Creme Caramel

Creme Caramel

Ingredients

Caramel
200g sugar
A little water
Teaspoon of red wine vinegar

Custard
6 eggs
200g caster sugar
2 vanilla pods
1 litre milk

Preheat oven.
To make the caramel, heat the sugar, water and red wine vinegar in a small heavy based saucepan. Cook over a medium heat without stirring.
When it’s reached a dark, tanned syrup colour and consistency, pour into ramekins or a large oven dish and roll the syrup around until it covers the bottom and two thirds the way up the sides.
For the custard, place milk with split vanilla pods and scraped seeds into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
While the milk is heating, in a large bowl whisk eggs with caster sugar until it is pale and thickened.
When the milk is just about to boil over, remove from the heat and pour into the egg mixture while whisking until well combined.
Pour mixture through a sieve into a jug and then pour the custard into ramekins. Be careful when pouring over the caramel that you swirl a little as you pour so the warm mixture does not crack the caramel.
Place ramekins/oven dish in an ovenproof baking dish and fill half way up the sides of the dish with water. Bake in a medium oven for 30-40 minutes turning the baking dish around half way through to cook evenly.
Remove from the oven when the creme caramel is brown on top and wobbles when gently shaken.
Rest to room temperature and refrigerate. It will set beautifully when cold with a smooth, silky consistency.
I find the creme caramel is best when made and refrigerated a day a head or even better, two days ahead.
Remove creme caramel from the refrigerator and if using ramekins, run a knife around the edge of the ramekins, then place a plate over the top of the ramekin and invert the plate and dish. If using an oven dish, serve a generous large spoonful into a bowl with the caramel sauce.

Other recipes:
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/foodsafarirecipe/index/id/24/n/Creme_caramel

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Cumquat Tart with Candied Peel and Vanilla Ice Cream

Cumquat Tart with Candied Cumquat Peel and Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
225g plain flour
45g pure icing sugar
125g chilled unsalted butter, diced
2 egg yolks (from 59g eggs)
Eggwhite

Filling
1/2 – 3/4 cup preserved cumquats pureed with cumquat syrup
6 Eggs (room temperature)
250g caster sugar
150-200ml pure pouring cream (min 35% fat)

To Serve
Candied cumquat peel
Pure icing sugar to dust
Extra caster sugar for carmalising the top
Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or thick double cream

To make the pastry, place flour and icing sugar in a food processor and process to combine. Add butter and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg yolks one at a time and process until the dough comes together in a smooth ball.

Press into a flat disc and wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 15 -30 minutes to rest or until firm enough to roll out.

Grease a 24cm x 3cm deep tart loose-based tin with softened butter.

Remove dough from the refrigerator, roll out on a lightly floured bench to a thickness of 3-5mm.

Carefully lift the pastry using your rolling pin and line the tart tin with the pastry. Gently press the pastry along the sides to ensure you have an even thickness.  Trim excess dough. Left over dough is handy for any small repair jobs required!
(Alternatively you can trim some excess dough leaving an extra 1-2cm dough overhanging. When the pastry is baked, there will be some shrinkage and the excess pastry can then be trimmed after it is cooked by slowly and gently rolling the rolling pin over the tart tin to cleanly remove the excess pastry).

Prick the pastry base all over with a fork, cover with cling wrap and return to the fridge for a further 15-30 minutes to rest and allow butter to become cold and solidify.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Remove pastry shell from the refrigerator, line with baking paper and fill with raw rice or pastry weights ensuring the rice is flat and pushed up against the side of the tin.  Blind Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the pastry is baking, prepare your filling.  Break 6 eggs into a large bowl and using an electric whisk, start whisking the eggs until well combined then gradually add the sugar and whisk until you have a pale, thick mixture. Whisk in the cumquat puree then the cream.

Remove rice and paper and return tart shell to the oven and cook for a further 5-10 minutes to dry out the pastry until it is firm to touch and is golden brown. Be careful not to overcook the pastry otherwise it will over brown and crack.   You can combine reserved eggwhite with some cold water and brush the inside of the pastry and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. This will seal the pastry.

Remove the pastry shell from the oven.  You can at this point set aside the pastry shell to cool in the tin to use the next day if preparing the pastry shell ahead of time.

Reduce oven to 150 °C.

Place the tart shell on a baking tray and carefully pour the cumquat custard into tart shell and bake for at least 25 minutes or until just set. It will continue cooking when removed from the oven. Don’t worry if it has separated into two layers (noticeable when it is cut). Set aside to cool.  If preparing this ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to serve.

Remove tart from tart tin.  Cut into serving portions. Sprinkle the top of each slice with caster sugar and use a kitchen blowtorch to cook the sugar until it bubbles, then caramalises and forms a shiny, hard tortoiseshell surface.

Place each slice individually on a plate sprinkled with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or cream and candied cumquat peel.

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Cumquat Panna Cotta and Vanilla Panna Cotta with Cumquat Coulis

Cumquat Panna Cotta with Cumquat Coulis

Panna Cotta with Cumquat Coulis

Serves 4 – This recipe makes 2 Vanilla Panna Cottas and 2 Cumquat Panna Cottas.

Ingredients
350-400ml pouring cream (min 35% fat)
100ml full cream milk
1 1/2 leaves of gelatine
60g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
Approx. 3 tsps homemade pureed candied cumquats (seeds removed)

Heat milk, cream and sugar in a saucepan and gently bring to simmering point.
Divide mixture evenly into two bowls.
To one bowl add 1 split vanilla pod with scraped seeds and let the flavours infuse.
To the other bowl stir in cumquat puree.
Soak gelatine leaves in a little bit of milk for a couple of minutes – first soak half the gelatine leaves until softened and remove leaves from the milk and add to the cumquat mixture, stir thoroughly then pass the cream through a fine mesh sieve into 2 dariole moulds.  Now soak the other half of the gelatine leaves until softened, remove the vanilla pod from the second bowl and add the the gelatine leaves, stir thoroughly then sieve the mixture into 2 more dariole moulds.
Place the 4 moulds into the fridge to set for at least 6 hours or overnight.
To serve, dip moulds briefly in warm water, then invert onto plates.  You may need to use a knife to run around the inside first before trying to plate.
Dust with icing sugar and serve with finely sliced candied cumquat rind and cumquat coulis.

Notes:
This amount of mixture doesn’t quite fill the 135 ml dariole moulds to the top.

Sources:
LifeStyle Food
Gourmet Traveller

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