Fruit

There are two varieties of persimmons available on the market, fuyu and hachiya. Fuyu are round and flat and are eaten while still crisp; they make colorful and tasty salads. Hachiya are elongated with a pointy tip, and are tannic until ripe and very, very soft.

This salsa is a fresh complement to grilled or baked fish or fish tacos.

Ice cream is universally loved—and homemade ice cream right off the dasher is the most desirable ice cream of all. There are basically two versions. The first is simply sweetened and flavored cream, frozen. The second is a frozen custard made with sweetened cream and egg yolks, which produces a richer, smoother ice cream. They both have their charms, although I lean towards the frozen custard kind. Ice cream can be made with all cream or a mixture of cream and half-and-half or milk. Flavors tend to be more pronounced in ice cream when it is lightened with half-and-half or milk. Heat the cream to dissolve the sugar (or honey). At this point the cream can be infused with other flavorings, such as vanilla bean, coffee beans, herbs, or finely chopped toasted nuts. Let the flavorings infuse for about 20 minutes, then strain them out, and chill the liquid. Fruit purées and extracts are added after the mixture has cooled. Such solid flavorings as chopped fruit, nuts, or grated chocolate are best stirred in after the ice cream has been frozen; added earlier, they impede the freezing process. To make a custard-based ice cream, strain the warm cream, mix with egg yolks, and cook until thick. Chill well before freezing. Ice cream can be frozen in a shallow pan or tray but it will have a much smoother texture if frozen in a machine. The constantly moving paddle, or dasher, breaks up the ice crystals and works a small amount of air into the mix as it freezes. There are a variety of ice cream machines on the market. The traditional machines consist of a wooden bucket that holds a metal canister, which can be surrounded by crushed ice and rock salt. The salt lowers the freezing temperature of the ice, making the ice cream freeze more quickly. The canister is fitted with a dasher that is operated by a hand crank or an electric motor. For best results, chill the dasher and canister before adding the ice cream. There are a number of smaller machines that consist of a double-walled canister that is filled with a liquid coolant. The canister is placed in the freezer until the coolant is frozen solid. When ready, it is filled with the mix and fitted with its motor, which turns a scraping arm. The double-insulated canisters are a bit more convenient but take a while to freeze. If you have the space, store the canister in the freezer so it is ready to go whenever you need it. The mix should be very cold before it is added or it may thaw out the canister before the mix has had a chance to freeze. Only fill the canisters about two-thirds full: the mix will expand as it freezes. Ice-cream machines will freeze ice cream in about 30 to 35 minutes. When just frozen, ice cream is still soft enough that you can stir in such solid flavorings as nuts or candied fruit. The small canister machines have a large hole in the lids for just this purpose. Traditional freezers need to be stopped and opened up. Serve the ice cream right away, or chill it for a few hours to harden further. In a traditional machine you can leave the ice cream in its ice-packed canister right in its bucket (add more ice to cover the top), but don’t leave it in the insulated canister-type machine, which won’t be cold enough to harden the ice cream. Instead, transfer the soft ice cream to a chilled container and put it in the freezer. Pack the ice cream tightly to discourage the formation of any ice crystals. Ice cream will maintain its full flavor for up to a week, but it will lose its sublime texture. When it has frozen quite hard, take the ice cream out of the freezer for a few minutes before serving, for easier scooping.

Fruit curds, of which lemon curd is a prime example, are a sort of fruit custard, but made without milk or cream. To make lemon curd, a mixture of lemon juice, zest, sugar, eggs, and butter is gently cooked until thick. When cooled, the curd is thick enough to spread. Rich and luscious with the bright tang of lemon, lemon curd is a classic topping for toast or scones, but it is much more versatile than that. Baked in a sweet tart shell it makes an incredible lemon tart, which can be topped with meringue. It can also serve as a filling for cookies, cakes, and pastries (I love Meyer lemon éclairs), or it can be swirled into just-churned French vanilla ice cream. Lemons are the classic fruit used to make curd, but they are by no means the only one. Any citrus fruit can be used—limes, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and so on—as well as purées of berries such as raspberries or blackberries. Mix the zest and juice (in citrus curds, the zest plays as large a part in the flavor as the juice) or berry purée with sugar and eggs and butter, and cook the mixture the same way as an egg custard: in a heavy-bottomed pot, stirring constantly, over medium heat, until it coats the back of a spoon. Take care not to boil the mixture or the eggs will curdle. Pour into a bowl or glass jars to cool. The curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Store, refrigerated, in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

