Sunday, April 16, 2006

Creme Brulee


Well this was my first attempt at making a crème brulee & my first use of my blow torch, very exciting stuff. To start with I couldn’t find any rhubarb anywhere apart from some very mangy looking stuff in Coles that I could not bring myself to buy. So I went with straight brulee which is good as the mixture was more than enough to fill 6 ramekins so would have been double if rhubarb in the bottom. Have given the full recipe in case anyone wants to try it. This recipe is taken from Jamie Oliver’s The Return of The Naked chef. Having never made these before I wasn’t sure exactly how wobbly they should be & unfortunately I got it wrong. After much fun had by Michael torching them, we tucked in only to find runny centres, delicious runny centres but runny none the less. The fact that they were thicker than suggested I guess means that I should have upped the cooking time. Next time I will know better & will definitely try again as they were so easy to make & no fuss to serve when you have people over.

Crème Brulee

Serves 6
300g fresh rhubarb
3 tablespoons caster sugar
2 vanilla pods
300ml double cream
200ml milk
8 egg yolks
80g sugar

Preheat oven to 140c. roughly slice up rhubarb & place it in a pan with the caster sugar & 5 tablespoons of water. Simmer until tender, divide between 6 small serving dishes & set aside.

Score the vanilla pods lengthwise & run your knife up the pos to remove the seeds. Scrape the seeds into the pad with the pods, cream & milk & slowly bring to the boil. Meanwhile beat together the yolks & sugar in a bowl until light & fluffy. When the cream & milk are just boiling, remove the vanilla pods & add little by little to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Remove any bubbles or froth from the mixture before dividing into the serving dishes, on top of the rhubarb. Stand these in an appropriately sized roasting tray filled with water half way up the containers, & bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes until the custard mixture has set but is still slightly wobbly in the centre.

Allow to cool to room temperature then place in the fridge until ready to serve. Sprinkle with sugar & caramelize under a very hot grill or using a kitcken blowtorch.

4 comments:

leedav said...

It's much better to underbake them than to cook them too much! I always do them until there's barely a ripple when you jiggle one. You can also poke through the top with a pairing knife and you'll be able to see if it's completely set. Doesn't the sugar bruleeing smell amazing?

Ange said...

Thks for the tip - will keep inmind for next time!

plum said...

I often find that I cook creme caramel for at least twice the stated time. It's taken practice and each oven is different. But such a luscious dessert!

You are more adventurous than me, I have never had the guts to crack out the blowtorch!

Ange said...

You should try it - the blowtorch is great fun & no danger of burning - it takes ages to caramleize the sugar. Will be trying another one soon & trying to get it right