August 1, 2010: Chocolate berry custard

Some vegan friends of ours decided to revel in the season and gather for a Sunday roast.  Having just made vegan & gluten-free crème brûlée at home, I volunteered to bring chocolate 'custard' for dessert.  I tripled the recipe and divided it amongst ten assorted ramekins and coffee cups.  Then I took a tip from the original calendar recipe, which suggested I "jazz it up by spooning pear or berry puree into the base of the ramekin"... my slacker version being to pop a few mixed frozen berries in the bottom of each receptacle.

The bad news is that I developed a cold and missed out on the Sunday roast.  The good news is that the custards were everything I'd hoped - smooth, very chocolatey and perfectly complemented by the juicy-but-not-sodden berries.  Eating one at home was some small comfort while Michael shared the rest around at the home of the roast.  Even greater comfort was the leftover cassoulet from Lisa, which Michael brought home and I ate later that week while dragging myself around work.  It's meals like this that sustain me through winter.