Series Two: Part Six - A little bit of Sole and Creme Caramel

This was supposed to be a blog about the "Spinach Twins" disc one number five from the "The French Chef". I had purchased the spinach from the supermarket in the morning, and had settled down early afternoon to watch the recipe unfold on DVD. It was looking promising - a spinach turnover was being described. After dutifully taking notes of preparation of spinach including the high chop action with the stainless steel knife, the video stopped functioning and I could go no further. Damn it! Julia didn't even have the recipe recorded in her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".
I did have Tarakihi fish on the menu for the nights dinner, so technically I could have mastered this week by following the crumb fish recipe. I took a photo of one cooked deliciously golden brown to provide some evidence of mastery of cooking....although we all really know that it is simply throwing the fish in some flour, egg and breadcrumbs and frying! So to overcome the disappointment of the spinach I have ventured out to new frontiers - the Crème Caramel dessert. It is rather off putting when Julia describes this as one of the dishes that separates chefs. Quite partial to custard and having plenty of time I commenced preparation. A highlight of this dish was the inaugural use of the copper pot that I had purchased from Julia's favourite cookery supply place in Paris. This was used for preparing the caramel, and it did a super job. The fun part was swirling the caramel around the baking dish like a lava flow in perpetual motion until it cools and sets. The recipe called for 6 large eggs and 5 egg yolks (lucky I had also purchased eggs this morning) warmed milk and some vanilla extract which I clumsily tipped over rather zealously but managed to avoid overdose of the dish.
Julia recommends baking in a pan of boiling water in the lower third of the oven in a 350F oven for about an hour. Hour went past and the mixture was pretty runny .. hmm more time... after an additional hour of cooking I decided its now or never. Off to the freezer to cool down because I wanted to sample this before midnight!
The high anxiety moment of unmoulding worked (whew). One caramel custard ready for eating.. and it went down a treat - very smooth and light - no guilt at all.
Now what to do with that spinach...