Crema Catalana

Originally posted on www.dessertofthemonthclub.blogpsot.com 

I had the desire to make Crema Catalana (I'm not exactly a dessert girl) for a dinner party a few weeks ago. In addition to the recipe below I made some blackberry/raspberry syryp and added one fresh blackberry and two raspberries. I made an error after I had added the eggs and returned the creme to the heat and removed it before it was thick enough, so it never became the smooth delicious custard I had envisioned. When I realized it was not coming together properly, I consulted my personal dessert guru aka Lang, and we decided to freeze it. It actually "tasted" delicious, but I was a little sad. As always, cooking is science and experimentation!


Recipe:
6 egg yolks
1 liter of milk
6 oz. of sugar
1 lemon
1 vanilla cane

boil the milk in a pot with the lemon peel, vanilla bean (scraped inside and cane) and sugar.
once it starts to boil, take it off the heat and strain.
slowly add the egg yolks to the hot milk, stirring constantly.
return the milk to the heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, let it boil and THICKEN, once it's as thick as a soft custard, remove from the heat.
pour custard into ceramic pots and let it cool, approximately 3 hours.
as you prepare to serve, sprinkle sugar on top, heat cake slice and press on surface to crystalize sugar.