Chocolate Custard Cups

The custards are based on French pots de creme, which are baked in individual cups or ramekins. These can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

Chocolate Custard Cups

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.  In a medium saucepan, bring half-and-half and vanilla just to a boil.  Remove from heat.

Place egg yolks, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.  Beat until light, then whisk in chocolate.  Whisking constantly, gradually add hot half-and-half mixture.  Skim any foam from surface.

Divide mixture among four (6-ounce) custard cups, and place in a baking dish just large enough to hold them.  Place in oven, and pour enough boiling water in dish to come halfway up sides of cups. Drape a sheet of aluminum foil over top of baking dish (do not seal).

Bake custards until just set but still slightly wobbly, 40-45 minutes. Remove cups from dish; refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.

Baked Meatballs

These are great meatballs to use with spaghetti sauce.  And baking them makes it so easy.

The Best Baked Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, lean
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbls. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup plain dried bread crumbs

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly spray a 9 x 13 pan or baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Mix thoroughly until ingredients are evenly distributed.

Shape into 1-1.5 inch balls.  Whatever size you choose, they should all be roughly the same size for even cooking.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.  For extra crispy add another 15 minutes.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti for dinner and no jar of spaghetti sauce?  With some canned tomatoes and a couple hours you can make a great homemade spaghetti sauce.  I found this recipe and used some canned roma tomatoes I had and a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, these were 14-15 oz. cans. I blended these as I like a smoother sauce.  I also added in to the sauce some parmesan rind I had saved.  Something I saw on TV.  I did not have the fennel so that was left out. It was summer and I had fresh basil and parsley, a great addition if you have it.  It can be made in large batches and frozen or canned.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. olive oil
1 large white onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 Tbls. white sugar
1 Tbls. fennel seeds
1 Tbls. ground oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

Heat a large pot on the stove over medium high heat.  Add in olive oil and saute onion in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, until softened.  Add in the 5 cloves of garlic and saute another 30-60 seconds.

Pour in chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, fennel, oregano, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley.  Bring to simmer.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1-4 hours.  Can use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until the desired consistency is achieved, leaving it slightly chunky, or making it completely smooth.