Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

I don't mean to brag, but this is the best Crème Brûlée ever, so suck it France! Crème Brûlée is one of the most elegant desserts you can make. Maybe it's the simplicity of its ingredients or the crunch of the burnt sugar that gives way to the creaminess inside. Or it could be that infusing flavors into this classic dessert is like painting on a blank canvas. That, or it might just be that the French know their way around desserts, but that seems unlikely.

Quick shoutout to Oregon hazelnuts!! What what!! That is all. Carry on.

Espresso Hazelnut Crème Brûlée

Yields four 5oz. servings

• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar 
• Plus extra for the topping
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 1 tablespoon Instant Espresso 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 cup Hazelnuts coarsely blended

1. Preheat the oven to 300° and move the baking rack to the second lowest. 
2. Boil about 7 cups of water. 
3. Heat 1 cup of the cream, sugar, salt, and instant espresso in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning. You don't want to burn the cream, that comes later.
4. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla extract until the texture becomes consistent.  
5. Pour the cream mixture into the yolks. Be sure to do this slowly and temper the egg yolks to avoid coagulating the proteins in the yolks. 
6. Line a deep baking dish with a dish towel. Place the empty ramekins in the dish, make sure they're not touching.  
7. Strain the mixture with a fine mesh strainer and pour into the ramekins. Place into the oven. Pour the boiling water into the large dish. Try to avoid getting water into the desserts. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool. Place in fridge for at least 2 hours to set.
9. Once you're ready to serve, evenly pour about a tablespoon of sugar on each one. Using a torch, burn the sugar just until it's bubbly. Sprinkle the hazelnuts onto the bubbling sugar. Enjoy with a spoon!  

before burning

getting burnt

Yes, Katy Weaver took all these wonderful photos!

finished product!

Yam and Quinoa Fritters with Walnut Cream Sauce

This recipe is for the fritters not I'll admit it everything on the side salad was store bought. It's just mixed greens, tomatoes, almonds, and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Yam and Quinoa Fritters

• 2 medium Yams peeled and grated
• 1/2 red onion grated
• 1/4 cup grated gruyere cheese
• 1/3 cup cooked quinoa
• 2 teaspoons of diced garlic
• 2 eggs
• 2 table spoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• Olive oil (or any kind of oil vegetable, peanut, whale fat)

1. First I would start cooking the quinoa. If you don't know how to cook quinoa, I'd recommend checking out Pinterest, like 90% of the recipes on that site have quinoa in them.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan to medium high heat.
3. Peel the yams and grate them. Grate the onions. Place the grated vegetables on paper towels and squeeze the juice out. Once you've juiced the yams and onions place them in a large mixing bowl with the gruyere cheese, garlic, eggs, flour, and garlic salt. Mix together with your hands, yes your hands. Before you mix in the quinoa make sure it's cooled, because if you put hot quinoa into the mix you'll cook the eggs.
4. Make small patties of the mixture and place into the pan of oil. Brown each side of the fritters, usually about 5 minutes per side.

Walnut Cream Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup crushed walnuts
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup grated gruyere cheese
• 2 tablespoons honey
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter on medium heat. Toast the walnuts in the butter, just brown them a bit. Add the heavy cream, cheese, honey and seasoning.
2. Once the cheese has melted reduce the cream on low heat for 15 minutes.

Serve the cream sauce over the fritters and topped with basil or some other sort of garnish, I'll admit to not eating the basil, it just looks nice. In my opinion having a nice side salad with the fritters counteracts the oil the fritters were fried in. Enjoy!