Cafe Tourane

So, I happened to find this little cafe tucked away in this little office building. I've passed by this building probably a million times, and I've only noticed this place the last couple weeks. The idea of quaint little cafe down the road sparked a lot of interest. I told myself "I HAVE to check this place out." and made sure I was gonna follow through with it.

Before we get started, let me drop that address now in case you want to check it out.

12460 Euclid St. #103
Garden Grove, CA 92840

They are also on Twitter and Facebook under their name.

Ok, lets get this shindig going!

When you walk in, you can quickly tell it has a very modern feel to it. Some places make you feel like you should be escorting your grand parents there. Not this place. In fact, I felt like the oldest thing there, and I'm only 31. Just looking at the equipment behind the counter I could tell that almost everything there was new.

As I step up to the counter, I notice a word written around the cafe that I like: Organic. This place is making a point to serve organic blends of coffee. That is definitely a good thing.

I'm approached by one of the 3 employees there. He says "Hi" and asked if I had any questions about anything on the menu. I chuckled a little and said "I think I can figure this one out". He laughed and said "Cool. Let me know when you're ready". Now, the reason why we both laughed is because the menu is very simple. Hot coffee, iced coffee, blended ice, tea and smoothies. All with 3 or 4 of the same flavor options. Very simple, very straight forward.

Since the weather was closer to a warm day, I decided to go with a mocha blended ice. Then the employee said "We also make fresh beignets. Would you like an order to go with your drink?".

Now I'm gonna share what was going on in my head when I found out about the beignets. "Local spot. CHECK. Organic. CHECK. And these muhfuckas got beignets??? You bet yo ass I want some muhfuckin beignets wit my drank!!!" And here's how I answered: Sure, I'll go with that.  Hey, I can't go into my nigga act everywhere. You gotta pick your spots!

Now, up to this point, everything I've written has been on the up and up about this place. But, not all is well here. I'm giving you the pros first. The cons will be coming up soon. Read everything before you make any opinion.

Before I got my order, I sat down and took a few pics of the place. They aren't great, but you can get an idea of what the place looks like.

I got my drink a minute or two before the beignets were done. They dropped the beignets off at my tables when they got out the deep fry. Here's what I was looking at.

I took a sip of the drink and was in shock. Not diabetic shock, the surprised-in-a-good-way shock. The drink tasted like....COFFEE! So many blended coffee drinks are more milk shake than coffee. And this one wasn't too sweet either. For me, I liked it a lot. I can see some being underwhelmed and whining about it not being sweet enough. My advice for them is stick with your frappe' and shut the fuck up. And I say that with a big, kool-aid smile.

The beignets....I'm gonna try and be nice here. The chef in me was not happy with these things. Too chewy and half of them hollowed out. Plus, they give you some simple icing to dip them in. No chocolate? No berry sauce? How DARE they disrespect the beignet like that???? FUCKERS!!! (Clearing throat) OK, with that said, I'll try and cut them a little slack. I like that for under $2 bucks you can get some fresh doughnuts. They need some work on their technique, but their hearts are in the right place. But I wasn't thrilled at all with those beignets.

Now, remember what I said about being the oldest thing there? I was clearly the oldest customer there, too. The cafe is just a few blocks away from a high school. And judging from some other kids that came in, I think there is a junior high close as well. All I know is teenage girls make a shit load of noise for no damn reason.

For real, I don't think I could chill there with all those kids coming around. If I was R. Kelly, I'd be in heaven and give out golden showers to everyone. But I don't get down like that.

The drink was good and the location is great. But those fuckin' kids and lame beignets didn't sit well. Odds are I won't be heading back soon. If I do, I'll take my drink to go.

Later,

J. Miller

Doughnuts

Mmmmm....doughnuts. If they are good enough for Homer Simpson, they are good enough for me. I'm gonna keep this one fairly short. No history lessons here, no long, drawn out speeches about it's effect on society. It's a god damn doughnut. Just eat one and enjoy!

Here's is doughnut #1. A blueberry cake doughnut. I've said this before, but I'm a sucker for anything blueberry. And guess what? I liked this freakin' doughnut! I got it from this little shop at the corner of Orangewood and Euclid. Too bad I can't remember the name of the place. Nice bit of advertising, huh?  Now here's a pic of me enjoying the doughnut.

