“Creme brulee is my favorite thing to eat,” remarked Carl McConnell, chef-proprietor of Stone Soup Cottage. “It goes back to my childhood.” McConnell first tasted creme brulee when he was 7 or 8 years old and his mother took him to dine at The Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. “I ordered a creme brulee for dessert and have been in love with it ever since.”
Creme Brulee with Strawberries Courtesy of Stone Soup Cottage’s Carl McConnell 4 servings
5 egg yolks
1 egg
¾ cup sugar, plus ¼ cup for dusting
Pinch salt
¼ tsp. vanilla
1 pint heavy cream, heated
8 fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved
Drizzle of lavender honey
• Whisk the egg yolks, egg, sugar, salt and vanilla together in a stainless steel bowl. Temper eggs with one ounce hot cream (add cream to the eggs, whisking vigorously). Add remaining cream and stir well.
• Skim the accumulated foam off the top of the custard with a spoon. Evenly distribute the custard base to 4 to 6 ounce ramekins. Place the ramekins in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with very hot water, to a level half way up the side of the ramekins. Place in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the custards are firm. Refrigerate custards for at least 3 hours.
• Dust the tops of the chilled custards with sugar. Shake off excess sugar. Using a creme brulee torch, flambe the sugared tops until caramelized.
• In a bowl, toss strawberries with lavender honey. Serve the berries with the creme brulee.
Read more on McConnell, Stone Soup Cottage and his business partner and wife, Nancy McConnell, in this month’s What I Do.
This article appears in December 2014.