Old-fashioned Baked Egg Custard

BAKED EGG CUSTARD

Old-fashioned baked egg custard is a comfort food that brings back memories of childhood. I used to make it for my children. It is simple, delicious, and soothing all at the same time. My son used to request it when he was a little boy. Making it again yesterday was reliving a happy memory. With just a few ingredients, it blends together quickly and bakes in a water bath in the oven. The most difficult part about this recipe is waiting for it to cool! It needs no embellishment, no fruit, no whipped cream. It's perfect all on its own, just the way it is. It makes a great breakfast or brunch dish as well - eggs, milk, slightly sweet. What a terrific way to start (or end) the day!

Baked Egg Custard - serves four

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Spray or lightly butter 4 standard-sized ramekins or custard cups (you may have enough for 5)

Have a larger pan ready that can fit the ramekins within

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar (or equivalent sweetener of choice)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

A dash of salt

nutmeg for sprinkling

Directions:

Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla. I used my Ninja blender to do this but you can use a mixer or whisk.

Scald milk but don't let it come to a boil - when tiny bubbles appear on the edge of the pot, remove from heat. 

Take 1 cup of the hot milk and gradually blend into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. 

Pour the tempered egg/milk mixture back into the rest of the scalded milk. Mix thoroughly.

Place ramekins in pan. Divide custard among ramekins and sprinkle tops with nutmeg.

Pour hot tap water halfway up the pan being careful not to get water into the custard.

Carefully place pan in preheated oven (careful, it is heavy).

Bake 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center of one of the custards comes out clean. 

Once the pan has cooled a bit, remove ramekins and let sit for a while. 

Now the hard part - wait while the custard cools in the fridge!

Alternately: you can bake one large custard in a casserole dish - bake for about an hour. 

Do you have a memoryof a favorite childhood dessert? Please share in the comments below!

Dinner Omelet

Tonight I made dinner omelets for Meghan and me.  She was craving "real food" after five days on the road, and I wanted something simple, filling, and satisfying, with few carbs.  I offered her an omelet, and that sounded good. These individual omelets, the size of a personal pan pizza (in roadside food terms) were made in an 8" round saute pan.

Here's how I did it:

In the non-stick saute pan over medium heat, I melted a teaspoon of butter and added a couple tablespoons each of chopped green pepper and chopped Vidalia onion.  To that, I added 2 large sliced baby bella mushrooms and 2 thick slices of red-ripe-garden-fresh tomatoes, chopped.  I let it cook down  until almost all the liquid from the tomatoes evaporated off, in which time all the other vegetables were done to perfection.  Then I beat 2 large eggs (Katie's chickens are laying!) with a splash of milk and poured it over the veggies in the pan, sprinkled a little salt and pepper, then gave it a stir to incorporate everything.  With a heat-proof spatula, the sides were pushed in until the liquid on top solidified and no longer flowed underneath.  At that point, I carefully folded one half of the omelet over the other half (this can be messy, but it tastes great even if it breaks and looks awful!).  I turned the heat to the lowest setting and let it sit for a few minutes to continue cooking through.

That was Meghan's omelet.

To mine, before pouring in the eggs, I added a couple tablespoons cubed ham (from a ham steak I bought just for this purpose - which will probably provide enough ham for 4-5 omelets at least) and some large dices of cheddar cheese.

When I was making my omelet, Henry asked what I was doing, and I responded that I was making eggs with ham.  He asked "Green eggs and ham?"  When I offered him a little dice of ham, he refused.  It wasn't what he was imagining!  Fortunately, Katie and the boys had dinner well before my omelets-for-dinner were underway.

Before the eggs -- sauteed veggies, ham, and cheese

I love breakfast for dinner, especially when I don't have to worry too much about carbs sabotaging my good intentions!

Katie's chickens lay beautiful eggs, but she had a little trouble tonight rounding them up before the rain started.  Henry had to chase the last one with a leafy branch to corral it into the little coop yard.  He'd run one way and the chicken ran the other, but finally (after half an hour of trying) the last hold-out joined the other chickens and I expect by now they're in the coop, out of the rain!  Sorry I didn't have my camera handy to capture that chase!