Now for doughnut #2. Eclair with banana cream filling.

I went to Krispy Kream and planned on getting a seasonal doughnut. But because it's January, they didn't really have anything seasonal. If they would've had a MLK doughnut, I probably would have found that offensive and urinated in the middle of the shop in protest.

The doughnut was ok. It would've been better if it didn't take me 3 or 4 bites to get to the filling. Once you get to it, it's worth it.

Yeah, this is what I would call a "Me taking a break" post. This may be the first, but it won't be the last. Maybe next one I do, I'll get hammered off some beer I've never had and give a review on taste and hangover. Could be fun!

Here's one more sexy doughnut pic!

Until next time my friends!

J. Miller

Petit Four pt. 2

My first two-part post.Wow. That's cool. Uh...Yeah, Cool.

Since I broke a lot of this down in the first part, I'm gonna skip the fore play and get down to business. Here is a list of what you are gonna need to finish the petit four:

1 bag of semi sweet chocolate
1 pint (16oz) of heavy cream
pound cake*
1 jar of Nutella

*The pound cake. I'll be honest, I didn't make it.....at home. I made it at work. Some of it just happened to fall in my tool box and ended up in my home. That sounds believable, right? Anyway, the point is that this is one part of the recipe you don't need to go crazy with. If you wanna buy some pre-made pound cake, by all means go for it. You got some cinnamon raisin bread going stale, USE IT! One of the best parts of cooking is making use of what you have on hand.

First thing you are gonna do is slice your pound cake into little squares. Once you have your little squares, slice those in half, and keep each piece next to the piece it was sliced from. Next, scoop out some Nutella into a small zip lock bag and warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so. Just enough to loosen it up to squeeze out the bag. When warm, cut a small hole at the bottom corner of the baggy and squeeze a little nutella on one side of the pound cake.

Now, put the other half of pound cake over the nutella to make a little sandwich. Push down a little on it to make sure it sticks. If some of the filling comes out the sides, just smooth it out with your fingers. Licking your fingers at this point is perfectly acceptable. :)

Once that is done, cover and place in the fridge until needed. Now to make the ganache. Very simple. Equal parts of chocolate and heavy cream. I used 8oz of each when I made this. That should be a good amount for you if you're not making that much. Just heat up the cream until it looks like it's going to boil, than pour over your chocolate and stir umtil smooth. You don't need a very vigorous stir with the ganache. Nice and steady.

Now it's time for the Nougatine. Break off a couple small pieces, get a nice sharp knife, and slowly chop the nougatine. If you try and chop it fast, it's gonna fly all over the kitchen. Once you get it to the size you want, place in a small container and cover until ready to use.

If you have a cooling screen for cookies and such, place your pound cake sandwiches on that and pour the ganache over until covered. If you don't have a screen like me, you might have to get creative. Here's what I did. I got a pie tin and set a shot glass in the center, Turn the shot glass upside down and set the pound cake on top of the shot glass.

While your ganache is sill warm and has a good viscosity, slowly pour over the pound cake. Make sure all corners get covered. I used a small offset spatula to lift it. Don't have one? Just use a butter knife to lift it up.

Once all of them are covered, place in the fridge to let the ganache set. When you are ready to serve them, add the chopped nougatine. The longer the nougatine stays out, the stickier it's going to become. So, if you wanna keep the crunch, don't add it until it's ready to go out.

And there you have it. There are lots of things you can do to add even more flavor, like making a simple syrup to give the pound cake more kick. Really, I wanted to keep it simple. Everyone that tried it seemed to like it. Here's a few of them.

From left to right: Sammi (my future baby mama), Fabiola(She thinks I'm a bully!), and Kristin(She's on my good side. For now.). :) For real, I consider all three of these ladies good friends and value their opinion. They told me they liked, and that's good enough for me.

I hope that you enjoyed this little journey and will come back soon for more good times and good food.

Take Care,

J. Miller

Petit Four pt. 1

I like cooking. I do, I swear! But there are some things I'm not crazy about cooking. To be more direct, there is a certain type of dish that I'm not too crazy about making. What is it? APPETIZERS.  I know what some of you might thinking. "Your last two posts were appetizers!" Well, those are really the only two apps I'm willing to mess around with. If you consider guacamole an app, you can say that's 3 things. Really, that's about it.

