Flan de Pisco con fresas

Vanilla-Pisco Flan with Strawberry–Passion Fruit Sauce

A splash of pisco gives this classic South American custard kick. Flan already has a built-in caramel sauce, but the strawberry–passion fruit sauce is like the cereza, cherry, on top. Good as it is, don’t put too thick a layer of caramel sauce on the bottom of the flan, as it tends to stick to the bottom. And cover the pan snugly so the flans steam as they bake to help the custards set properly and also make them easier to unmold. When making the caramel, the trick is not to overbrown the sugar. You want a nice golden color, but if the caramel gets too dark, it will remain hardened even after baking.

• 2 cups heavy cream
• ¾ cup whole milk
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
• Canola or other vegetable oil
• Caramel Sauce (see sidebar, page 250)
• 4 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ tablespoons pisco
• Strawberry–Passion Fruit Sauce (see page 250)
• Fresh mint, for garnish (optional)

1 Put the cream, milk, salt, and vanilla bean pod and seeds in a medium saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat, cover with plastic wrap, and let steep for about 30 minutes.

2 Preheat the oven to 350°F and place a rack in the middle of the oven. Rub eight small (4-ounce) ramekins lightly with a paper towel dipped in oil and fill them with the caramel sauce. Place the caramel-filled ramekins in one or two high-walled baking dishes, arranging them so they have a little breathing room between each. Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and pisco in a medium bowl. Very slowly pour the warm vanilla cream into the eggs, whisking continously so the eggs don’t curdle. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve (you may need to push down on the egg solids) into a heatproof pitcher or large measuring cups so the custard base is easy to pour into the ramekins. (Save the vanilla beans to infuse milk or cream.) Pour the filling almost to the top of each ramekin.

3 In a kettle or saucepan, heat several cups of water until steaming hot. Pull out the oven rack slightly so you can set the baking dish easily on it. Pour the hot water into the baking dish so the water comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Carefully cover the pan with plastic wrap and then with foil, and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the custards are set but still jiggle in the very center when you shake the ramekins with tongs. Remove the baking pan from the oven and use tongs to transfer the ramekins to a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely, 1 to 2 hours, return the ramekins to the baking dish, and cover the dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until very cold, at least 5 hours, preferably overnight.

4 To serve, run a knife around the edges of each flan. Place individual serving plates, face-down, on top of each ramekin and flip both upright. Top the flans with the strawberry–passion fruit sauce and garnish with mint, if using.

Strawberry–Passion Fruit Sauce

Makes about 1¾ cups

This is one of those sauces that you can spoon on anything that needs a little unexpected flavor—vanilla ice cream, fruit salad, or the simplest vanilla cake. If you can’t find passion fruit, add another squeeze of lemon juice. Don’t use too big of a roasting pan or all of the good sauce juices will evaporate.

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons pisco or other brandy
• Pinch of kosher salt
• Zest of ½ lemon
• 2 pints (about 1½ pounds) strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
• 1 passion fruit, or 1 tablespoon frozen passion fruit pulp, thawed
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1 Preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix together the honey, sugar, pisco, salt, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Toss the strawberries in the honey sauce and spread out the strawberries and sauce in a small baking dish (8 x 8 inches or smaller). The berries should be pretty snugly arranged but still in a single layer. Roast the berries until they have turned a rich ruby red color, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the berries and pan juices to a medium bowl.

2 Halve the passion fruit lengthwise over a small bowl and scoop the seeds and pulp into a fine-mesh strainer. Press down firmly to strain out as much juice as you can and add any chunks of pulp to the juice (save the seeds for a yogurt or ice cream topping). Mix in the lemon juice, and toss the strawberries in the juice mixture. Taste and add more lemon juice, if you’d like. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Salsa de Caramelo (Caramel Sauce)

I’m always surprised when I hear cooks in the United States say making caramel sauce scares them. In South America, you grow up hearing that if you can boil water, you can make caramel sauce. You just need to watch the pot closely for the last few minutes so the sauce doesn’t overbrown, or it won't incorporate into the flan (if too caramelized, the sauce will remain candylike instead of "melting" into the flan). Squeezing in a tiny amount of tart lime or lemon juice at the end subtly balances out all of those good caramelized sugar flavors.

To make Caramel Sauce: If you are making flan, have your lightly oiled ramekins (step 2) at the ready. Combine ½ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a medium saucepan. Stir and bring the sugar mixture to a boil over high heat. Boil until the syrup turns the medium-amber color of a caramel-milk candy, about 5 minutes. Occasionally swirl the pan as the caramel darkens, but don’t stir (you may indirectly add water, and the sugars can stick to your spoon). Watch the sugar closely for the last few minutes, when it starts to caramelize quickly. Remove it from the heat when it turns light brown (the caramel will continue to cook off the heat).

Carefully squeeze in the juice from 1 wedge of lime or lemon and swirl the pan to incorporate the juice. Immediately pour a very thin layer of caramel, about ⅛ inch thick, into the bottom of each ramekin. The sauce will harden as it cools.