A Chef Brings Creativity & Techniques To Desserts
Roasted Corn Flan with Caramel Corn
In this episode of Chef AF, I chat with Pastry Chef Saura Kline from Local Jones, a restaurant at the HALCYON, a hotel in Cherry Creek about finding her passion for cooking, her role models and her favorite thing to make.
Kline is the new pastry chef at Local Jones. She was previously the executive pastry chef for all Kevin Taylor restaurants and boasts a first-place recognition in the 2018 La Coupe d’Altamira local Denver chocolate competition.
I ask Kline about her earliest memory of being in the kitchen and she says, “my very first food memory was visiting my grandmother. I think I was probably 10 or around that age and she had a peach tree in the back of her yard and she made this homemade peach pie with homemade crust. It blew my mind like I was just like this is so amazing. Instead of a birthday cake I would ask for a peach pie on my birthday every year.”
We talk about when Kline discovered this was her passion she wanted to pursue and she said, “I mean still even to this day sometimes I'll be making rice krispies or you know Snicker Doodle Cookies and I'm just like this is so awesome I get paid to do this.”
Although Kline started in the savory side of cooking, she always knew she wanted to focus on pastry. She studied many famous pastry chef’s cookbooks to better understand the process or techniques. Kline says when asked about the science of baking, “if you are going to make a cake or if you're going to make bread you want to have these ratios but sometimes I like to play around with sauces, you know mousses and ice creams and all of these things, I like to bend the rules a little bit.”
The Halcyon Hotel offers three restaurants for guests and locals. They offer American bistro, Local Jones, and Elevated Rooftop Bar where you can check out the Denver views. Kline’s role is to make all the bread, desserts, jams and amenities for the hotel.
To hear how she highlights seasonality and the local influence in her recipes plus get her recipe for Roasted Corn Flan with Caramel Corn check out this episode of Chef AF “It’s All Food.” You can listen to this episode and more on Spotify!
Recipe
Roasted Corn Flan with Caramel Corn
Yield 6 ramekins
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 cups Whole Milk
1 cup Cream
½ cup Honey
3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 tsp Salt
3 ears Corn (about 3 cups)
5 eggs
Caramel Corn
5 cups Popcorn (popped)
½ cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp. Corn Syrup
¼ cup Unsalted Butter
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Baking Soda
To prepare the flan, heat 1 cup granulated sugar in a small sauce pot on medium high heat. Swirl the pan around so caramel melts evenly. Once sugar has caramelized, pour hot sugar into ramekins and set in a large baking dish to let it harden. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the corn off the stem and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine milk, cream, honey, brown sugar, salt, and roasted corn in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and let the corn infuse for 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and blend on high speed until thoroughly combined. Strain out corn pulp and return to blender. Blend with eggs. Pour flan base into prepared ramekins. Pour 2 cups of hot water into the baking dish surrounding the ramekins and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Poke a few holes into the aluminum foil and carefully place in oven for 30 minutes. After flan comes out of the oven, chill for 4+ hours before serving.
To prepare the caramel corn, preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a small sauce pot over medium heat. Once fully melted, add in baking soda and stir quickly to combine. Pour caramel over popped popcorn and toss to evenly coat each piece. Place popcorn on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 1 hour, stirring twice within that time.
To assemble, run a knife around a ramekin flan and invert onto a dish. Top the flan with caramel corn and fresh blueberries to serve.