Why? Because it takes work! I'm not a completely lazy bastard, but if I'm gonna put in serious work in the kitchen, I wanna see a lot of food come out of it. But if I gotta do a lot of work just to see a few bites come out of it, that's just gonna tick me off. Case in point: Chef Jose Andres. He's a well know Spanish chef. Does really crazy food. Has a book on Tapas. In that book, each app he creates is super complicated. A lot also involve expensive ingredients. I don't know who he made that book for, but it damn sure wasn't me!

Now for the flip-side of the coin. Appetizers, tapas, petit fours, and any other name you can think of for these things, can speak volumes for you. Small, delicate desserts, elegantly decorated and presented, can say more for you and your culinary skills than you ever could verbally. Same goes for apps. It can show your attention to detail. Your ability to please the eyes, as well as the taste. I think if I ran a restaurant, I would ask potential chefs to create a small petit four plate as part of their try out. I also think as boss, I'd be trying to bang all the cute female servers. Hey, I'm allowed to have dreams!

So, for what I'm making, I'm breaking this into two parts. I could make it into one, but you would be scrolling down for the next month. The above pic is the finished product. It is two small slices of vanilla pound cake with nutella in the center. It is covered with a semi-sweet ganache and has chopped nougatine on the top. The nougatine is what we are going to make in this post.

The peanut nougatine is what most of us know as peanut brittle. Why call it nougatine? Because that's what we call it at work, and that is what I'm going to call it for the rest of this post. Don't like it? Too damn bad! This is my blog! I wear the pants around here! And if I don't feel like wearing pants, I still run this show! HAHAHAHA!!!!

Sorry about the power trip there. I'll try not to do that again. No promises, though. :)

Before making the nougatine, you are gonna need one of these.

That is a silicone cooking sheet, a.k.a Silpat. If you bake often, or a little, it is worth the money. Few things will stick to it. Almost everything slides right off.

Here's the recipe for the nougatine:

2oz     Butter
4oz     Sugar
1.5 oz    Peanuts

You can use other shell nuts if you want, just make sure they are unsalted.

Now, before we start this adventure, you must understand this one thing: Safety is Everything! Yes, as corny as that may sound, you gotta make sure you are working safely. ESPECIALLY with hot sugar! A hot little tart on the cooking channel by the name of Nadia G. put it best: "Hot sugar doesn't burn. It maims". If this stuff gets on you, well....you're fucked. So BE CAREFUL!!


Lets get started! After you scale out your ingredients (I work in weight. Use a scale!), you are gonna want to give the peanuts a rough chop. You don't need to turn them into a fine powder, just break them up some.

Time to cook. Normally, I would use a small pot to cook this. For the sake of taking pictures, I used a small saute pan. If you decide to go with the pan, just take caution stirring a bit more. 

First, drop in your butter and turn the flame to medium or medium-low. This isn't a race, so you don't need to blast this on high. Plus, you don't want to burn the butter. Using a whisk or wooden spoon, move the butter around until melted. When the butter is melted, add your sugar and keep stirring. In fact, you aren't going to stop stirring. This is something that needs lots of attention and love. So make use of the DVR, put your show on pause, and focus on the food.

I tried to take a lot of pics to show this will come together, so please work with me on this.

As you stir, the mix is going to change colors. It's gonna start off a little yellow, then slowly start to turn brown. This is not a bad thing. Caramelization is happening, slowly but surely!

As the mix gets a little darker and gets a little smoother, something is going happen. And that "something" is the butter separating from the sugar. When this starts to happen, DON'T PANIC! Just keep stirring! And keep in mind what I said earlier: Be Careful. If that hot butter splashes up on you, it's gonna hurt like a son of a bitch! Trust me, I know!

We are almost to the finish line for this! While the butter is separated, you can take the pan off the heat for a little bit to help it come back together. While stirring, just take the pan off the fire for about 30 seconds or so, then back on the fire. Once it has come back together, add your peanuts. You don't need to cook them long. 1 minute at the most! Really, you wanna stir them in enough to know all of them are covered with the caramel. Once coated, pour out onto your silpat.

