Do you like Creme Brulee? Are you adventurous enough to make it at home? Creme Brulee is basically a sweet egg custard that you bake with steam until it sets. People who make it at home for a party will then take them, put them on a tray, put a coating of sugar on top, then broil them until the sugar carmelizes (turns brown, not black). So, a perfect creme brulee has a crunchy caramelized sugar top with a silky smooth, cool, creamy custard underneath. Sound good? I think its one of the all time great desserts! Plus, you can add different flavors to the custard like Gran Marnier, Maple syrup, coffee or make a chocolate creme brulee. Served with fresh berries is classic. The problem a lot of home cooks have is when they are ready to caramelize the sugar under the broiler. Sometimes by the time the sugar caramelizes the creme brulee itself gets hot. I like a cool creme brulee, but some people like it warm, so there... No problem! Sometime people burn the tops. How do restaurants turn out perfect creme brulees time after time? They use a blowtorch. Put some sugar on top, shake it around, click on the blow torch and burn baby burn! You can buy a blowtorch from Williams Sonoma for around $40, or just go down to the local hardware store and buy a regular old blow torch for $10. It also works great to brown meringues and helps unmold a fussy cheesecake from a springform pan.

My wife grows lots of basil in the garden in the summer. At the end of summer we have more basil than we know what to do with and we'd hate to dig it under. So, here's what we came up with. We take off all the leaves, put them in a blender with a little water and make a puree. We then put the puree in to ice cube trays and freeze them. We pop them out, put them in a plastic bag in the freezer and use them all winter long in soups, sauces and other dishes. Its a great taste of summer in the middle of winter!