Using leftovers for wraps

When I was making curry roasted drumsticks the other night, I already knew I'd turn the leftovers into wraps the next day. You could use this recipe for any type of leftover meat. It's more of a guideline that you can play with.

I used leftover mango salsa to fill my wraps. But you could add anything, such as fresh slices of mango with a dijon mustard dressing. Or, you could make a traditional wrap with greens and tomatoes.

It's a super easy lunch.

Wraps using leftovers
Ingredients:
Leftover meat or roasted vegetables
Leftover side
Spinach leaves
9-10 inch tortillas, wheat or white

Spread spinach leaves in middle of your tortilla, making sure there's a border all around. Place pieces or slices of leftover meat on the bed of spinach. Lay ingredients of a leftover side on the bed of spinach.

Fold the top and bottom borders of your wrap about one inch inward. Take the right side of your tortilla and fold it over the ingredients. Once all ingredients are snug inside, roll the rest of your wrap over one last time.

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Curry roasted drumsticks with mango salsa

Five drumsticks had been sitting in my fridge, drumming on my thoughts, making me think about curry spices and mango salsa.

I used to get Cuisine At Home magazines, until I stopped my subscription. The quarterly magazine had decadent recipes that called for a lot of ingredients and time. I still keep two huge binders full of the magazines and some of the recipes are my favorites.

Curry roasted drumsticks is one my favorites and my husband's. The sweetness of a peach preserve glaze undercuts the spiciness of the chicken and goes really nicely together. Cuisine At Home makes a pineapple salsa side for this dish, but I've substituted mangoes. (I LOVE mangoes.) I've also tweaked the recipe and used a different curry rub.

Curry roasted drumsticks with mango salsa
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1/4 cup curry rub (see recipe)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 chicken drumsticks
2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil)
1/4 cup peach preserves or apple jelly

Curry Rub
Ingredients:
4 teaspoons curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Makes 10 teaspoons
Note: I'd make extra curry rub and store it. Then you don't have to keep making it.
Source: Everyday Food's "Great Food Fast"

Mango Salsa
Ingredients:
1 mango, fruit cut into cubes
2 tablespoons red onion, minced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons serrano or jalapeno chili, seeded, minced
Juice of half a lime

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix ingredients for curry rub. Put it in a resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken, seal the bag and shake to coat.

Heat oil in a large ovenproof pot over medium-high. Add coated chicken and brown for about five minutes on all sides. Transfer pot to the oven and roast 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the salsa. Mix mango, red onion, cilantro, and chili in a bowl. Add honey and lime juice. Let the flavors marinate.

Once the chicken has been in the oven for 25 minutes, take the pot out of the oven. Take out the chicken. Add preserves or jelly to the drippings. Turn on the stove and heat the jelly until it melts. Transfer the drumsticks back to the pot and coat them with the glaze. Place pot back in the oven and roast for another 10 minutes.

Mix together ingredients for mango salsa. Serve drumsticks with mango salsa.
Source: Cuisine At Home June 2006.
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Go-to Spaghetti

I had to do a few errands after work on Tuesday, so I made a quick spaghetti sauce when I came home. Plus, I had a pile of dishes in the sink, the stove and the table after our meal of steak and fries.

Spaghetti with homemade sauce is my go-to meal when the food in my fridge is dwindling.

I usually have garlic, pasta, canned tomatoes, and red wine somewhere in my kitchen. Sometimes I use fresh tomatoes.

This time around, I had plenty of fresh basil.

The recipe is intuitive. Add however much you think you'll need.

Go-to Spaghetti
Serves 1
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes, or fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup red wine or to taste
Basil, 5-7 large leaves chopped
Parmesan cheese, grated or crumbled feta
spaghetti pasta

Boil pasta in salted water. Eyeball enough pasta for what you think you'll need.