Because this is sugar, you are not gonna want to leave this out too long. Wait for it to cool completely, then break into pieces and store in an air tight container. A zip-lock bag will do well too. And....that's it.

Because this is sugar, you are not gonna want to leave this out too long. Wait for it to cool completely, then break into pieces and store in an air tight container. A zip-lock bag will do well too. And....that's it.

This may seem like a lot, but it really isn't. You only need 3 ingredients and a little patience. Once you taste it, you will know that little bit of effort was well worth it. Every time I make this at work, people always walk by it and break off little pieces to eat. It's really that good.

When part 2 arrives, I'll show you how to put it all together. Thanks for stopping by. :)

J. Miller

Pot Stickers

I mentioned these little guys in my last post. Gyoza, also known as Pot Stickers, are a very well known, well loved appetizer. You don't have to be a foodie to know about these things. Finding good ones can be a quite a challenge, though. The best ones I've ever had have always been home made. I think part of the reason is that many restaurants use frozen, out of the bag dumplings instead of making them from scratch. They do that because it can be a bit time consuming wrapping these things up. I'll talk more about that later.

In my last post, I talked about not ordering these at restaurants. I'm not gonna go over that again to save you the time. When I decided to make these myself, I said "Screw these little pussy-ass pot stickers! I'm gonna make me a fat ass pot sticker! Each one is gonna weigh 2 pounds!". Then....reality set in. The wrapper themselves are not big to begin with. The first one I tried wrapping got messy real quick. Plus, I wasn't 100 percent sure what I was doing. So, what did I do? I went to youtube and watched about 5 or 6 videos on making pot stickers. You gotta start somewhere.

Now, I'm no master at making pot stickers. And reading this post and looking at the few pictures I have on here will not make you a master either. All I can do is give you some tips that I have learned from trial and error in preparing this dish. I highly recommend watching a video or two to learn how to properly wrap one. Or, better yet, have someone teach you in person.

Before you can start rolling 'em up, you gotta make the filling. Here is where the fun comes in. You can use ANYTHING for a filling! There is no set standard to what goes inside. This is where chefs put their signature. So, have some fun with it. Me, I almost always start with ground pork. A few herbs, a few veggies, bada bing bada boom, you're done!

Here is your first tip. Whatever filling you choose to go with, cook it first on its own, then after it has cooled, give it a run through with your knife. Big chunks of meat will not make it easy to wrap. You don't want to chop it down to a paste, but little bits are easier to work with.

When the filling is done and you are ready to get down to business, it's time to set up your station. Now, normally I don't like working with food outside the kitchen. But, this is something I will make an exception for. This is something that can take a while, so you might as well get comfortable. I'll set up everything on a table in the living room. Put on a good movie, grab a cold beer, and get ready for the long haul.

Yeah, it's kind of a bad pic, but, oh well. I was tired. It's all there, except the beer. One plate to wrap. One plate for finished product. Small bowl of water, bowl of filling, and wrappers.

I'm gonna try and run through this quick. Hit youtube for a full class. Lay down 1 gyoza wrapper. Put about 1tbs or so of filling. Dip a finger into the water and wipe half of the edge of wrapper. The water is going to act as glue. Seal the filling. Fold over the seal to create pretty edges. Yes, I said "pretty".

Tip number 2. When sealing the filling, try and get as much of the air out of the inside as possible. The air pockets can tear during the cooking process.

Time to cook 'em. Get a non stick saute pan to medium heat. Drop in a little vegetable oil, just a little. Add the gyoza and don't mess with them! Watch the edges to see when they start to brown. When it looks like it is a light brown, drop about 1/4 cup water in the pan. Right after you drop the water in, cover the pan to steam the gyoza. Keep cover until all the water has steamed off. Should take a minute or two. From there, use your tongs to check the bottoms. They should be done at this point.

Let them cool off a minute or two, then dig in and enjoy! That crispy bottom just makes it all the better. Serve with a decent dipping sauce and you are set!

I took some of these to work, and my co-workers seemed to like them. Here is a pic of a satisfied customer.

That's Aimee. She likes the pot stickers. She's also a gangster. Don't let that smile fool you. She listens to more Tupac than I do. Thanks for the thumbs up, gangsta!

Hope you liked it. Come back soon for more tasty tidbits!