Ices and sherbets are frozen desserts made from fruit purées or juices. They should be the essence of fruit, with intense, clear flavor. An ice, sometimes called a water ice or granita, has a pleasantly grainy texture, while a sherbet or sorbet is frozen in an ice-cream maker, giving it a velvety smooth texture. Fruit and sugar are the basic ingredients in sherbets and ices. They can be enhanced with a touch of vanilla extract or liqueur and a tiny pinch of salt. The fruit needs to be ripe and full of flavor. Taste it critically; bland fruit will make bland sorbet or ice. As long as it can be turned into a juice or purée, any fruit can be frozen into an ice or sherbet. Tender fruit can be puréed while raw in a food mill or food processor and then strained to remove seeds. I usually heat berries with a bit of sugar just until they start to release their juices before puréeing them. Harder fruits, such as pears and quinces, need to be cooked until soft before they can be puréed. You don’t have to strain citrus juice: remove the seeds by hand, and leave the pulp in for more texture and flavor. Sugar not only adds sweetness, it lowers the freezing temperature of the mix, which inhibits the formation of ice crystals. This is particularly important for achieving the velvety texture of a sherbet. Chilling and freezing mutes, or dulls, sweetness. For proper flavor when frozen, add sugar until the mix tastes overly sweet at room temperature. (For a very revealing experiment, take 3 separate tablespoons of purée or juice and add different amounts of sugar to each one. Freeze them, and taste each one for both sweetness and texture.) An ice is literally fruit juice or purée that has been frozen. The puréed fruit or juice is generally sweetened and then poured into a shallow glass or stainless-steel dish and put to freeze. When adding sugar, go slowly and test a small spoonful of the mix to see if more sugar is needed before adding more to the whole batch. You can also freeze a sample of the mix before freezing the whole lot to verify how it will taste when frozen. Once the mixture is in the freezer, stir it now and then to break up the ice crystals and to keep it from separating. The more often the ice is stirred while it is freezing, the finer the crystals will be in the end. I like to stir an ice once after the top and sides have started to freeze, and then again when it is slushy but not solid. When the ice is solid but still soft when poked, take it from the freezer and chop it. Scrape across the top down to the bottom with a fork, or use a pastry scraper and chop up and down and across the pan until the ice is completely broken up and fluffy. Let the ice re-chill before serving. Give it a light fluff and scoop it with a fork into a bowl or cup. Serving an ice with the same fruit that it was made from, either tossed with a bit of sugar or poached, provides a beautiful contrast of taste and texture. Sherbet is made much the same way as an ice, but it is frozen in an ice-cream maker. The important difference is that sherbet needs to be sweeter to acquire the right texture. To find the amount of sweetness required, you should experiment a bit at first and sample small frozen amounts. Once you have done this a few times it will become second nature. Chill the mixture well before putting it into the ice-cream maker. This helps the sherbet freeze quickly, which helps keep the ice crystals small. It is a great treat to make more than one kind of sherbet, either from complementary fruits or from different varieties of the same one, and serve them together.

