"My Dads Fav" Vanilla Custard

EVERYONE HAS A CUSTARD CONNOISSEUR IN THEIR FAMILY...THIS IS FOR THEM!

Makes enough for about 10 people with second helpings...and thirds!!

INGREDIENTS:

568 ml of Whole Milk
600ml of Double Cream
6 tbs Caster Sugar
One Vanilla Pod
8 Egg Yolks

WHAT TO DO:

In a pan pour the the milk, cream and 4 table spoons of sugar. Slice the vanilla pod in half and scape all the seeds out and put in the pan along with the pod. Bring to near the boil then simmer for 5 minutes (this allows the vanilla to infuse with the mixture).

In a separate bowl put the 8 egg YOLKS, the two remaining tablespoons of sugar and whisk well.

Using a ladle, pour the cream mixture into the yolks (add a ladle at a time and whisk when doing it, this stops the mixture turning into scrambled eggs!) then pour mixture back into the warm pan.

Over a low heat stir the custard with a wooden spoon. The mixture will start to thicken as the yolks heat up, this takes around 10 mins

HANDY TIP:

If you start to get tiny lumps in the custard, remove from heat then sieve the mixture in to another pan.

Once thickened, remove and serve.

Recipie by Jamie Oliver

Photo's by Rach Grice

Pear, Blackberry & Ginger Crumble

 

 

GREAT SUNDAY LUNCH PUDDING...DEAD EASY!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

8 Large RIPE Pears (peeled and chopped into chunks)
2 large handfuls of Blackberries
100g Castor Sugar 100ml water
Stem Ginger 4 pieces (finely chopped)

Crumble mix...

400g plain flour
250g unsalted butter (cold and cut into cubes)
200g Golden Castor sugar
1 tsp of ground ginger

WHAT TO DO:

Heat the oven to around 200c. In a pan heat the water and 100g of castor sugar, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pears and the ginger and heat for a further 5 minutes. Add the Blackberries (I do this at the end so not to breakdown the blackberries...nothing better than them bursting in your mouth when eating...nothing worse than mushy blackberries!) remove and put to one side.

For the Crumble mixture put the flour, sugar and the cubed butter in another bowl and rub together to get a breadcrumb look and feel (with your hands, do NOT use a mixer for this as you do not get the same results).

HANDY TIP:

Don't do it to much, you want random little lumps of butter..that's what makes crumble amazing!

Put your filling mixture into your dish (with all the juices), then with a spoon place heaped dollops of crumble mixture (don't pat or press just fill every space with dollops of crumble), do this until every part of the filling mixture is covered.

Sprinkle the top with golden castor sugar (makes it extra crunchy) and put in the oven for around 25/30 minutes. Take out and serve.

Best served with my homemade custard, see in puds section for this recipe.

Photo's by Rach Grice