By Valentine's Day. Year three of trying to be romantic, and I'm getting better at it, or at least more creative. This year: I cooked a three-course dinner at home again (last year's model worked, so why change it?), but the menu was different. Appetizer: oysters on the half shell with mignonette — bought fresh from the oyster bar at Tony's, shucked by me in the backyard (shucking oysters is a skill that Joey taught me and that requires a sturdy knife, a towel, and the willingness to stab yourself approximately twice before you get the angle right). Main: a pan-seared redfish with crawfish cream sauce — the fish on the bottom, the sauce on top, the combination of the two so Louisiana it could run for governor. Dessert: crème brûlée, which I learned from a YouTube video and which came out better than expected, which means the torch I bought for this specific purpose has justified its existence.
Danielle wore the dress again. The one from last year. She does this — she has a Valentine's dress, a single dress that exists for this single night, and the repetition isn't boring, it's sacred, the way the réveillon is sacred, the way the crawfish boil is sacred. Some things should repeat. Some things are better the second time, and the third, and the fourteenth. Like us. Like this dinner. Like the way she says "Tommy Beaumont" when the food is right and the candles are lit and the kids are at Angelle's and the house is ours.
The crème brûlée came out better than expected — which, if you know how first attempts usually go, means it came out shockingly well. But a torch is a commitment, and now that it lives in the drawer next to the meat thermometer, I feel a certain obligation to keep using it. Pots de crème is where I went next: same rich custard logic, same quiet elegance, same idea that a small ramekin of something deeply good is worth more than a whole sheet cake. If you’re cooking for two and you want the dessert to feel like it belongs at the end of a real meal — the kind with candles and a dress and a name said the right way — this is the one.
Pots de Crème
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min (plus 2 hrs chilling) | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate (60–70% cacao), finely chopped
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Whipped cream and flaky sea salt, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place four 4-oz ramekins in a deep baking dish and set aside. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
- Melt the chocolate. Place chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the heavy cream and milk until it just begins to simmer. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and let sit 1 minute, then whisk until completely smooth.
- Make the custard base. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt until pale and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Slowly stream the warm chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to temper the eggs. Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Strain and fill. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer into a spouted measuring cup. Divide evenly among the four ramekins.
- Bake in a water bath. Carefully pour the boiling water into the baking dish until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the entire dish loosely with foil. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the custards are just set at the edges but still have a slight wobble in the center.
- Cool and chill. Remove ramekins from the water bath and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or overnight) before serving.
- Serve. Top each pot de crème with a small dollop of lightly whipped cream and a pinch of flaky sea salt just before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 480 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 38g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 110mg