Crisps and cobblers are humble desserts, not too sweet, and full of flavor. A deep layer of fruit is baked under a crunchy topping or cream biscuits, much like a deep-dish pie with a top crust. Every season has fruit to offer: apples and pears in fall and winter, rhubarb and strawberries in the spring, and all the stone fruits and berries of summer. A crisp topping is a coarse mixture of flour, brown sugar, nuts, and spices, with butter worked into the flour mixture just until it’s crumbly. Crisp topping is as easy to make in large batches as it is in small batches, and it freezes very well for up to 2 months. It is a convenient staple to have in the freezer for a quick dessert for an unexpected occasion. Topped with biscuits, cobblers are less sweet than crisps and best made with juicy fruits. I make simple cream biscuits out of flour and butter worked together, leavened with a little baking powder, and moistened with heavy cream. The dough is rolled out on the thick side and cut into shapes. Once cut, the biscuits can be held in the refrigerator for an hour or two before baking. Crisps and cobblers work best when the fruit is piled high. For both desserts the fruit is cut into bite-size pieces (1/3-inch-thick slices or 1-inch cubes) and, like fruit pie fillings, tossed with a little flour and a little sugar. Use less sugar for crisp fillings because the crisp topping is so sweet. Tart rhubarb needs quite a bit of sugar, apples need less, and sweet fruits such as peaches need almost none at all. Taste the fruit while you are cutting it and again after it is sugared; you can always add more. The flour thickens the juices that would otherwise be too soupy. It doesn’t take much, a tablespoon or two at the most. A crisp or cobbler is served straight from the dish it has been baked in, so choose an attractive one. Ceramic dishes are best, as metal pans will react with the acid of the fruit. The dish needs to be about 3 inches deep to accommodate a generous layer of fruit. Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any overflowing juices. Cook until the crisp is dark golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up on the sides; a cobbler’s biscuits should be cooked through and golden. If the crisp topping is browning before the fruit is done, place a piece of foil over the top to protect it. Lift off the foil for the last few minutes to recrisp the topping. Serve right away or put back in the oven to warm for a few minutes before serving. Cobblers and crisps are delicious on their own but are even better served with a little cold heavy cream or whipped cream.

Simply poaching fruit—submerging it in a light syrup and gently simmering until just done—preserves its integrity: it retains its shape and its flavor is enhanced. The poaching liquid can be infused with spices and citrus peel, and wine can be added for flavor. Pears, peaches, plums, apricots, quince, cherries, kumquats, and dried fruit such as apricots, raisins, currants, prunes, and cherries can all be poached. A plain piece of poached fruit is a perfect dessert on its own, but dressed up with vanilla ice cream, a plate of cookies, and raspberry or chocolate sauce, it makes a fancy dish for a special occasion. Simple compotes made of a combination of poached fruits served in their sweet poaching liquid are delightful seasonal desserts. Poached fruit also makes a superb garnish for simple cakes and can be baked into delicious tarts. Fruit for poaching should not be soft, as you want it to hold its shape after cooking. In fact, fruit that is a bit underripe or otherwise imperfect is improved by poaching. And, conveniently, poaching preserves fruit for a few days, which is a boon when you have an overabundance of fruit that needs to be used. Before poaching, some fruits need preparation. Pears should be peeled: I leave them whole with their stems intact for decoration, but they can be cored and cut in half or into quarters. Bosc, Bartlett, and Anjou are good varieties to poach. Peaches and apricots can be poached whole or cut in half and peeled after cooking. Small flat white peaches are exquisite poached whole. (Crack open a few of the pits, remove the kernels, and add them to the poaching liquid; they add a flavor of almond essence.) Cherries can be pitted or not. Apples should be cored and can be peeled or not, as desired. Some good varieties to poach are: Golden Delicious, Pippin, Sierra Beauty, and Granny Smith. Quinces need to be peeled and cored before going into the syrup and they require much longer cooking. Dried fruit can go directly into the poaching liquid. Poaching liquid is usually a light sugar syrup. Start with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup water, adjusting the syrup to your taste and the needs of the fruit. Tart fruit will require a sweeter syrup. You need enough poaching liquid to fully submerge the fruit. Choose a heavy nonreactive pan large enough to hold the poaching liquid and the fruit comfortably. Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar, and reduce to a simmer. At this point add any flavorings you might be using. I like to add lemon juice and strips of lemon zest, regardless of what fruit I am poaching. A piece of vanilla bean cut in half lengthwise, a cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, or other spices are all possibilities, as are herbs such as rosemary, basil, or thyme. Add more delicate herbs like mint or lemon verbena at the end of cooking to preserve their flavor. Ginger, orange zest, and tea leaves can make tasty infusions. Wine—sweet or dry, red or white—adds fruit and acid. Try a ratio of 2 parts wine to 1 part water. When using a sweet wine such as port or Sauternes, cut back on the sugar in the poaching liquid. If sweetened with honey, brown sugar, or maple sugar, the poaching liquid will be darker and stronger. Another way to flavor the poaching liquid is to add a fruit purée from berries such as raspberries or black currants. When the liquid is ready, add the prepared fruit. Some fruits brown quickly once they are exposed to the air (pears and quinces, for example). Add them to the poaching liquid one by one as you peel them. Before poaching, cover the fruit with a circle of parchment paper that has been pierced with a few holes. This will help to keep the fruit submerged while it is cooking. Any fruit sticking up above the liquid may discolor or cook unevenly. Press the paper down on the fruit now and then throughout the cooking. Cook the fruit at a bare simmer until tender but not mushy. Test with a sharp paring knife or toothpick at th...

