French Cooking Classes at Sur La Table

Katie, Ryan, Jared and myself stepped into Paris at Sur La Table’s cooking class to make a freese-salad with sous vide poached eggs, creamy tarragon chicken, sautéed green beans with lemon-thyme dressing and caramel pear pot de creme. 

The caramel pear pot de creme was beyond our favorite. 

But the whole experience was great! We walked into a beautiful kitchen and we each had our own apron, name tag, chefs knife and cutting board. I had the same feeling as you did when you were in the fifth grade walking into class for the first time and you had a shiny new pencil box on your table. 

The first dish we made was the pear pot de creme and it was also our favorite.

Hands down this little mason jar was incredible. If there wasn’t a bunch of strangers there I probably would have started licking the jar… I refrained. So today I wanted to re create this dessert in my own home and share it with you guys! It is a little bit more complex of a recipe but it wouldn’t be french if it was! The only thing I needed was a blanket in front of the eiffel tower and a glass of champagne in my hand, Jared I hope you are reading this ;)?!

I hope you all love this recipe. Just for a quick tip! I get emails all the time from Sur La Table because I just love the store. I’m like a kid in a candy store and I want to buy everything. As annoying as it is signing up for store emails this one was waaaaay worth it. The class was originally 70somethingdollars but we got it for half off. Yeah i’ll say it again, half off. So we got to eat an amazing dinner and have a 2.5 hour cooking class. 

The best part was, our boyfriends were way into it.

Katie and I thought it was going to be a drag for them but they ended up really liking it! So give it a try, can’t really beat thirty bucks. 

au revoir!

 Caramel Pear Pot de Creme

Pot de Creme

1/2 Stick of unsalted butter
1/2 Cup of packed dark brown sugar
2 1/2 Cups of heavy whipping cream
1/2 Teaspoon of course salt
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 Egg yolks

Pear Syrup

1 Lemon
1 Cup of light brown sugar
1/2 Cup of water
2 Pears, diced
1 Cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 Teaspoons of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

for custard

Place butter in a large sauce pan and heat on medium heat. When butter is melted add in brown sugar and cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until your mixture is smooth and bubbly, about five minutes. Slowly whisk in cream and bring the mixture to a boil, keep continue to whisk. The mixture may pop, bubble and splatter. Remove from heat and whisk in salt and vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk to combine egg yolks. Gradually whisk in the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the mixture very slowly to prevent your mixture from scrambling. Pour the mixture through a fine strainer into a large glass measuring cup to ensure ultimate smoothness.

Pour the custard into ramekins or small glass jars and place into a large rectangular baking dish. Pour hot water into rectangular dish until water reaches half way up your ramekins or glass dishes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil. Cook the custards until they wobble when gently shaken, about 1 hour. If mixture is not set, continue to check every 3-5 minutes (everyone’s oven is different).

for pear syrup

With a vegetable peeler peel the skin zest of your lemon in attempt of one piece. This will make the removal from the pear syrup easier.

In a small sauce pan combine brown sugar, water, pears, cinnamon stick and zest of lemon and place on the stove over medium-high heat. Bring this mixture to a boil and stir frequently until the sugar has dissolved. Once boiling bring this mixture down to a simmer and cook while stirring frequently until the mixture has thickened. This will take 10-15 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and remove cinnamon stick and lemon zest rhine. Set aside to cool completely.

Place cooked ramekins on a cooling rack until cool for about 30 minutes. Transfer the refrigerator to completely set. Spoon pear syrup on once cooled.