While the pasta is cooking, saute onion in olive oil in a frying pan. Add garlic. When it becomes fragrant, add tomatoes. If you're using fresh tomatoes, chop as much as you need. Add red wine. Simmer the sauce to the thickness you want.

Drain pasta when ready. Add basil to the sauce. Pour sauce over pasta and serve.

Print recipe

When I didn't have fresh basil, sometimes I substituted cilantro. The sauce is still tasty, especially with the reduced red wine.

Steak and fries

I worked the early shift on Memorial Day. When I came home, I told my husband, "You're going to cook."

I had stopped by the grocery store and bought rib-eye steaks and russet potatoes. (M. definitely wanted a steak.) The landlord and local laws do not allow us to grill on our patio or on the complex grounds for fear of fire. Our next resort was to broil, or grill invertedly, according to Alton Brown's definition.

M. had already scoped out a marinade recipe in Brown's cookbook "I'm Just Here for the Food." As a side, M. wanted to make french fries. I said cooking green beans would be quicker.

"No! I want real food!" M. said.

We didn't have enough peanut oil, so M. went to the neighborhood grocery store to get more. We used our cast iron dutch oven for the first time, filling it up with oil. M. brought out the mandolin to cut the potatoes, but I suggested we could cut them with a chef's knife. He wouldn't listen, thinking the mandolin would be faster. Well, it took him a little while to figure out the different parts of the mandolin. But he managed to cut the potatoes McDonald's-worthy thin after lots of #$%&*.

I'll tell you how we fried our fries, but it was our first try. I'm sure there are much better ways to do it.










French fries on the first try
Adapted from Cuisine at Home Issue No. 52 August 2005
Ingredients:
Russet potatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a sturdy pot with peanut oil to 325 degrees F.

Cut potatoes to preferred width.

Drop the fries into water. Then blot them dry with a paper towel as much as possible. Drop batches of fries into the oil. Drain onto a rack that has paper towels underneath or some kind of paper to soak up the oil. Blot fries again to catch excess oil. Then heat oil in the pot up to 375 degrees F.

Drop fries in batches in the oil. Drain them. Season with salt and pepper.


The slender sticks of starch were crispy. They weren't awesome. But they weren't bad.

Steak Marinade
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped yellow onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup white wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh minced ginger or 1/4 teaspoon ground
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix together in a food processor.
Source: "I'm Just Here for the Food" by Alton Brown

We let our steaks marinate for about an hour. M. heated our broiler and cooked the steaks a few minutes on each side. One of the steaks was a little overcooked. I'd broil the steaks four minutes on one side. Then turn them over and cook them for three minutes.

Print recipe for steak and fries

I took a bite of my steak. It tasted like bulgogi, Korean marinated beef. We use soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sugar for a marinade. Brown's recipe had similar aspects.

Steak and fries aren't the quintessential Memorial Day meal. But now, we're not afraid to make our own fries.

Strawberry Mascarpone Pie

I've been seeing strawberries everywhere in food magazines and restaurant desserts. But I wanted to make something of my own. I've been reading Everyday Food magazine and I remembered a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. The Food Network star has a recipe for berries with mascarpone and meringue. A mascarpone-whipped cream mixture is made and then dolloped on mixed berries. I took that mixture and made it the filling for my pie. I macerated the berries in lemon juice and sugar.

My neighborhood grocery store didn't sell tart shells, so I had to buy a frozen pie crust. I baked it in the oven and it was ready to go. I halved the strawberries and arranged them over the mascarpone-whipped cream filling. I didn't have any apricot preserves, so I used peach preserves instead for a glaze.

It's my first strawberry pie!

Strawberry Mascarpone Pie
Ingredients:
Topping:
1 10-ounce container of strawberries, hulled and halved
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup apricot or peach preserves

Filling:
1/2 mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 frozen pie crust or tart shell

Follow instructions on package of frozen pie crust or tart shell to have one ready to go.

Halve strawberries and put in a large bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice. Mix. Let the berries macerate.

