's always something around your house :) I'm amazed at how you were able to improvise and come up with something wonderful. Great job.

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  2. Ouch is right!! Hope they fix the oven quickly, I can't imagine you without an oven.

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  3. oh I hope you are ok!!!! did you break your toe??? when I was younger my mom dropped a heavy turkey platter on her foot and broke her toe. a great excuse to relax and put your feet up ! awesome job on the dessert :):):) hope your oven is fixed quick!

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  4. Ow! Ow! It hurts to look at your poor toe! Congrats on making the best of your oven going on strike...it looks like a real winner!

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  5. Thanks Sandy and Kristy! Yes, there is never a dull moment around here...

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  6. Thanks Lauren! I don't think it's broken, just sore.

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  7. Oh, my! Your toe looks like it's causing you some serious pain! Hope you are feeling better soon.

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  8. Ouch! I think that deserves being waited on for a while. Nice improvising.

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  9. Owww, that looks painful! Hope it gets better soon. Way to improvise on the custard!

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  10. Thank you Pamela, Jules, and Tracey! I really appreciate your comments and good wishes.

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  11. Oh my goodness, you poor thing! Your toe looks so sore, that must have been so painful!
    Well done for coming up with another way to make your custard (i would have given up!). It looks yummy and i'm glad it was a success :)

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  12. Thank you Farah! Your comments are always so sweet!

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