Ramekin recipe ideas?

Question

A friend is throwing a ramekin-themed party, and I'm wondering what to bring that's made or served that way. I own two small ramekins which I use for creme brulee. I also have a souffle dish (maybe one quart size or a bit more). 

I occurs to me that neither creme brulee nor a souffle is a good make-ahead dish, and those are also very likely to be made by others in any case. Any other ideas?

Answer

If you have any oven access at your destination, why not saute spinach w/ garlic, onion and pancetta, and then top w/ eggs; cheese sauce if you like it, and bake them there? Yum!!

Answer

Creme brulee is a perfect make ahead dish. It literally *has* to be made ahead and refrigerated. You can brulee at the last minute with a torch or under the broiler (if you are feeling lucky) or do the whole thing ahead of time. Any good custard, savory or sweet, is good in a ramekin. You can call it flan, custard or sformato depending on what you want to include. For savory custards/flans you do all of the prep up to baking ahead of time. This is a great secret hostess weapon for any home cook throwing a dinner party.

For savory I start with making a thick bechamel sauce ( you can substitute reduced cream) then add my highlight ingredients i.e. roasted red peppers and parmesan cheese for a Red Pepper Flan or caramelized onions and parmesan for an Onion Flan or roasted asparagus and parmesan for an Asparagus flan. I made a morel mushroom flan with parmesan and sauteed leeks a few weeks ago that was killer good. Then you add the eggs and whatever herbs and spices and refrigerate until needed. Bake in a hot water bath when ready to serve. All prep can be done well in advance and you are only limited by your imagination and whatever catches your fancy at the market. Ditto with sweet flans (except use cream not bechamel), caramel pots de creme, chocolate pots de creme or make a fruit puree flan, all good, all do aheadable.

Answer

individual pot pies, shepherd's / cottage pies, individual lasagna, enchilada stackers. I like savory foods : )

Answer

I recently made individual lobster mac and cheese in ramekins. topped it with fresh breadcrumbs and a bit of truffle oil. a similar pasta dish could work as well. Egg souffles are another idea or for something heartier mini shepherds' pies... 

Enjoy,
Ladyberd
http://ladyberds-kitchen.blogspot.com

Answer

I agree with Hank... just about anything can be put into a ramekin. What's your favorite casserole?

Answer

Chicken pot pie

Flan

Fruit cobblers

Quiche

Giant muffins

Answer

There are a lot of Italian recipes for vegetable-based "sformati" (artichoke, carrot, spinach, fennel; anything, really).

Answer

Thanks for all the cool ideas, everyone! I'll pick one in the coming week and credit Chow for inspiration.

Answer

I love to use them for individual pot pies, "lasagnes" made with ravioli, fruit crumbles/crisps... all kinds of things can be made cute with ramekins :)
But since you only have two, I suggest doing baked dip, along the lines of artichoke/cheese dip, but there are all kinds of possible variations ie/chopped spinach, blue cheese, probably some pub somewhere is adding bacon... you get the idea. Or, yum, spicy. I'd do one basic comfort food version and one with added blue cheese, heat, bacon, or all of the above :) You can top them with grated cheese and/or breadcrumbs. Oooh I just thought of another tasty variation: French onion soup-inspired with caramelized onions and gruyere.

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Ramekin recipe ideas?

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