It's Simply a Crème

Friday nights are typically easy food nights in my household - meals that are high taste, low effort, easy clean-up, and nothin'-but-comfort. Things that let you know it's the end of another wacky week and time for the weekend.

For me that ranges from Nacho's to Rotisserie Chicken, Smoked Meat Sandwiches to Salsa's & Tortilla Chips, Dips and Veggies to Cheese & Pate's or, most recently, Steak Frites - actually, Tenderloin with a Dianne sauce, Slow Oven-Roasted Tomatoes (3 hours), Heirloom Carrots and Fries. It's the type of meal, believe it or not (in fact, try it) that takes very little prep time - a little chopping of shallots, sauce prep, and searing steaks that are finished in the oven. And it affords alot of relaxing breaks.

And during these breaks I watched a recorded episode of Iron Chef America in which the "theme ingredient" (ala original Iron Chef) or "secret ingredient" (ala American interpretation) was "Eggs".

Now, what singularly impressed me about Chef Bobby Flay and Chef DeChellis was that neither of them prepped a Crème Brûlée. Don't get me wrong - I am a huge fan of Crème Brûlée (eggs, cream, sugar)! I am also a huge fan of Crème Caramel. But how often do you see a Sabayon (alternatively Zabaglione) on menus these days? For the uninitiated, Crème Brûlée and Crème Caramel are made with egg yolks while Sabayon is made with the egg white. For me, this makes Sabayon a much lighter desert - not quite as rich and, perhaps with the fragile foaming of the yolks, a notch higher on the bragging scale. However, John DeChellis prepared a savory sabayon that looked enticing (unfortunately I don't get to taste - but imagination filled in) and intriguing in its originality.

My first experience with Sabayon was in the early 80's on my first "weekend-away date" with my eventual "regular dining partner". It had started roughly when I unwittingly submitted her to a four hour Chekhov play at the O'Keefe Centre (later the Hummingbird Centre when Corporate America invaded the arts) . . . Four hours of Chekhov is not how you want to impress a young woman!

"We can go see Chariots of Fire. . . or four hours of Chekhov; what are you up for?" Oh wait. . . I didn't give her a choice!

But I digress. Sabayon. After 4 hours of Chekhov we headed across the street to a little bistro called Les Copains, an early french brasserie in the entertainment district. For desert we had a champagne sabayon. It was wonderfully light - a tremendous dénouement; enough to keep me in play for round two of "How not to Impress a Young College Girl" - 4 hours of Shakespeare on Saturday in Stratford - The Tempest, for the matinee, followed by King Lear with Peter Ustinov!!

But something must have been right about the weekend - Chekhov?. . . Shakespeare?. . . Peter Ustinov?. . . Me? or the Sabayon. . . . !!