Desserts Of The Mediterranean

I've never eaten this much dessert in my life, but I simply could not help it.

Sorbete de limon al mar de cava

My contribution to DOTMC last year was inspired by this dessert, Sorbete de limon al mar de cava, which I first had in January 2008 at Cal Boter in Barcelona. I was lucky enough to be able to return yesterday and couldn't resist ordering it again, even though the menu has other tremendously delicious and classic Catalan desserts. There is something about this perfectly smooth sweet and sour sorbet floating in an equally sour but very strong liqueur that just gets my goat. The other thing that makes me crazy is the liqueur is basically impossible to find, even here in Barcelona, so I guess I'll just take what I can get and enjoy the special chances I have every few years.

Crema Catalana

I had the desire to make Crema Catalana (I'm not exactly a dessert girl) for a dinner party a few weeks ago. In addition to the recipe below I made some blackberry/raspberry syryp and added one fresh blackberry and two raspberries. I made an error after I had added the eggs and returned the creme to the heat and removed it before it was thick enough, so it never became the smooth delicious custard I had envisioned. When I realized it was not coming together properly, I consulted my personal dessert guru aka Lang, and we decided to freeze it. It actually "tasted" delicious, but I was a little sad. As always, cooking is science and experimentation!


Recipe:
6 egg yolks
1 liter of milk
6 oz. of sugar
1 lemon
1 vanilla cane

boil the milk in a pot with the lemon peel, vanilla bean (scraped inside and cane) and sugar.
once it starts to boil, take it off the heat and strain.
slowly add the egg yolks to the hot milk, stirring constantly.
return the milk to the heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, let it boil and THICKEN, once it's as thick as a soft custard, remove from the heat.
pour custard into ceramic pots and let it cool, approximately 3 hours.
as you prepare to serve, sprinkle sugar on top, heat cake slice and press on surface to crystalize sugar.