Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Crema Catalana


I was looking a food show on TV the other day, and they present a variety of desserts from Spain, what a great show, one of those was this Crema Catalana.

The Crema Catalana like I said before, is originally from Spain, traditionally served on Saint Joseph's Day on March 19th. This is very similar to the French recipe of Crème brûlée.

The Crema Catalana is like a flan, made with eggs and flavored with citric, can be lemon or orange, and also a touch of cinnamon, delicious!



This recipe remind me another type of flan, that used to make back in my country for kids parties or birthdays, when I was a little one. That flan was called Quesillo.


Don't worry, sooner I'll put the recipe over here too and share it with you all.


TIP: if you don't had any cooking tool to flame the raw sugar at the end, you can try with a kitchen torch or do this under the broiler. (If you’re broiling the tops – keep a very close eye on them!) . The true is that Crema Catalana is caramelized under iron broil not a flame.

Crema Catalana is really good, hope you fine this delicious as me, and feel free to leave your comments about your experience.


Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
1 vanilla bean
4 strips orange peel (can also use lemon)
1 cinnamon stick – optional
8 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
½ cup turbinado or raw sugar
3 tbs corn starch
Preparation:
  1. Bring the milk, cream, vanilla, orange rind and cinnamon (if using) to a boil over low heat.
  2. Remove from the heat and let it cool down.
  3. Strain the milk and cream mixture to remove the vanilla bean, orange peel strips and cinnamon stick.
  4. Mix the egg yolks and ½ cup of regular sugar until you obtain a thick creamy mixture.
  5. Dissolve the cornstarch in 4 tbs of milk mixture, the stir it back into the remaining milk.
  6. Mix the milk in with the eggs and sugar, place it in a double boiler pan (or in a heat resistant glass bowl in a pan of water baño Maria style) over medium low heat, and stirring consistently until the cream thickens, do not let it boil.
  7. Cool the cream and pour into the ramekins or cazuelas.
  8. Chill for 24 hours or overnight.
  9. When ready to serve sprinkle 1 tbs of the raw sugar over each ramekin or cazuela, heat the iron and press it against the sugar until it is burnt. You may also use a torch or place it under the broiler in the oven.
  10. Serve immediately.

2 comments:

Kim Bee said...

This looks really amazing.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just discovered your blog. Really nice! :) The reason I came in to this blog was because I was searching for a picture of crema catalana, and of all the pictures that came up, I really like this one? Is it your own photo?

Well, Im glad to have found this blog anyway!

Kind regards
Silje BCN

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