toolbox: crème anglaise

Vanilla custard or Crème Anglaise is a staple for many desserts as well as breakfast specialties. It is a light pouring custard that can be used a dessert sauce, poured over cakes or fruits. The custard can be used for French toast or pain perdu and is the base for creamy ice cream or crème brûlée. It has a mild taste but a rich and thick vanilla flavor.

The custard in itself is not difficult to make, but it does require a fair amount of vigilance and care. The cream is made by whipping egg yolks and sugar together until the yolk is almost white and the batter forms pretty ribbons or until your arm gets tired (about 2 minutes), and then slowly adding hot milk, while whisking. The sauce is then cooked over low heat (otherwise the yolks will cook, resulting in scrambled eggs) and stirred constantly with a spoon until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and then removed from heat. If the sauce reaches to high a temperature, it will curdle. Then you are back to square one.

This sauce is easy to do and should definitely be in anyone's 'toolbox'.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Crème Anglaise (vanilla custard)
makes 3 cups

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
6 egg yolks, preferably organic free-range
½ cup sugar

Pour the cream and milk into a heavy bottomed pan and place over low heat. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod and add them to the creamy milk with the empty pod. Slowly bring to just below the boil, remove from heat and set aside to infuse for about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a mixing bowl with a whisk until the mixture becomes thicker and paler. Gently reheat the creamy milk and pour on to the egg yolk mixture, stirring with the whisk as you do so.

Return the custard to the saucepan and place over the lowest possible heat. Stir gently and patiently until the custard thickens-this may take 10-15 minutes (don’t be tempted to increase the heat, or you’ll have scrambled eggs). It should be thick enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. Draw finger along the back of the spoon-it should leave a clear trace.

As soon as the custard thickens, remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool. Don’t leave it in the saucepan, as the heat of the pan will continue to cook the custard. Once cooled, the custard is ready to use or can be stored in the refrigerator. Sauce will keep for 4 days.

the confession

I have a confession to make. The quince paste I was in process of making yesterday turned out to be a nothing but a mound of goo. What a waste. It was totally my fault, I was trying to hurry it along before I had to head off to work (work is really getting in the way of my blogging efforts). But anyway, the quince had been simmering until fork tender, put through a food mill, and then back to the stove to get finished off. The recipe said it might take up to 1 hour. “Perfect” I told myself. I had exactly 1 hour until I needed to head off to work. I stayed by the stove faithfully stirring the mushy mixture waiting for that final moment when it was supposed to turn that beautiful deep ruby-red color (it still looked like applesauce at this point). I stirred. And stirred. And stirred some more. The hour was almost up and I was debating about calling into work, telling them I would be late because my quince paste hadn’t turned the right color yet, but thought better of it. I was desperate. What to do?

Well, thankfully my sweet husband works out of the house and at that particular moment was on a conference call. I wrote down all the instructions as best as I could and stuck it under his nose. He looked up and I got the raised eyebrow. But the darling hubby that he is put on the headset and took up the spoon and tried his best to follow my cryptic note.

Even after the length of time I told him it would take and all his faithful stirring, it still didn’t turn that deep crimson color or become the sticky blob it was supposed too. Sadly, I had to dump it.

But today is a new day, and I still had some quince left (thanks to my compulsive over buying weakness). I found another recipe that had some beneficial tips that I am hoping will give me the success I so desire. Even now as I’m typing, the house smells lovely with the apple-pear perfume that the quince give off, and the last time I checked they were starting to turn into a rosy shade of pink. I’m hopeful.

So if all goes well, I will have success from all of this effort, and will gladly share the results.

By the way, if your wondering why the picture of the vanilla bean. The new recipe I’m using for the quince paste calls for a vanilla bean in the simmering liquid. I got distracted and started taking photos of it…

Until tomorrow,

Shannon