The recipe for Leti's Mexican Flan can be found in Death of a Foster Child . This fifth book in the Rick Podowski and The Hefty Trio series explores the guilt felt when the foster placement of a teenage girl in the home of Rick Podowski and his wife failed. To complicate matters, the foster child was brutally murdered and the authorities have accused her of selling drugs on the school campus and by implication asserted that the foster parents allowed this behavior. Rick Podowski with the help of Leti Ramos, Erin McGinty and Teresa Spinelli, also know as The Hefty Trio, investigate what really happened.
In the process of investigating, they discover the world of drug sales on the high school campus, the underlying challenges facing students in a gang infested school, as well as the difficulties faced by special education students. The reader will experience the frustrations of foster parents when faced with a system that is designed to keep the children dependent. Suggestions to improve foster care and move the children towards independence are provided at the end of the book.
Leti's Mexican Flan
Flan is a traditional Mexican dessert and there are many versions.
Leti makes this one because it is easy to prepare. If you don't have ramekins, you can use a glass pie plate. There may be some custard left over and you can make a second flan.
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 13 ounces cans evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. You will need 6 ramekins and a large baking
pan to put them in. Pour 1 cup of sugar in a warm pan over medium heat.
Constantly stir sugar until it browns and becomes caramel.
Quickly pour
approximately 2-3 tablespoons of the caramel in each ramekin, tilting it to
swirl the caramel around the sides. Reheat caramel if it starts to harden.
Wisk the eggs together. Add each type of milk before slowly mixing
in the 1/2 cup of sugar, and then add the vanilla blending smooth after each
ingredient is added.
Pour custard into caramel lined ramekins. Place ramekins
in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot
water. Bake for 45 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the
side of the center. If the knife comes out clean, it's ready.
Remove and let cool. Let each ramekin cool in refrigerator for 1
hour. Invert each ramekin onto a small plate; the caramel sauce will flow over
the custard.
Serves 6