Return Of The Prodigal Niece or How I Learned To Love the Bombe

Of all the many far-flung members of our families, our niece RMG, holds a very special place in our hearts. We bonded during a difficult time in her life when she came to New Mexico to regroup after a bad experience. Now the fact that as de-I Sandia Outfitter's Catering and Restaurant Division at that time was in need of cheap labor, the fact that I had her work for peanuts in the kitchen of one of our holdings in no way colors the bond we built.

In the decade and a half that passed, she went on and got her Ph.D. in Physics, was married, widowed all too young, and we continue to stay in contact. We don't get to see her very often but when we do it is like having one of your children visit. And one of the things that we do when she arrives is MAKE SOME CRAZY ASS COMPLICATED DESSERT. Why we do this is not really clear since none of the three of us really like sweets that much. But it is something about the challenge. This year the challenge was BOMBE GLACEE...a confection that is essentially five different dessert components (cake, mousse, creme Anglaise, nut brittle and glaze) put into a mold so it comes out as a whole. It is really pretty decadent.

Bombe Glacee Play-by-Play

The Brain Trust

Wife and RMG charting out the battle plan

21 Steps in this recipe!

All hands! Man, your Battlestations!

My one major contribution other than doing clean up

Feeding them

Homemade pasta cacio e pepe

(Which by the way turned out freaking awesome)

Now back to the making of the Bombe!

(How appropriate since we are in New Mexico where they also made The Bomb)

Creme Anglaise 

Brittle of Almond Slices

We have a gap in our recitation because I took a nap and missed about 8 steps

:(

When I came back it was time to unmold the Bombe

Success!

Adding the Glaze

And the final touch of the Brittle of Almond Slices

Our team basking in the glory of success

Time to serve

Denouement

The Bombe was so rich and sweet that we knew we could not get close to eating it all. So Wife and I brought it to our Rotary Club...where they devoured it practically to the last crumb!