When it is time for dessert, I like to eat fruit. A simple piece of ripe fruit is what I would choose first, but fruit tarts are irresistible, too. Almost any fruit can be made into a tart, either alone or in combination with others. Apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines, cranberries, quince, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries, all are ideal, and the list goes on and on. Fruit is best used when ripe—but not so ripe that it is getting soft. Don’t hesitate to use bruised or blemished fruit; just discard the damaged parts. With the exception of berries and cherries (which are usually left whole and pitted), the fruit is cut before using. Apricots and small plums (pits removed) and figs can be cut in half and placed cut side up on the pastry. Larger plums and nectarines are better sliced thin. Peaches, apples, and pears should be peeled, pitted or cored, and then sliced. Some fruits, such as quince and dried fruit, need to be poached—gently cooked in sweet syrup—before being sliced and arranged on a tart. Rhubarb can be cut into matchsticks or slices. For best results the fruit should be sliced between 1/4 and 1/3 inch thick. Arrange the fruit on the pastry, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. The fruit can be scattered evenly over the dough or it can be placed neatly in concentric circles. Apples and other drier fruit should be arranged tightly in overlapping circles. Juicy fruit such as plums and peaches should be one layer deep. Either way, the fruit should be fitted snugly together, one piece placed close to the next, because it will shrink as it cooks. Juicy fruit will give off more liquid as it cooks, making the crust soggy. There are a few things that can be done to mitigate this. The easiest is to scatter a tablespoon or two of flour over the pastry before arranging the fruit on top. Only sprinkle it on the part where the fruit will be arranged, not on the border. The flour can be mixed with sugar, chopped nuts, or ground spices for more flavor. Another way to create a barrier between the pastry and the juice is to spread frangipane (a mixture of almond paste, sugar, and butter) over the pastry; 1/2 cup is about the right amount for a single tart. Two to three tablespoons of jam can also be spread onto the pastry. This works best for fruit that’s only slightly juicy. Fold the border of dough up over the fruit and brush it generously with melted butter. Sprinkle with sugar, using up to 2 tablespoons. Lightly sprinkle the top of the fruit with more sugar: most fruit will only need 2 or 3 tablespoons. Rhubarb, tart plums, and apricots are exceptions and need a lot more sugar than the others. Taste the fruit as you are assembling the tart. The sweeter it is, the less sugar it will need. Once assembled, the tart can be kept in the refrigerator or freezer until time to bake. It is nice to put a tart into the oven as you are sitting down to dinner: that way it will be ready in time for dessert, still warm from the oven. Bake the tart on the bottom rack of the oven until the bottom of the crust is golden brown. As with savory tarts, it is important that the bottom of the pastry get brown and crisp. Here are a few suggestions for embellishing any simple fruit tart: After the tart has baked for 30 minutes, sprinkle it with soft berries such as raspberries, huckleberries, or blackberries (first tossed with a little sugar)—this way the berries cook but don’t get dried out. Currants, sultanas, or other raisins can be scattered over the crust before arranging the fruit. (If the raisins are very dry, soak them in water and Cognac, then drain them well before putting them on the tart.) And try sprinkling chopped candied citrus peel over the tart when it comes out of the oven. For added gloss and flavor, glaze the tart after baking. If the fruit is juicy enough, the juice that pools around the fruit during baking can be brushed back over it—a bit like basting a roast with...

