Tuesdays With Dorie: 1 of 10

I realize I've left you all hanging from the Cambodia trip - it was so amazing and so much more to tell you. But let me interrupt to let you know about another little thing I'm doing.

I've always enjoyed baking, there's something about homemade desserts that add a special touch - a feeling of warmth, of home. I've been missing that feeling lately and longing for it deeply. When I was reading Ms Greenspan's blog and she was talking about a new internet group "Tuesdays with Dorie" I had to check it out. It's a growing group of some of the most amazing baker's - can't believe I actually joined them, but I did.



We will take a recipe a week from one of my favorite dessert books : Dorie Greenspan's "Baking from my Home to Yours". I adore this book, discovered it around Christmas 2006 when looking for Christmas cookie recipes and fell in love with some in this book. So far everything I've made from "Baking" has turned out yummy.




Including this week's selection for the group - Caramel-topped Flan.

pay no attention the unevenness of the flan, the slightly lumpy texture, or the lack of color in the caramel topping - it tasted good and lessons were learned

This was my first attempt at anything flan-like or custardy. They have always intimidated me a little since my culinary skills are so limited. ~By-the-way, I am WAY over my head in this group, really, really not worthy to be among their ranks 'cause after scootin' around their blogs - they are some awesome cooks. You should seriously check them out.

Anyway, I thought the coconut version sounded real good so that's the one I made. I've never caramelized sugar so really didn't know how to do it and after stirring and stirring to keep the sugar from burning, I finally gave up on the rich amber color that was on her flan in the book. (turns out that to caramelize sugar you put it on med-high heat and let it cook without stirring, but with a watchful eye to avoid burning).

The flan was actually fairly easy to make,but was very exciting since I'd never entered this domain of baking. I mean caramelzing, whisking without the kitchen aid, baking in a water bath... all new.

I was a little hasty at first and although the recipe specifically states that the flan should cool in the fridge for 4 hrs after cooling to room temp - I couldn't help myself I ate one warm. big mistake, way to eggy tasting. The flan needs time to settle and for the flavors to merge. It tasted way, way better after a day in the fridge.

It also turns out that you don't use convection setting for flan - I figured it out after 40 minutes or so of baking and turned it to conventional bake and it took another 30 minutes - it should have taken 30-40 total. (in a few months I'll have this new oven figured out!)

BTW: for the week of April 1
(week #11)

Leigh of Lemon Tartlet has chosen…

Gooey Chocolate Cakes on pages 261-262

Here's the recipe for caramel-topped flan!


For the Caramel
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.

Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.

Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.

Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

my modifications:
13.5 oz unsweetened coconut milk and eliminate the cream, reduce the milk to 1 c.
I also baked it in 6 - 6 oz ramikins.

I hope you make it. And better yet, come join the group!

.

Pagoda on the way to Kampong Chhanong

Thurs March 21 several of us took a "field trip" to a local province, Kampong Chhnang, to visit the hospital and deliver some supplies. On the way we stopped for a photo op at this beautiful pagoda.
(To be honest we had one team member who was quite difficult and there were a few of us who needed a break - particularly me! )

It happens that the day we are there is a Buddhist holiday so there are some people there visiting their family mausoleums.
We also were visited by some of the local girls. They came up from the river whether they're homeless or just sent out to beg, we don't know.





The pagoda was beautifully painted with a lovely sculpture garden.
















A lion
















cute little monkey - didn't really see many of these.












A statue of Buddha holding a pot for rice.

















statue - light fixture, I think


















An elephant carrying the king





















There were rows of beautiful mausoleums. Some well cared for, some not












A family celebrating/ honoring their ancestors at a mausoleum










The beautiful girls that came up from the river. Rather than money, we gave them lollipops - they had mixed feelings about that - really wanted "dollars"






















Saying her thanks







I was over and over again awe-inspired. This pagoda and these girls were beautiful. The day did go on and that will be the next post. We went to the local hospital, to a village on the river, and stopped an ox cart delivering pottery... The trip was surreal.

starting

I'm starting with some random photos to get me rolling... There's so much to say it's hard to know where to start...So, I'll just start.