For the filling, loosen up mascarpone cheese in a large bowl with a spoon. Set aside. Make whipped cream by adding sugar. Then beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until soft peaks form.

Fold in a small amount of the whipped cream into the mascarpone cheese. Keep folding in small amounts of whipped cream until it is all mixed in. Take a spatula and cover the bottom of the pie crust or tart shell with the mixture. Be generous.

Arrange strawberries on top. Melt apricot or peach preserves in a saucepan over low heat. Brush the preserves on the strawberries for a glaze.

If there are leftovers, dollop mascarpone/whipped cream on strawberries.

Print recipe

Puerto Rico: Bioluminescent Bay

There are only five bioluminescent bays in the world. Puerto Rico has three of them. Special conditions allow dinoflagellates in the water to glow when agitated.

We took a kayaking trip to Laguna Grande in Fajardo at night. It was the type of thing we were glad we didn't miss.

Surrounded by red mangrove trees, we kayaked through a channel to get to the bay. It was serene, eerily beautiful.

When I touched the water, it glowed. My hand emitted blue fire as I moved it back and forth. Instant superpowers, I thought.

The guides would not allow us to swim in the water. The government had banned swimming in Laguna Grande in 2007. However, they let us dip half our bodies in the water.

I squirmed after I stuck my body in the bay, and my legs illuminated. I seemed to be moving faster than I was as the invisible dinoflagellates became agitated.

Soon, it was time to go. Our paddles glowed every time they hit the water.

Yokahu Kayak Trips
Fajardo, PR
Phone numbers 787-604-7375; 787-863-5374
Cost: $45 per person
Note: Another option to see a bioluminescent bay is in Vieques, a small island off the main island of Puerto Rico. People are still allowed to swim in Mosquito Bay. The bay is supposed to be brighter than Laguna Grande.

For Fajardo biobay tours, all kayak tour companies meet at Las Croabas, a park. My guides were funny and knowledgeable, but there are plenty of reputable tour companies to choose from. Some companies pick you up at your hotel. We chose to drive.

Directions from San Juan to Las Croabas: Take 26 east. Then merge onto 66 east. Merge onto 3 east. When you get close to Fajardo, take the exit for 195. Watch for signs for Las Croabas, a park where all kayak trips start. You will find yourself on 987, which intersects with 195. Take 987 and then it will turn into 9987. You'll drive on steep hills. Keep driving until you get to a park and see kayaks.

Directions from Las Croabas to San Juan: Take 9987/ 987 back to the center of Fajardo. Watch for signs for 194, which will take you back to 3. Don't use 195 to get out of Fajardo, or you will get lost.


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Puerto Rico: Seafood

Asopao

Asopao is a lovely thing. It's a thick stew with rice and seafood that hits that hunger spot in your stomach. I had the soup at La Mallorquina in Old San Juan. Founded in 1848, La Mallorquina says it's the oldest gastronomical establishment in the New World. It's known for asopao.

The restaurant has an Old World feel to it. Large mirrors hang on the wall. The reflections of those mirrors have faded with age. The bar is made of dark wood. A painting of a couple in love is on another wall. M. asked for a mojito. We could hear the bartender pound mint leaves at the bar. I took a few sips of M.'s mojito. It was sweet and the mint made me want the drink even more. The restaurant is expensive. A mojito costs $10. But I would definitely come back.

La Mallorquina
207 Calle San Justo
Old San Juan





Another place we went to for seafood was Miro Marisqueria Catalana in the neighborhood of Condado in San Juan.

I still think about the cod with chickpeas in tomato sauce. The fish was flaky. The rice soaked up the savory sauce, and I love chickpeas.
We also had tostones at the suggestion of our waiter. They're these really cool fried plantain disks.

I had heard about this restaurant from a Yelp review, and it was nice that it was close to our hotel.

As M. and I ate our meal, the table next to us peered out the window. A pet iguana was lying on a chair outside.