J. Miller

Crab Cakes & Shlomo

Crab cakes are cool. I mean REAL cool. Like Samuel L. Jackson kinda cool. You see them on a menu, and your first thoughts are "Oh! They have crab cakes. That sounds good!". Then you see that you are gonna have to pay close to $10 for two, possibly three, crab cakes! It's almost like a sick joke. Yes, they are delicious and mouth watering. But they are gonna cost you an arm and a leg to enjoy them. Bullshit, I tell you!

I'm not sure when I first had them, but I know I really like 'em. It just bugs me how little you get when you order them. Pot stickers, a.k.a Gyoza, are the same way. Tasty, but you don't get your money's worth ordering them out. That's why I choose to make them if I want them.

Like all things, there are many ways to do crab cakes. You can pan fry the little suckers like I did, or do them in the oven, which is more of the Maryland way to do them. Even the number of ingredients can be a big issue. Some believe in few ingredients, so the flavor of the crab meat is the star of the show. Some people load up on spices and veggies to create a whole new experience. That part is really up to you. Personally, I usually stick to the "Less is More" style.

So, at this point, you are probably wondering about the "Shlomo" part of the title. Well, that's an odd reference to a deleted scene from the movie Wedding Crashers. I'm not gonna explain the whole scene because it won't sound as funny as the scene really is. You just gotta see it. All I will say is that Vince Vaughn is an idiot, and they mention crab cakes in the scene. Now, when I think of crab cakes, I think of that scene.

Let's get down business, shall we? I didn't really measure anything, so bare with me. First, you start with the most obvious thing, CRAB. On tv, the first thing they tell you is go run out and buy the lump crab meat. You can do that, just know lump crab is not cheap. You can go with the minced crab meat and it will be just fine. Here is a list of what I used in the mix.

CRAB!!!!
salt
pepper
dry mustard
worcestershire sauce
garlic
green onion
mayo
1 egg yolk
panko bread crumbs


I've seen some recipes that have twice as many ingredients. If you've never made it before, start with something like this to get a feel for it. If it's ok, than go nuts and add the kitchen sink. Here's what your bowl might look like.

Like my toes in the bottom-left corner? LOL. I was tired when I was doing this, OK?!?! Cut a brotha some slack! Anyway, just use a fork to mix everything together. The mayo is gonna be your main binder. Start light, with maybe 1 tablespoon, to see how well the mix stays together, You want it to be able to hold it's shape, but you don't want it too gummy. If it seems too dry, add a little more mayo to it.

Once evenly mixed and tasted to see if the seasonings are right, shape the mix into patties (The size is up to you) and coat with the panko bread crumbs.

Now it's time for the pan fry. And when I say pan fry, I really mean shallow pan fry. You don't need a pot 2 feet deep to cook these things. Put enough oil in the skillet to cover the bottom. Turn the heat up to med-high and don't drop the cakes in until the oil is nice and hot. I don't have exact times on when to flip them over. Use your head and your eyes. When you see the edges in the oil start to brown, check to see if you need to flip 'em. You are looking for golden brown, not jet black! When done, place on place them on a paper towel to get any excess oil.

If there's one thing I know, it's that crab cakes rarely fly solo. Their wing man? SAUCE! 9 times out of 10, you are gonna get an aioli with these lil guys. I was tired, and wasn't up for making anything very complicated. So, I took some Korean BBQ sauce and mixed it with mayo. DONE! I love Korean barbecue sauce. I try and keep it on hand. Here's another shot of the finished product.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think these came out good. Not my best, but good. My mom seemed to love them. I was gonna bring a couple to work the next morning to have a couple co-workers try them, but moms wasn't very keen on that idea. I think this quote from her should sum it up. "Tell your buddies at work I was thinking of them as I'm taking this last bite!"

And there you have it. Not to complicated, and really good.

So, to end this right, here is Shlomo in all his glory. :-)

I'm out!!!

J. Miller

My After-Work Meal

Ha Ha Ha! Yes, nothing tops off a hard days work better than pounding ice cold beer! Or maybe pounding some tight, young.....uh...never mind. In all reality, I don't head straight for the bar after work. But more often than not, I usually do grab a bite to eat. Today, I wanted sushi. As much as I have been working, I've earned a little treat.