Fish and shellfish are superb grilled. The searing heat quickly seals in juices and delicately perfumes the flesh with smoke. Fish can be grilled as fillets, as steaks, or whole. Shellfish such as scallops and oysters can be grilled in the shell or shucked. Shrimp can be grilled peeled or unpeeled. All these are delicious seasoned with nothing more than salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon, but advance marinades of olive oil and herbs, tangy salsas such as the peach (page 231) or tomato (page 231), and Herb Butter (page 48), Béarnaise (page 229), or warm butter sauce (page 228) are also possibilities. A hot fire is best for everything except large whole fish. Use the hand test: you should be able to hold your hand an inch or two over the grill for no more than 2 seconds. The grill should be preheated, cleaned, and, most importantly, oiled, just before putting on the fish, to help keep it from sticking. Season fish fillets and steaks with salt and pepper and brush them with oil before putting to grill. Or marinate them with a combination of herbs, spices, citrus zest, and olive oil. Let fish sit in a marinade for at least an hour to allow the flavors to penetrate. An average fillet about an inch thick will take 6 to 8 minutes to cook. If the skin has been left on (it gets crispy and delicious cooked on a grill), place the fillet skin side down and cook it mostly on the skin side. Check for doneness after about 6 minutes, and turn at the last minute to sear the other side. A fillet without the skin should be cooked 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Rotate after about 2 minutes to make crosshatched grill marks. Check for doneness after about 6 minutes, and turn at the last minute to sear the other side. To test, press on the flesh with your finger or a spatula, or probe the flesh with a knife. The fish is done when the meat is just set and slightly firm to the touch but still moist. Fish such as salmon and tuna are delicious seared on the outside and very rare inside, still shiny and translucent. Remember that the fish will continue to cook after it is taken off the grill. If cooked for too long, fish can become quite dry. A fish steak is a cross-section at least 1 inch thick that contains some backbone and is surrounded by the skin. Grill the same way as a skinless fillet, but turn it after 5 minutes and check for doneness after 8. Check by feel or by cutting into the flesh near the backbone to see inside. The flesh should separate easily from the bones but still be quite moist. A whole fish should be scaled and gutted; any fishmonger will do this. Cook the fish whole and unboned, with its head on, if possible; the fish will be more succulent. Season well with salt and pepper or marinate as described above, turning the fish now and then in the marinade. Cook smaller fish like anchovies and sardines over a hot fire, threaded on skewers for easy turning. (I love fresh anchovies marinated with a little chopped mint and grilled over a searing hot fire.) Trim off the fins and the tail-ends of larger fish (kitchen shears make short work of this chore). The belly cavity can be stuffed with lemon slices and herbs. Because they take much longer to cook, big fish need a medium-hot fire. To turn over a big fish on the grill, gently roll it as often as necessary to keep the skin from burning. Measure the fish at its thickest point and allow about 10 minutes per inch. A good friend of mine catches big fish, cleans and scales them, and grills them wrapped entirely in fennel fronds or herb branches, or sometimes in tender leafing branches from his lemon tree, tied in place with wet string. This overcoat of greenery steams and perfumes the fish and they taste divine. Whole fish are done when the flesh easily separates from the bone. If tied up in greenery, unwrap it, and gently separate the fillets from the central backbone, picking out any rib bones that come off with the fillets. Shucked scallops, oysters, squid, and shrimp (peeled or ...

I wanted to be sure to include a few words about fruit salads—not sweet fruit cocktails in heavy syrup, but savory salads made like other composed salads. These may consist of fresh fruit alone, or fresh fruit combined with lettuces or other salad greens, with nuts and cheese often added for richness and texture. When there are no greens available and I desperately want something fresh, fruit salads are refreshing alternatives, either at the beginning or the end of a meal. Figs, apples, pears, pomegranates, persimmons, and almost all of the citrus fruits make good salads, with or without greens. All these fruits of fall and winter have an affinity for hearty chicories such as escarole, radicchio, and curly endive. Among my favorite fruit salads are an orange salad with black olives; avocado slices and grapefruit sections; persimmons or Asian pears with nuts and balsamic vinegar; and orange slices with marinated beets. Oranges and other citrus fruits need to be peeled and sectioned for a salad. When skinning the fruit, you want to remove all the outer peel and the membranes that enclose the sections, exposing the juicy fruit inside. You will need a small, sharp knife to do this. First, slice off the top and bottom of each fruit, slicing deeply enough to expose the inner flesh. Then, position your knife blade at the top where the fruit and peel meet, and carefully cut down following the contours of the fruit. Continue around the fruit, cutting from top to bottom, rotating the orange, until all the peel and membrane is removed. Trim away any remaining white bits of membrane. You can then slice the orange crosswise or cut between the membranes to free the individual sections. Apples and pears can be peeled or not, but to avoid oxidation, which turns the cut surfaces brown, they should be prepared just before serving. Persimmons must be peeled; this can be done in advance, but keep them covered so they don’t dry out. Fruit salads are usually dressed very simply, sometimes with nothing more than a drizzle of olive oil or vinegar, or with a vinaigrette made of some citrus juice and a touch of vinegar, a little chopped shallot, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Salsa verde, the classic green sauce of Italy, is a sauce of olive oil and chopped parsley flavored with lemon zest, garlic, and capers. It adds lively freshness to almost any simple dish. Flat-leaved Italian parsley is preferable, but curly parsley is good, too. Fresh parsley—the fresher the better—is the majority herb, but almost any other fresh, tender herb can enhance a salsa verde: tarragon, chervil, and chives are good choices. Use a sharp knife when you chop parsley (and other herbs). A sharp knife slices cleanly through the leaves, preserving both flavor and color, while a dull knife mashes and bruises them. The zest is the thin yellow outer layer of the lemon’s skin; avoid grating any of the bitter white part (called the pith) beneath. The zest brightens the flavor of the sauce, so don’t be shy with it; you may need more than one lemon’s worth. Don’t hesitate to experiment. I make salsa verde more or less thick depending on what I am using it for. I tend to use less oil when it’s for roasted meats and grilled vegetables and more for fish.