A waiter who services the tables outside brings his pet iguana to work. The iguana is old in its years.

When we saw the reptile after we ate our dinner, it was sleeping.

Miro Marisqueria Catalana
1214 Ashford Ave.
Corner of Ashford and Caribe
Condado
San Juan, PR

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Puerto Rico: Mercado de Rio Piedras

After watching veteran foodies go to farmers' markets in most of their television shows, I knew I had to hit Puerto Rico's largest farmers' market — Mercado de Rio Piedras. At the market, I knew I would get a sense of the cuisine and the ingredients. The cooks in the market cafeteria wouldn't be catering to tourists; they'd be catering to locals.

Mercado de Rio Piedras is housed in a huge building. Vendors sell tropical fruits, meat, fish and anything else. Outside, the street is blocked off from cars and more vendors sell discounted clothes, toys and whatever else.

We walked past farmers' stands, marveling at mangoes, big peppers, small peppers, oranges, pineapples and other fruits and vegetables.

Then we entered the cafeteria. One stall said "La comida criollo," the name natives give to Puerto Rican cuisine. The cuisine is a mix of Spanish, African and other influences. Other stalls said "lechon" for roast suckling pig and "batida" or smoothie.

I picked the criollo stall. We had a choice of meat and sides. I pointed at a mystery beef entree, fried plantains and rice and beans. The woman behind the counter became frustrated with me as I didn't seem to be following the directions on which sides are supposed to go with which meat. I didn't know enough Spanish to communicate, and she didn't know enough English. I kept pointing at things anyway. She heaped the food into a styrofoam container.

Another woman asked if I wanted some sauce. I nodded. She ladled a tomato-based bean sauce into a cup.

M. and I picked a table. The container looked like a mess, but the food satisfied our tummies. The beef was shredded and very flavorful. The plaintains were mildly sweet as they were always were. (I love starch.) The bean sauce seemed to go with white rice, not the darker rice and beans. But it still tasted wonderful whether it was on grains or not. I could slurp that sauce down by itself.

We couldn't finish all the food in that container, which had only cost $5. We headed back to the farmers' stalls.

An electric current kept going off. When we walked into a hallway, a man was selling tasers and setting one off.

As I said, everything is sold at this market.

Mercado de Rio Piedras
Paseo de Diego
Rio Piedras, PR

Directions from San Juan: The market is south of the Universidad de Puerto Rico. It is on Paseo de Diego, a portion of Calle Jose de Diego that is blocked off from cars. Make your way to 27 South/ Dr. Barbosa and turn right on Calle Jose de Diego. There are cheap parking lots right there.

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Puerto Rico: Flamenco Beach

The color of the ocean at Flamenco Beach is aqua, then turquoise, then a deep blue. The sand is white. Flamenco Beach is on Culebra, a smaller island next to the main island of Puerto Rico.

We spent the whole day here on a Tuesday when the beach was less crowded. It was breathtaking. I've never been to a beach where the water was this clear. San Juan beaches don't compare.

As we stood in line at the one food kiosk that was open, the staff ran out of everything except for soda.

We went back to the beach and lazed in the sun.

"We achieved absolutely nothing today," M. said, who was very pleased.

At close to 4 p.m., a taxi driver took us back to the dock so we could catch the 5 p.m. ferry. Taxis are easy to catch here because they wait at the dock when ferries arrive. For a few bucks, they'll get you to the beach.

I was starving when we got back to the dock. Luckily, a food kiosk was open. M. went to go find beer and I ordered hot dogs for both of us.

The cook asked me if I wanted everything on the hot dog. I said, "Sure."


The cook layered on chili, sauteed onions, saurkraut, mustard, cheese whiz and potato sticks. It was AWESOME.

Ferry ride fares:
To and from Culebra-> $2.25 per person per ride ($4.50 round trip)
To and from Vieques-> $2 per person per ride ($4 round trip)
Vieques is another small island that has beautiful beaches like Culebra.