We went with this agency for two weeks to provide medical support for severe cardiac cases to the poor of Cambodia. There is a hospital in Phnom Penh that is for the poor people. In the past the organization has worked through this hospital but was limited in the surgeries they could perform there. Last year they were able to work in the local Heart Center which was made possible by delicate negotiations. The heart center is very much a for profit place and people are asked to pay for their procedures and surgeries before they are able to be admitted. this leaves a large majority of their population unable to have much needed surgeries and is why we are seeing congenital birth defects in 30-40 year olds that would have been repaired in infancy here in the US.
So our patients would have to register at CSI hospital, then carry their charts to us at the heart center where we would evaluate them and set them up for surgery if it was needed. My personal part was in the evaluation. I would see the patient, take a history, do a physical exam and then send them for an echocardiogram. All of this was made very interesting by the language barrier and by the fact that the murmmurs these folks had are rarely heard here in the US and I had to rely on textbook knowledge - not experience.
It's amazing that we were able to negotiate with the hospital - we brought many supplies with us and because of that they were willing to let us do open-heart surgery on these people for $1000 each - their normal charge being about $3500. Amazing. We had negotiated to do 20 surgeries over the 2 weeks we were there - the hard part being that there were many more than that who needed surgery. We simply had to postpone theirs in hopes that they'll live another year until we come back in 2009.




These little cuties are the brothers of an 8 yr old with a congenital heart defect.
The local Khmear Dr.s at the heart hospital were able to repair her PDA, patent ductus arteriosis, using a catheter through her femoral artery - therefore she didn't need open heart surgery.
She was beautiful (looks so much like her brother facing forward here) and extremely afraid of foreigners. I tried to limit my contact with her because it made her cry, but it was difficult cause she was so cute.
Luckily she did very well and was discharged from the hospital quickly and home to her village.







another shot of her brothers with their dad.
apparently he is a single dad - don't exactly know what happened to mom.













This is a woman who was a patient last year. Dr. Smith did valve replacement surgery on her then - she still has a few issues, but is doing quite well. I didn't work her up this year, but was in the office when she saw Dr. Smith. Her face lit up and it took a while to peel her off of him - not that anyone tried. she was so grateful and said that he changed her life.
That was a familiar song this trip. It's amazing the pathology these people are living with - more than once after surgery Dr. Smith said "I don't know how they were living, their hearts were in such bad shape"





















A walk around the heart center revealed this row of ambulances. I rarely hear a siren and we were on a very busy street.









This is where families stay wen their loved ones are in the hospital. they camp out on the grounds with hibachis - cook their meals and provide 24 hr care to their family member bringing them food, providing baths, toileting....














more families camping out on the grounds











An often seen sight is saffron robed monks walking down the streets . A very cool sight. Cambodia is a very Buddist country with shrines at every corner.

Home again, home again

I know many of you have done this return flight from Asia, but I'm here to say it's much worse than going over. Strange, but going from LA to Taipei was a 14 hr flight, Taipei to San Francisco only 10, but because of the time change I didn't want to sleep too much in order to reacclimate and it seemed much longer because of it.
Regardless, we all made it home safely and in relatively good health. I got to my home at 11pm sat night took an ambien and was in bed by 11:30. Sunday is a blur - I wasn't able to stay awake. That is, until the remodelers arrived at 2 pm to begin their jackhammers (until 8pm). Apparently he got pneumonia while I was gone and was able to complete very little so they tried to make up for lost time on Sunday. Just as well, I was a waste of skin and just layed around when I wasn't sleeping.
Since arriving, Leo and Lannie haven't been out of my sight. I missed them a lot and it's great to be able to snuggle their smelly mugs again. Apparently Leo had a little, but costly mishap while I was gone and ate a pound or so of unrisien bread dough causing him a trip to the emergency room. They made him vomit and then not being sure it all came out wanted him to stay the night then the next day at our regular vet. Sad to say he was recognized and known at the emergency room - and I wonder where all my money goes!
I'm happy to say that all is well now and he's as feisty and enthusiastic as always.
I know you all want to hear more about Cambodia and that will happen, it's just when you're so far behind, you have to start somewhere so why not at the end!



Here's the progress on the basement so far. The light in the background is from the new egress window that they were able to complete while I was gone. adn the wood studs in the foreground are supporting where about 1/3 of the concrete wall is down - that's what they've been hammering away at since yesterday afternoon.