I went to a little place down the road called Sushi Cafe. I've been here before and know what I'm usually going to get. They have lots of items on their menu, not just sushi. Various teriyaki plates and soups and appetizers. Me, I'm headed there for sushi.

Now, I'm no expert on sushi. I love it. I mean I REALLY LOVE SUSHI. Last meal? Yeah, sushi is it. But when it comes to rating sushi restaurants, that's not my department. I've been lucky enough to enjoy some sashimi that was caught the same morning. I've also eaten that stuff that they sell at the supermarket. Then there's everything in between. What some call great, others call mediocre. Some people judge these places extremely harsh and cut no slack at all. I'm a bit more forgiving.

My opinion: This place is ok. It's not great, but for the price range, it's not bad at all. You want sushi, but don't want to leave with a $60 bill just for you? Try this spot.

Besides good prices and being within walking distance of my home, I like this place. Always a friendly face and warm smile when you walk in. Here are a couple shots of the interior.

Today, I was pretty hungry leaving the slave ship. I ordered a combo plate. 8 Pieces of sushi and 8 roll pieces. Sounds like a lot, but the pieces at this spot are not huge. You'll see!

It didn't take me long to clean the plate. As usual, I saved the salmon for last. I fucking LOVE raw salmon! I would love to go fishing and catch a salmon. Before the thing would even stop flopping around I would pick it up and take a big bite! That is how much I love salmon. The way it just melts in your mouth! The soft texture! I think I'm getting a little aroused here. Let me check...........yup, totally engorged. I better wrap this up soon to "handle" this other situation.

I still had some room in the belly, so I ordered more salmon, and an order of my second favorite bite, eel.

Every bite on this last plate rocked! No soy sauce needed here. Just bite, close your eyes, and enjoy every second that you have it!

At the end of the meal, you get a free scoop of strawberry ice cream,

Ok, I got to the camera a little late. But trust me, there was ice cream in that little cup! And it was good!

Short. Sweet. To the point. Hope you guys and gals liked this one.

See Ya' Soon!!!

J. Miller

My Secret Weapon

Before I get started, lets talk a little bit. Exchange some pleasantries and a little small talk. What's going on? How are you doing these days? Me? I'm chillin' like a villain. Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope all of you got to enjoy the start of 2012 the way you wanted to. I know I did. I can honestly say that 2011 was one of the more difficult years of my life. I'm glad it's all in the past and I'm looking forward to making the new year a good one. I've got a lot of ideas for this little blog and have been getting good feedback on it. I hope to keep posting good food and reviews, and to keep you guys and gals checking back in.

As much as I like writing for this, I have to be in the mood to do it. For those of you that know me well, I'm all about moods and vibes. I like nice environments. That's why after working a morning shift at work, I'll stop by a Starbucks and hang out for a little bit. It's not an everyday thing, but it usually helps me calm down after a hard day in the kitchen.

Earlier today I was at my favorite Starbucks. I was feeling a bit energetic, so I put on my rock playlist on my phone and set the mood. Lots of Slipknot, Mastodon, Tool, Queens of the Stone Age and anything else to get the blood flowing. Between the music and the caffeine, I walked out of there ready to start a fight or two. Maybe even mug someone, if I had the time. But instead of committing crimes, I went home to be with family and watch a little football.

What I made for this post (Which I will be getting to very soon) I made last week. I've been dragging my feet on this because work has been kicking my ass all week and haven't been up to sitting in front of the computer for more than a few minutes. But today, I'm feeling good and know it's time to share this. So, to get this going, I had to shut off the TV, get some Ritz crackers to snack on, turn on Pandora on my phone and set it to the bossa nova station, and strip down to my undies to comfortable. I know, you probably didn't NEED the last visual. But I'm guessing that you WANTED it, right??? ;)

Ok, enough of the small talk. At least for right now. What is this so-called "Secret Weapon"? What is that pudding looking stuff in the picture above? It's........

Lemon Posset!!!


I already know what you are thinking. "What the fuck is lemon posset?" I'm not gonna tell you the entire history of this dish, that's what google is for. But I will tell you that it is an English dessert that started off as a drink. Over time, it went from drink to dessert. Normally it is served in something like a tea cup.