Tips:
Bring food and water with you.
Arrive at the Fajardo ferry dock an hour before departure to get tickets. Buy more tickets if you plan to go to the beach again.
Be ready for a rocky ride.

Directions from San Juan to Fajardo ferry dock:
Take 26 east. Then merge onto 66 east. Merge onto 3 east. Once you get to Fajardo, take the exit for 195. Try to follow 195 and any signs for the ferry.

Directions out of Fajardo: Head back the way you came. Take 194 to 3 west. DO NOT TAKE 195 OUT OF FAJARDO. You will get lost because the road kind of disappears in twists and turns on the way out.

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Puerto Rico: Lechonera Los Pinos

Lechonera Los Pinos
Barrio Guavate
Carr. 184, Km. 27.7
Cayey, PR
Directions from San Juan: Find your way to 52 South (18 South merges into 52 South). Stay on 52 for about 30 minutes. Watch for the exit that says Guavate, Cayey, 184, 1 (Exit 32). When you get to a fork, take a left onto 184. Follow the twists and turns to 763. The kilometer markers (km) should decrease from 32 to 28. When you get to the intersection at 763, turn right to stay on 184. Lechonera los Pinos will be on your right with a huge parking lot.

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Lechon - roast suckling pig - was the reason why my husband and I picked Puerto Rico for our honeymoon. Or rather, Anthony Bourdain helped us reach that decision.

A few months ago, M. and I were sitting in the living room, thinking of an affordable place to go for a belated honeymoon. M. suggested Puerto Rico. I popped in the DVD of No Reservations with the Puerto Rico episode.

We fast forwarded to the PIG, that mass of juicy meat. I was briefly hypnotized by the porn music soundtrack on the episode. I turned to M. and said, "We have to go there."

"Do you know how much I love you right now?" M. said.

I smiled.

So, here we were searching for the land of lechon. We headed to the mountainous neighborhood of Guavate in Cayey. We drove onto 184, a bumpy, twisty road up the mountains. We passed by many lechoneras, but we wanted to eat at Lechonera Los Pinos, the place Bourdain ate at.

At the intersection at 763, we turned right to stay on 184. Suddenly I saw the sign.

Address: Barrio Guavate, Carr. 184, Km. 27.7

The place was empty on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. Knowing more Spanish than M., I ordered lechon for two with sides of rice and beans, plantains and sweet potato.


The light reflected off the crispy skin. I went for it first.

Crunchy.

Then I went for the fatty, juicy meat.

Drop-dead good.

I added sofrito (tomato-based sauce with garlic, peppers and onions) from the huge vodka bottle.

Even better.

Puerto Rico: Old San Juan

I loved the colors of Old San Juan. They were unapologetically sunny. Rows of buildings were painted in yellow, blue, pink, green and red. It was an upbeat place to have breakfast.

We headed to a local favorite La Bombonera, a place known for its mallorcas. The sweet bread pastries can be slathered in butter or turned into a breakfast sandwich.

Address: 259 Calle de San Francisco, Old San Juan

We waited in a long line on a Sunday morning. Since we were just two, they fit us in at the counter. The restaurant felt like an old-fashioned soda fountain with waiters in white and red uniforms. I ordered the mallorca with butter. My husband ordered a bacon, cheese and egg mallorca.


Butter oozed inside my mouth when I bit into the mallorca. M.'s breakfast sandwich had the same amount of powdered sugar on top. I wasn't sure about salty bacon, egg and cheese with a whole bunch of confectioner's, but I took a bite. It was delicious. The saltiness and the sweet work together.

After breakfast, we visited Castillo San Felipe del Morro, or Fort El Morro for short. My husband is into history. He likes going through sites slowly, while I get impatient.


