Brasserie Blanc, the home of real French cooking, has launched a new Autumn/Winter menu bringing a perfect French feast of authentic, classic flavours. To celebrate they’ve shared this recipe for Crème brûlée with IDEAL.
N.B This recipe should be started the day before you intend to serve it, to allow time to soak the citrus peel.
MAKES 4
INGREDIENTS
For the marmalade
(This will make more than you need so ensure you have some sterilized jars to store the leftovers in)
- 1 grapefruit
- 2 lemons
- 1 Seville orange
- 1.4kg granulated sugar
For the crème brûlée
- 500ml double cream
- 1 vanilla pod, split in half and seeds scraped out
- 1.5 leaves bronze leaf gelatin
- 8 medium egg yolks
- 90g caster sugar
- 3-4 tbsp demerara sugar, for the topping
METHOD
- To make the marmalade, juice the fruit and pour into a large, lidded pan. Add 1.75 litres water.
- Scrape out the flesh and pips from the fruit. Put the flesh into a food processor and blend. Place the blended flesh and the pips in a muslin bag and add to the pan.
- Chop the citrus peel finely and add it to the pan too. Set aside to allow the peel to soak for a few hours or overnight, if possible.
- Bring the lidded pan to boil, reduce the heat and simmer very gently for two hours or until the peel is very tender.
- Preheat the oven to 140ºC. Pour the sugar into a baking dish and warm in the oven for a few minutes.
- Remove the muslin bag from the pan and squeeze the liquid out of it into a bowl. Pass through a sieve into the pan. Put a plate in the freezer (you’ll need this to test whether the marmalade is set later).
- Weigh the contents of the pan – it should be no more than 1.4kg. If you have more than this, simmer again to reduce the liquid until the correct weight it achieved.
- Add the warmed sugar to the pan and stir until dissolved. Gradually bring to rolling boil. After about 10 minutes, remove from the heat and take the plate out of the fridge. Spoon a little of the marmalade on to the cold plate and leave for a minute to cool. Push your finger through the mixture – the marmalade’s surface will wrinkle if it is set. If it doesn’t wrinkle, put another plate in the freezer and return the marmalade to the heat. Boil again for another 5 mins, then repeat the test.
- Leave the marmalade to cool a little until a skin forms (this should take about 10 mins). Remove any scum from surface and give the marmalade a stir. Spoon into heatproof ramekins, if you don’t have a blowtorch, or little jars, if you do. Put the remaining marmalade into sterilized jars.
- For the brûlée, gently heat the cream and vanilla in a pan until steaming. Put the gelatine in cold water to soak.
- In a bowl, whisk the egg yolk and sugar together. Pour the warmed milk over the egg mixture and stir to combine. Return to the pan and cook over a very low heat, stirring gently and continuously with a rubber spatula until the custard is thick and smooth (if you have a thermometer, the custard is ready when it reaches 82ºC).
- Transfer the custard to a bowl. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine and add to the custard. Stir until dissolved.
- Whisk until cool, then spoon into the serving ramekins/jars. Use the back of a hot spoon to level out the surface and then chill in the fridge for three hours.
- Sprinkle each brûlée with a thin, even layer of sugar and caramelize using a blowtorch (or, in ramekins, under a very hot grill). Leave to cool before serving.