Blood Orange Pots de Creme

Experimentalism --

Usually I have no qualms about experimenting on family, friends, students, or even clients. I'll try out new recipes on all of them with few qualms. But then, I'm usually 90 percent sure of what things will taste like provided I know all the ingredients and the cooking method. A taste and a tweak or two on the seasonings and whatever it is comes out fine. I'm sure this true of most experienced cooks.

But I've got a dinner party coming up and I wanted to do something a bit unusual for dessert. Something I could make the day before. Something citrussy. Something a bit elegant.

I was at the grocer's Saturday doing my weekly shopping and some blood oranges caught my eye -- they're not common here. At the time I had some egg yolks and cream back at the house, left over from a cooking class, that I'd been wondering what to do with. Standing there, holding the orange I thought, "Pots de Crème."

I didn't know if citrus would work in pots de crème, so this clearly called for an experiment. I found some recipes on the web calling for lemon, I adapted, and came up with this recipe. The flavor is surprising. Citrus, yes. Orange, yes. But the both milder and oddly richer than I expected. At any rate, it should be a hit next weekend.

Blood Orange Pots de Crème

1/3 cups sugar
1 whole egg
4 egg yolks
1 1/4 c. heavy cream
1/2 cup blood orange juice
1 teaspoon grated blood orange rind

Heat oven to 325F. Bring a pot of water to a lazy boil.

Whisk together orange juice, egg yolks, egg, and sugar. Add cream and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Pass the mixture through a strainer; stir in the orange rind.

Place 4 ramekins or pots de crème cups in a large roasting pan. Divide the mixture evenly into the cups. Pour enough boiling water in the pan to come halfway up the sides of the dishes and cover with aluminum foil. Place on a middle rack in the oven and bake until the custard is just set around the edges -- approximately 40 minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the pan and allow them to cool. Then, cover and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours and as long as overnight. Serve garnished with orange supremes. Serves 4.

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