Thank you for reading Between the Layers! Please enjoy and share this free post with your friends. Baked Custard & Supper in Bed - No. 267Nothing cozy about being sick in bed. A recipe saves me. Also Tom Lake deviled eggs. It’s been that kind of week.
THE FLU, THE BUG, WHATEVER IT WAS…something hit me last week. My husband was thinking of ways to help me feel better and while usually he draws upon the vast file of recipes stored in his head, this time he did the unusual. He pulled down the 1943 copy of Joy of Cooking from the kitchen bookshelf, and Irma Rombauer took his hand and they baked the most beautiful egg custards in little white ramekins, each sprinkled on top with grated nutmeg and served with a small spoon. Remember, this is the guy who never measures. ‘’I don’t like following recipes but having made baked custard enough times and they come out rubbery, I knew I had to follow a recipe in a cookbook,’’ he confessed once I was feeling better. Then he added, ‘’And yes, that was difficult for me to do.’’ New year, new you.
THE RECIPE: Baked custardInspired by Irma’s recipe on page 628 for Cup Custard, my husband realized she called for a cup of milk for each egg, a quarter cup of sugar for every two eggs, and your usual dash of salt and vanilla. He pulled four eggs from the fridge, cracked them into a large bowl, whisked in 1/2 cup sugar, added a little salt and vanilla, and then whisked in 4 cups whole milk until well blended. ‘’But I always like a little lagniappe so I got heavy cream and poured in about 3 tablespoons, not so much for richness but for creamy softness,’’ he added. ‘’You messed with the ratios in Irma’s recipe?’’ I asked. ‘’I know, but with the larger proportions, I had more flexibility, and I wanted it runnier than harder,’’ he defended, suggesting he is seldom in doubt. In truth, he knows his way around eggs and makes some of the softest and most velvety scrambled eggs you’ve ever tasted and a mean eggs Benedict, too. The custard mixture was ladled into six ungreased 4-inch ramekins (porcelain cups), filling them two-thirds full, and fresh nutmeg was grated over the top. They baked in a rectangular casserole half-filled with boiling water at 325ºF until a wooden skewer came out clean. (Baking time will depend on the size of the ramekin. Joy of Cooking says 45 minutes but his took 1 hour.) Once you take the casserole out of the oven and when you’re able to remove the ramekins from the hot water without burning yourself, transfer them to a kitchen towel spread out on the counter. Serve warm or let cool to room temperature. For storing, cover and chill once room temp and keep in the fridge up to three days. ‘’Oh, and I threw a few raisins in some of the ramekins. But they all sank to the bottom. If I had found the cooked rice in the fridge, I would have thrown that in as well.’’ He not only baked me custard but tried to tidy the fridge. I’m liking 2024!
In my down time, I finished listening to Meryl Streep read Ann Patchett’s bestselling novel Tom Lake so perfectly it was as if Patchett wrote the book just for her.Set in the cherry farmland of upper Michigan during the Covid pandemic, this is the story of a middle-aged mother telling her own love story to three grown daughters home to isolate on the family farm. It is crafted around Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a play Patchett has been fascinated with since she was nine. The mother, Lara Nelson, was a former actress who played Emily, the lead, in the summer stock version of Our Town. As her daughters beg the stories out of her, she is honest but judicious in how much to share. The book is about independence, responsibility, family, and seeing beauty in the everyday. And yes, food runs throughout. For picnic lunches after cherry picking Lara makes cheese sandwiches with mustard, and she cooks whitefish to serve with green beans and deviled eggs for supper. She mentions how her husband Joe loves potato salad so much, and who doesn’t love homemade potato salad? The book made me hungry for home cooking and the close connection you have with family when you’re under the same roof, which is something we can relate to after the pandemic.
So thank you Ann Patchett for making me wonder, why not Deviled Eggs for supper in January? Here’s my recipe. And thank you to my husband for providing not the fashionable lentil stew that fits today’s definition of cozy, but an old-school comfort food, a baked custard, you will actually eat if you’re sick. Happy cooking, stay healthy, and stay warm. - xo, Anne P.S. A Christmas Day photo - a positively gorgeous camellia in holiday dress by my back door.
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