Christopher Columbus came to Puerto Rico in 1493 and declared the island under Spain. A fort was built to protect the island against pirates and other attackers. The Spanish kept expanding and building onto El Morro and San Cristobal forts. San Cristobal is a fort near the entrance to Old San Juan.

El Morro Fort has six levels. We saw where cannons used to be. We descended into the fort via triangle staircases, ventured out to lookout points and walked down circular staircases to get to other levels.

After the tour, I was ready to sit down in an air-conditioned restaurant for lunch. I already knew where to go: El Jibarito. In reviews I've read, people would say taxi drivers recommended the place. We made our way to Calle Sol. When we walked down the street, I stopped short at the small, unobtrusive sign that said the restaurant's name. With the heavy doors shut, the place looked closed. I pushed through the doors and on my right was a big room with tables.

Address: 280 Calle Sol, Old San Juan

M. loves pork. Puerto Rican cuisine is all about the hog. Both of us ordered roasted pork with plantain sauce with different types of mofongo. Mofongo is fried, mashed plantains or yucca, seasoned with garlic and pork cracklings.

The pork was fork-tender with a really garlicky sauce. The vinegary hot sauce cut through the garlic and made it even more delicious. My mofongo was basically plantain on plantain sauce. I preferred M.'s yucca mofongo because it tasted like fried, mashed potatoes.

I sat back in my chair and felt happy. This is what I came here for - to taste the culture.

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Puerto Rico: Barbecue Chicken

We came off that plane in San Juan, Puerto Rico and I was STARVING. Before we took this belated honeymoon trip in early May, I scoped out the best eats of the island on Yelp.com. As soon as we picked up our rental car at the airport, we headed for Bebo's BBQ. I heard it had some of the best barbecued chicken. And it did.

A woman standing behind us in a long line of people was nice enough to order for us in Spanish. I got a whole chicken, sweet potatoes and rice and beans for the two of us.

The chicken had flavor all the way to the bone- the way I like it. The chicken was juicy and tender. Awesomeness on a plate.

I liked the sweet potatoes.
Unlike rice and beans in the states, Puerto Rican rice and beans have flavor. I wouldn't mind eating it by itself.





Address:
Frontage road off 26 east.
Carolina, PR

Directions from the rental car place at Luiz Marin Munoz International Airport:
Take 26 east. Look for a McDonald's. Bebo's BBQ is right next to it. The restaurant will have huge letters saying its name. Get off at the next exit and get on the frontage road. Make your way back to the arches.


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Spanish Tortilla

I was thinking about those farm eggs in my fridge. They'd been there for about a month, just sitting there. I had to use them up. I went through the roster of recipes in my mind and settled on a Spanish tortilla. I could use up eggs AND potatoes. Plus, I had red bell pepper and fresh asparagus from a local farm in Millerton.

Spanish tortilla
Source: Everyday Food magazine April 2009
Serves 4
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for serving
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced an inch thick (or use any potato in your pantry)
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 large eggs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Variation: Add asparagus or other favorite vegetables.
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium ovenproof nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium. Add potatoes, bell pepper, and onion; season with salt and pepper (skillet will be very full). Cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are crisp-tender, 14 to 16 minutes. Uncover, and cook off excess liquid, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, parsley, hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper. Pour egg mixture over vegetables in skillet, and stir to distribute evenly. With the back of a spatula, press down on vegetables so they lay flat and are submerged.
3. Bake until tortilla is set, 12 to 16 minutes. To unmold, run a rubber spatula around edge of skillet to release tortilla; invert onto a serving plate. Drizzle tortilla with oil; garnish with parsley.

Chocolate pots de creme with sliced strawberries

I love custard and I love chocolate. When I saw America's Test Kitchen make easy chocolate pots de creme, I had to make them. As a variation on the recipe, I added sliced strawberries.