Micheladas are my drink of choice. It’s a simple beverage: a little fresh lime juice and salt mixed with an ice-cold beer in an ice-filled mug. This recipe is for the Michelada Preparada, also known as the Michelada Cubana where I grew up, a spicy and tangy version made with a clam-tomato juice. I decided to freeze the mixture into cubes so I can always have them available for myself or unexpected company. Pucker up and beware, unless you’re Mexican! The ice cubes are supposed to melt slightly into your beer for a refreshing and zesty drink that is thought to cure even the worst hangover.

Tequila makes a tangy partner for sweet apricots in this fresh take on ice cream. Although nothing compares to the flavor and texture of ice cream made from scratch, you can take a shortcut and simply fold the tequila-soaked apricots into a half gallon of softened vanilla-bean ice cream from your supermarket.

Using pomegranate juice instead of water to make this nut brittle not only makes for a beautiful magenta-tinted caramel color but also adds a very subtle flavor of the pomegranate. Serve this buttery treat with ice cream, or pack it in cellophane bags and tie them with festive bows for delicious party favors.

Not only is this giant layer cake a stunner, it is absolutely delicious with its creamy guava filling and fluffy buttercream frosting. We had a guava tree in my mom’s garden, and when the fruit was in season, we ate our share of guava cakes, guava tarts, guava water, and pretty much guava anything. This is my homage to my mom’s guava tree.

There’s a song I sang as a child with the words: “Arroz con leche, me quiero casar con una senorita que sepa planchar,” which means: “Rice pudding, I want to marry a lady who knows how to iron.” I do not know how to iron, but I think my Mexican rice pudding more than compensates for my lack of certain domestic skills. You’ve got three delectable choices here: Serve this warm, as is done traditionally; serve it cold; or, once it is cold, churn it in an ice cream maker for a scrumptious ice cream, scooped and served on a sugar cone.

These traditional baked coconut squares are served by street vendors all over Mexico. They take no time at all to prepare and are great for picnics and for packing in lunch boxes—if they last long enough! My favorite part of this dessert is the crunchy golden edges. When I make it at home, they disappear first.

The fact is, I could come up with a hundred different cajeta recipes. Cajeta, a caramel-like spread traditionally made with goat’s milk, is readily available all over Mexico and is known as dulce de leche in other parts of Latin America. Cajeta, which translates as “small box,” used to refer to the box in which the cajeta was sold. Now you can find it in a glass jar, a much more convenient presentation. It is found in many supermarkets and Latin markets and is available in different flavors, the most common being wine and strawberry. Any flavored cajeta would work well in this recipe. Whipped with cream and a little sugar, it is a perfectly sweetened filling for this tasty treat—which is just as delightful as it is messy to eat.

Dates were always around the house for snacking when I was a kid. Now I absolutely love to use them in both sweet and savory dishes. Large, dark-skinned Medjool dates are grown in the United States, Jordan, Israel, and now in Baja! I think they add a whole new dimension to an otherwise classic crème brûlée.