This is the Catalonians’ version of crème caramel, adapted from the recipe book The Love of Spanish and Mexican Cooking. It dates back to 1981 and has personal notes written by my paternal grandmother, Adele de Waal. My grandparents on both side (and both my parents for that matter) lived in Brandfort, a small dorp (village) in the Free State. I never knew my paternal grandmother, but the stories I hear of her make me want to cook more and more just to be a bit closer to her. I have heard stories of her making basil pesto (in Brandfort!) before pesto become the vogue. When I paged through the book, my eyes could not miss the Crema Catalan. Here is my version… make it yours.
For 4 people you need:
2 ½ cups milk
1 stick cinnamon
Rind of one lemon, finely grated
6 eggs, separated (instructions follow)
3 T cornflour (Maïzena)
½ cup sugar
Half a vanilla pod, cut in half, or ½ t vanilla essence
How to go about it:
Heat 2 cups of the milk in a small saucepan, together with the lemon rind, vanilla pod and cinnamon over a medium heat. When you can see it bubbles on the surface or at the sides, it is boiling, so turn down the heat so that it heats slowly over a low heat, which is to simmer. Take care that it does not start foaming and rising over the pan, the heat is the a bit too hot. This will take about 5 minutes; turn off the heat after that.
Have two bowls (a deepish one is good for the yolks, as not to make a mess when whisking), separate the eggs. Take one egg in your hand; give it a light crack in the middle with a knife or at the side of your egg white bowl, a stainless steel bowl one. Turn the egg lengthways again like you want to open it, and then open it slowly and with the uttermost care so that the white spills out into the stainless steel bowl, then slide the yolk back into the other half of the egg shell so that only the yolk remains. Throw the yolk into the other bowl. Watch out that you do not get any yolk in with the whites (vice versa is not a problemo), if you want to have a go at meringues. Check for any egg shells in between. Next whisk in the remaining milk (½ cup) with the yolks and add the cornflour. Make sure there are no lumps of flour, so whisk like your arm twists of! It’s only for 10 seconds, though.
Strain the milk through a sift into a clean pan. Add 2 T of the sugar and the yolk mixture, stir constantly with your whisk while you through this in. The egg-mix should not be to hot, otherwise it may scramble. Turn the heat on, the lowest possible setting you can go, and whisk the mixture all the time, while it thickens, about 5 minutes. It may seem labour-intensive, but it has been done before and you can do it! It is ready when you are able to coat the back of a wooden spoon with the glossy mixture. Please don’t let it curdle, the heat is too hot! Save it by whisking hard, placing the pan in some colds water to cool off, or whizzing it in the food processor – a bit of a cheat there but sometimes it works.
Pour into shallow heatproof serving dishes (4 small individual ones) or one big all rounder, allow to cool in the fridge for 1 hour. Put the grill on high, put a rack directly under the grill, the nearest you can go.
When the custard had set, sprinkle the remaining sugar over with a teaspoon, evenly over the surface. Place it under the very hot grill for 1-2 minutes to caramelize and melt the sugar until brown. Remove and let it cool down a bit and the sugar harden again.
My mom likes it hot, straight from the pan to the oven to the table, while it is very hot. You can do it either way.
Is that a trick question? It is just that there are so many different strokes for different blokes. To name a few: Antonio Carluccio, Giorgio Locatelli, Michel Roux and Delia Smith, all of them big-time chefs, have their own ways of cooking their perfect boiled egg. Even though it only consists out of one essential ingredient (with exception of any accompaniments) – a free-range or organic egg of a large size – cooking it just the way YOU like it may seem like a (baked) Alaska at first. It is all about the timing and the egg, really. First try it this way and then experiment a bit more until you know you’ve got it right.
For one person you need:
One egg! Preferably a large, fresh, free range or organic one
A small pan
Some salt, tomato sauce and toast sliced in fingers and buttered, to serve
How to go about it:
Place your pan, filled up ¾ with water, on a high heat and bring to the boil (usually about 5-10 minutes, if you place a lid on the pan it will go a bit faster). When water is rolling with bubbles, turn it down a bit to a medium-low heat. Using a big spoon, handle the egg as if it were a baby and gently place your egg in the water and let it slide off without knocking against the pan. (Sounds quite harsh, I know, but it is meant to be eaten!) It may crack out of pure pressure, but at the end it would not harm your egg that much. If you find the white is escaping too freely when cracked, add 1t of white wine vinegar next time when you pour the water in the pan. Otherwise, definitely try this tip – make a small hole with a needle on the pointier part of the egg and add to the water. Now put on that timer – while you make the toast – 4 ½ minutes for a soft center, but firm white, 30 seconds less if you like a totally velvety and oozing yolk. For a hard boiled egg, which still has some life in it though, boil it for 7 minutes. When we traveled to Grahamstown for the Arts Festival we boiled some eggs the previous night, let them cool down, then we put them in the fridge to take with for brekkie on the road the next day and they were a hit. I associate hard boiled eggs only with padkos (food eaten on the road) and salad nicoise.
That is how I boil my egg.
Nah, just kidding. The science involved in creating an omelet for does not require a degree, it only asks for a good flip of the hand and some nice eggs… padah! Somehow it was always something I only considered when in a restaurant, until Caroline, a proud Sotho woman, showed me how to make a light omelet. She was the driving force behind a guesthouse for many years until it was sold, and made all the courses, including breakfast, herself.
