I don't know why it took me that long to make this recipe. Actually it was Cookingly Yours who proposed cooking it and letting him know when it is done.If you wnat me to cook any other typical dish, leave me a comment and I'll do my best :)
Mind you that the Crema Catalana is the most popular and traditional
catalan dessert ever and you can easily find it in most the restaurants
menu in Catalonia (maybe that is why I didn't make my mind up before)
Ingredients (4 portions)- 1/2 L of milk
- 3 yolks
- 100 gr of sugar
- 20 gr of wheat flour
- 3 gr of cinnamon
- Lemon peel
Elaboration
Pour the 2/3 of the milk in a pot and heat it medium - low
temperature (we don't want it to boil!). Add the lemon peel and the
cinnamon. Leave it while you prepare the eggs.
Separate the white from the yolk and beat the 3 yolks all together.
Remember we left 1/3 l. of milk waiting to be used so now it's the time. Pour the milk left and add also the sugar.
Add the wheat flour and mix it. Then, it is the time to stir it consciously because we want the dough with no grumes.
Separate the white from the yolk and beat the 3 yolks all together. Remember we left 1/3 l. of milk waiting to be used so now it's the time. Pour the milk left and add also the sugar.
Add the wheat flour and mix it. Then, it is the time to stir it consciously because we want the dough with no grumes.
Now, empty the yolk mixture into the pot with the hot (not boiling)
milk and stir. Use a strainer to prevent any lumps left to fall into the mixture.
This is actually the most boring step in the process of
elaboration because, here, you can't stop stirring: in less than 5
minutes the liquid mixture will become a cream, otherwise, you will end
up with a burnt half-cream mixture!
Split the cream in 4 containers and cover them up with plastic wrap
(like I did with the carrot croquettes, do you remember?). It is to
avoid creating a hard layer. Press
the wrap up to the plastic wrap touches the dough, specially over the
edges, to avoid condensation.
Leave it to cool down. Once it is cold,
put in the fridge until serving.
Leave it to cool down. Once it is cold,
put in the fridge until serving.
The final magic touch will come if you have a kitchen torch. I
would have never had this tool in my kitchen if it hasn't been a
present. My boyfriend had it for one of his birthdays and we found a good
use for it! If you don't have a torch, eat the crema catalana itself.
It is also delicious!
Spread some sugar on the cream. Turn on the torch and burn it! a crunchy layer will appear after cooling the sugar.
When eating it, you will feel the cold cream with the hot sugar
layer. Spectacular! Also notice that two different textures will gather
in your mouth: creamy & crunchy at the same time, which is really
nice to find out!
Now you have the most popular and traditional catalan dessert at your disposal. Hope you enjoyed it!
