A pretty presentation for tea parties, showers, Mother’s Day...or a “first course” dessert with more to come.
May 2007
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Recipe: Green Tea Custard
A Fusion Of Tasty Antioxidants
While custard itself is a “guilty pleasure,” made with egg yolks, cream and sugar, here’s a Japanese-Western fusion recipe that ameliorates the situation a bit with a healthy dose of antioxidants. Green tea is infused and mixed into the custard base, along with antioxidant-heavy blueberries (or other fruit, as desired). You can purchase dried blueberries from Stoneridge Orchards.
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients
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2 teaspoons whole leaf green tea
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8 egg yolks
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1 pint light cream
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1/4 cup sugar
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1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
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1/2 cup dried blueberries or cranberries, finely chopped
- Fresh blueberries in season, raspberries or other garnish (optional)
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Steep tea in 2 tablespoons of 170°F water for 3 minutes (boil water and let cool; measure temperature with a candy thermometer).
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In a large, heatproof bowl, beat the sugar and egg yolks until the mixture is pale yellow in color and all of the sugar has dissolved; then add the tea.
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Heat the cream with the vanilla bean in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Then add about a 1/2 cup of the cream mixture into the egg mixture to temper, and whisk vigorously to incorporate well. Add the remainder of the cream mixture to the bowl and whisk vigorously to incorporate.
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Strain the mixture through a mesh sieve to remove the vanilla bean, stir in chopped fruit and pour into 4 custard cups, ramekins or other ovenproof dishes.
- Bake in a bain-marie* in the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes. Remove the cups and let cool, then chill for 2 hours or longer.
- Garnish with fresh fruit.
*Place the dishes in a roasting pan and pour enough hot water into the pan so that it rises halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
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