Spain are playing today so, for my participation in the World Cup Foodie Challenge, it was the perfect time to try out my final recipe from the Spanish-themed Kitchen Trotter box. It was for Crème Catalane, which is basically the Spanish version of the classic French Crème Brûlée.
Crème Catalane
ingredients :
750ml milk
6 egg yolks
110g sugar
22g cornflour
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp vanilla paste
50g Turron (Spanish nougat)
Put the milk in a saucepan with the cinnamon stick and gently bring to the boil. Once it reaches boiling point, turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick.
In a separate saucepan, mix together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour. Gradually whisk in the milk.
Bring back to the boil, whisking continually, until it becomes a thick cream with the consistency of custard.
Stir in a generous spoonful of vanilla paste. (The original recipe used lemon zest but I was all out of lemons. The vanilla worked very well.)
Spoon into ramekins (I had enough for seven), leave to cool then put in the fridge for an hour.
Just before serving, you're supposed to sprinkle on some more sugar and caramelise it with a blowtorch. I actually had a blowtorch in the cupboard that I won quite some time ago and have never used so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. However, this was not to be - it needed filling with gas and we didn't have any. Aww, spoilsports ! I decided to try caramelising one under the grill in the oven but I was a bit worried the glass ramekin would crack because of the sudden change in temperature between the fridge and the oven.
While waiting to see if it would be a disaster, I broke up some of the Turron into small pieces.
Well, the caramelising-under-the-grill kind of worked but it did mean that the whole Crème Catalane ended up hot. We tasted the hot one and a cold one and decided that both were nice but we'd rather go with cold so I just skipped the caramelised sugar stage for the remaining ramekins.
This means they were a bit anaemic but they still tasted very nice. A lovely refreshing dessert for the summer.
I'm joining in with the World Cup recipe challenge over on the Cooking Around The World blog
Other blogposts you may be interested in :
Oh, I so love it, especially with the turron on it. I once had a cream liquor from Spain with the same name (creme catalans). I loved that one, too.
ReplyDeleteOoh I love the sound of that
DeleteI love creme catalane! Years ago M&S used to sell a very decent crema catalana then they stopped, such a shame. I never made it myself from scratch, as it sounds very chefy but I do buy creme brulee which you need to grill. Like you, I find it gets hot under the grill
ReplyDeleteI definitely need to get my blow-torch sorted out !
DeleteI've never had creme catalane. Looks nice.
ReplyDeletesounds lovely!
ReplyDeleteAshleigh
You made that look very easy, I am rubbish at cooking, I mean REALLY rubbish but I might have a go at this, it looks delicious :-)
ReplyDeleteoh that looks great i really love these creamy desserts #foodiefriday
ReplyDeletelooks like is very similar with creme caramel. yum!
ReplyDeletethank you for linking up with the #fridayfoodie linky
This sounds lovely
ReplyDeleteNow I remember that I've seen this recipe! I still don't have a blowtorch, and like you, find that the grill just makes everything hot. Your Crème Catalane looks very tasty.
ReplyDeleteLOL And I still haven't got the gas canister sorted out !
Delete