Chocolate Pots de Creme with sliced strawberries
Serves 8
Ingredients:
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60 percent cocoa); chopped fine
5 large egg yolks
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4-5 strawberries, sliced (optional)

Whipped cream
1/2 cup heavy cream (cold)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the pots de creme: Place chocolate in medium heatproof bowl; set fine-mesh strainer over bowl and set aside.

Whisk yolks, sugar, and salt in medium bowl until combined; whisk in heavy cream and half-and-half. Transfer mixture to medium saucepan. Cook mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon, until thickened and silky and custard registers 175 to 180 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 8 to 12 minutes. Do not let custard overcook or simmer.

Immediately pour custard through strainer over chocolate. Let mixture stand to melt chocolate, about 5 minutes. Whisk gently until smooth, then whisk in vanilla.

Optional: Place one strawberry slice in the bottom of each ramekin. Ladle the chocolate on top. Alternate between one strawberry slice and a layer of chocolate.

Gently tap ramekins against counter to remove air bubbles.

Cool pots de crème to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 72 hours. If you want the pots de creme to soften up, let them stand at room temperature 20 to 30 minutes.

For the whipped cream: Using hand mixer or standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla on low speed until bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium; continue beating until beaters leave trail, about 30 seconds longer. Increase speed to high; continue beating until nearly doubled in volume and whipped cream forms soft peaks, 30 to 45 seconds longer.

Dollop each pot de crème with about 2 tablespoons whipped cream; garnish with cocoa or chocolate shavings, if using. Serve.

Source: America's Test Kitchen

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If you would like to use any of my photos or original recipes for your Web site, please ask me for permission. Contact me at hummingbirdappetite@gmail.com.

I don't mind if you state the name of my blog and provide a link. I also don't mind if you adapt an original recipe of mine to your preference and post it on your blog. I myself adapt recipes from cookbooks.

However, please do not download one of my photos and use it on your blog without my permission.

About Me

I never thought I'd be a line cook. I dreamed of being a doctor just like my dad, a South Korean immigrant who came to the United States to train as an anesthesiologist. But I became a newspaper reporter instead, covering town government meetings, calculating property tax rates and trying to decipher city budgets for readers. The beacon in a long day of tussling with politicians was coming home at night and braising short ribs.

I went to culinary school fully thinking I'd go back to professional writing, only this time I'd focus on food. I gained confidence and speed during my three-month internship in the test kitchen of Saveur magazine, but I knew I had so much more to learn about cooking. I was a French Culinary Institute graduate, but I couldn't consistently cook a medium-rare steak every time.

In 2011, I took a job as a line cook at The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges. It's strange. Working on the line has the same adrenaline rush when covering a big story. Drop me in a town flattened by a tornado, and I run to the center of chaos. When the machine prints those order tickets, I'm ready to go, ladling sauce in a pan and dropping pasta in boiling water.

I started this blog a few years ago because I could combine cooking, baking, traveling and eating all in one stream of words. When I started dating my husband, he nicknamed me "hummingbird" because of my metabolism. I can eat a main dish with sides and dessert, and be hungry again an hour or two later. Before I go to bed, I'll eat a bowl of cereal if we haven't run out of milk yet. If ice cream is in the fridge, I'll grab a spoon before you do.

— Jenny Lee-Adrian

To contact me, e-mail hummingbirdappetite@gmail.com.
All text and photographs are by me, unless otherwise noted.

Other work I've done:

for Serious Eats
Minneapolis: Camel Burger at Safari Express
Making Chimney Cakes in Davenport, Iowa
Taste Test: Cabbage Kimchi
Dario Cecchini: The Famed Butcher of Panzano
Snapshots from the Flushing Mall Grazing Experience
5 Asian Cooking Apps for iPhone/iPad
Guide to Food Gallery 32: Food Court in Koreatown
Do You Know Your Soy Sauces?
Macedonian Crepes with Garlic

Credits:
Jaume Guerra designed the header of my blog.

Click here to find out more about the homepage picture and the photographer. Her username is sametimenxtyr on deviantART.