Why do I call it my secret weapon? For a number of reasons.I've never gotten a bad comment about it. Most people can't figure out how I made it and are usually way off when they guess what ingredients are in it. That last point is where the beauty and strength are in this dish. It only takes three ingredients to make this dish. That's right, THREE INGREDIENTS!! That's it! Heavy cream, lemon juice and sugar. Nothing more.

Before we get down to business, I need to give a little background on the recipe and technique I used for the dish. Why? Because how I made it strays a bit from the original recipe I found. I don't want you to google the recipe and be like "I found other recipes that didn't say anything about doing that!!!". Let me explain...

I got the recipe from a book called Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts by Claire Clark. She is the pastry chef at the The French Laundry. The recipe called for double cream. I used heavy cream, and when I made it just as she said, it came out like shit. I adjusted how to make it with heavy cream, and it came out better. Just way too sweet. So, I cut back on the sugar. Now I have it where I want it.

The recipe I'm gonna give you is MY altered version. The technique is MY way of doing it. If you feel you need to try her way, go for it. But, you need the double cream, which is very tough to find. Try it like I do it, and you shouldn't have any problems. Trust me on this one.

Now, finally, the food. I decided to make another dessert using the lemon posset. So, I'm gonna give the recipe first, then go in order of what I made.

Lemon Posset


16oz           Heavy Cream
7oz             Sugar
                   The juice from 4 lemons*

*If you don't have the lemons, use about 5-6 ounces of the bottled stuff. I recommend juicing the fresh lemons.

You will need 2 small pots. In pot 1, add your heavy cream. In pot 2, add your lemon juice and sugar. Turn both on to high. Stir pot 2 a bit to help the sugar dissolve. When the sugar dissolves in pot 2 and starts to bubble, you can turn the heat off. This will probably happen before pot 1 gets hot. When pot 1 gets hot and starts to bubble slightly, turn the heat down to medium. While stirring, slowly pour in the mixture of pot 2.

From here, continue stirring for about 10-12 minutes until you see that the mix has reduced some and began to thicken some. It's not going to get super thick, but you will feel it as you are stirring. If it seems like it is going to boil over, turn the heat down. It should look like a soft boil when you stop stirring.

When you hit your time or see that it has reduced some, pour the mix into a glass or bowl and place in the fridge without a top for a couple hours to let it set. Once it has cooled a little, you can cover it.

The main part I changed is the stirring. The original recipe just says heat, mix, and pour. No reducing. I did it like that, and it never set. But you don't have to reduce it to nothing. Reduce heavy cream too far and it will break.

The top picture is the finished product. Most of the time I would garnish that with a mint leaf. But I forgot to buy the mint. Oh well. Here is what I did with the lemon posset.

I made tarts! Pie crust on the bottom, posset in the middle, blueberry pie filling on top with a spot of whipped cream. Giggity.

First up, the pie crust. I just laid out 1 store bought pie crust roll and cut circles out of it. I sprayed a muffin tin with non-stick spray and put the circles in the bottom. I poked some holes in the dough to keep it from rising and baked until golden brown.  With the shells done, I made the lemon posset and filled the pie shells.

After filling the pie shells, I placed them in the freezer to set. Now it was time to make the pie filling. I slapped the filling together, so no exact recipe on that on. I used frozen blueberries because the fresh were too expensive. I used about 6oz of berries, roughly half a cup of sugar, maybe a teaspoon of lemon juice, and enough water to cover the berries. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes or so. Took a taste to check flavor, and I liked it. To thicken it, I made a cornstarch slurry, brought the heat up and stirred in the slurry until it got nice and thick. I let that cool a few minutes before topping the posset.

After that, all you gotta do is add some whipped cream and you are good to go!

Lemon and blueberry are two of my favorite flavors, To combine them in one dish felt great. Really, this would be great in the summer. Not much of a fall dish, but still very tasty.

I took a couple to work to have some friends try it out. Here is one of them.

That's Sammy. Sammy rocks. And what did Sammy think of the tart? If I'm nice, hopefully she will post a comment about what she thought of it. I'd rather she tell you herself than me saying "She took one bite, then asked if she could have my children.".

Well, that's it for this one my friends. This was one was kinda lengthy, huh? Well, that's how it goes sometimes. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your time here and plan on coming back soon

Take Care,

J. Miller