Creamy Custard

“Pumpkin pie or natillas?” the waitress asked me at Rancho Chimayo, on the high mountain road between Taos and Santa Fe. I had just finished a wholly American traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and dressing with the usual trimmings, and now it was time for dessert. No New Mexican dinner, at any season or for any occasion, is complete without a soft creamy custard that the Southwest calls natillas, the French call île flottante, and the English “floating island.”