For one person you need:
2 large free-range eggs
One tablespoon butter
One handful of grated cheese (cheddar works best for grating, as it is a hard cheese) or filling of your choice (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
How to:
Break the eggs in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper, then whisk with a whisk or fork until all is well combined. Place the butter in a small frying pan, about 20cm in diameter, let it melt on a medium heat but not burn or turn brown. Next add the eggs and cook quickly, while whisking lightly, not to scramble, but just to stir the setting a bit. Shake it to loosen it up at the sides. This would that about 2 minutes. Toss your filling on the one side of the omelet, now using an egg lifter (which is broad and flat). Remove from the heat and fold the omelet in half. Turn over the pan so that the handle is facing upwards and slide it carefully onto a plate, using the egg lifter to loosen and help this action.
Your omelet is ready for action (meaning eat)!
Filed under: The Rice race
What!? Risotto! Don’t even think about it – it’s too tricky. – FALSE!
Risotto requires sweat and will leave you in a sloppy mess and tears. – FALSE!
It has been lifted from its dark, no-go pit and revolutionized into a staple food. – TRUE!
I promise you this dish takes only 30 minutes to make – take another dish and you will see it also takes up the same time, or even more – TRUE!
It can be served on its own, with other ingredients or as an accompaniment to lamb shanks, for example. –TRUE!
Now be true to yourself – please try and see it will leave tears, but those of joy and surprise!
For 4 people you need:
80g cold salted butter, diced into small cubes of roughly 2cmx2cm
1 small onion, or ½ a big onion
80g or one big handful Arborio rice
1.2 – 1.5 liters light homemade chicken or vegetable stock*, 2 stock cubes and water
1 cup (250ml) white wine
100g (one cup or big handful) Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese, finely grated
50g (1/2 cup or small handful) mozzarella, finely grated (optional)
And… action:
Place the stock in a small saucepan, one with a lid if you have one. Turn on the heat and let it come to the boil, then turn it down to a lower heat, so that it simmers (only bubble softly); keep it simmering while you prepare the other ingredients. If you place a lid on top, it will heat up faster and keep the liquid from evaporating quickly too. Dice the onion into small cubes; try to make them even in size, so that they cook evenly. Take a deep, wide pan with a solid base, non-stick or other, with a lid. Melt half the butter in the pan over a medium heat, then turn down the heat when it has melted to a low heat and add the onion. Let it sweat slowly with the lid on, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon every 1 minute or so, until it becomes translucent, about 5 minutes. Shake the pan to spread the onion evenly after you have stirred it a bit. Do not let it brown – if it happens, turn the heat down.
Taste the onion, if it is meltingly soft, then turn the heat up and add the rice, and stir by turning it over to coat the grains with butter, about 2 minutes. It should be glassy and transparent on the outside of the grain, and still visibly white on the inside. This is called tostatura (roasting), but again the rice should not stick and burn.
Next add the wine, smell the alcohol, hear the tsss sound it makes, then let the alcohol evaporate completely. Otherwise you will taste it in your finished dish. Take a soup ladle and add the stock a ladle or 1 cup at first. The stock must be warm, otherwise the rice will “grow horns” – the outsides of the grains will harden. Lightly massage the rice from now on with your wooden spoon by stirring it only when needed to loosen up at the bottom, in a figure of eight. Make sure you get the sides of the pan. The liquid should be absorbed until the stage where you pull your spoon through the middle and a small “Sea of Galileo”, in other words you can see the pan for a few seconds before the rice spreads over it again. It should not be completely soupy, or stiff on the other hand.
Repeat this procedure until you think the rice is ready, after about 15 minutes from the first time you added stock you should not add any more stock, because in 3 minutes it should be ready. Start checking by tasting at 12 minutes into the cooking time. The rice should taste creamy but al dente, firm to the bite and not entirely soft. Keep an eye on it the whole time while cooking, that is the only special care it requires. Take it off the heat. The risotto should still be moist. While it rests (for about 30 seconds), it will absorb more liquid, so make sure it has enough to hold it’s shape but not be a stodgy mess. Now add the enrichment of the remaining butter and cheeses, and turn over to mix. Do not add any salt or pepper at first, the stock is quite salty after it has reduced and the Parmesan quite peppery, but do check the seasoning and modify to your taste. Serve this with extra Parmesan in a bowl offered separately. Do not wait to eat it! What do you think now?
*Although you can use sotck cubes or granules, your own homemade stock has your own stamp on it and also adds an unimaginable flavour to the risotto, which cubes will not deliver. It is so easy to make stock and it can be frozen in batches for 3 months to use when needed, or stored in the refrigerator, where it will last a week. If you are lucky you can buy stock fresh at your local deli, like Giovanni’s in Green Point for example. Woolworths and Melissa’s also stock stock (hehe) occasionally.
There are lots of variations of this classic dish:
Risotto Milanese – with the addition saffron and bone marrow
Mushroom Risotto – with mushrooms of course! You can make it even more interesting by adding different types of mushrooms. Clean and slice 2 handfuls mushrooms, fry then gently in a pan for 2 minutes in 50g butter. Add 12 minutes into the cooking time of your risotto. Add some flat-leaved Italian parsley, chopped, at the end of the cooking time, together with the juice of one lemon and the other ingredients.
Seafood Risotto – a southern Italian dish
Risotto Nero – with cuttlefish ink
Red Risotto – an own invention that has my sister, Olivia, begging for more!
