Eat for less: Crème Caramel

 

I’m at my desk.

Why am I telling you this? Because we’ve been having a bit of a summer here in Manchester and most people are outside.

We are not only having a snippet of summer; we have also heard a lot about the dangerous heatwave which will begin sometime tomorrow morning (Saturday) and will be finished by tomorrow evening (Saturday).

This is why we talk so much about the weather: we have rain showers, Sunny spells and heatwaves that last several hours.

Still, a summer spell offers all kinds of eating opportunities, including BBQ.

Now BBQ is a great favourite of mine.

John is very good at cooking it and he is starting the BBQ as we speak.

I just got the home made buns out of the oven. Well, I wish I could say I made them by hand but I’ll be lying: after a hard day at work the bread-maker made the dough and I just shaped it and got it in the oven.

Still delicious and I know that the buns were made of flower, water, olive oil, a dash of milk and a bit of yeast. None of this ‘let’s get fifteen ingredients in your bread and see how long you last’ business.

Nothing much to share about out cooking tonight.

Except…

…the desert.

We are having something I love but then again I’ve already mentioned my passionate affair with sugar and all things sweet at the moment. My son loves it as well and John…well, John likes it as well (he is not very particular about deserts). It also gives me the opportunity to tell you how we eat for less.

Crème Caramel

Normally, Crème Caramel comes from France.

This one comes from my mother’s cookbook and my sister’s instruction. It is rather Bulgarian I’d say.

But let me tell you how you can make it and it is not difficult to make at all: it only looks like it and there is a little trick you have to watch for.

What you need?

To make the most perfectly smooth and caramelly Crème Caramel you need special bowls. They look like that:

You also need a tray deep enough so that you can make a water bath to bake the Crème Caramel in but I suppose that if you are reading this you already have it.

Ingredients

(Please note that making crème caramel is not a science but an art form; hence the measurements are approximate.)

• Sugar (a mug-full and twelve tsps.)
• 8 eggs
• Two pints bottle of milk.

Preparation

First things first: you need the caramel part of this desert.

To make it, place a metal tray on the gas stove and put the fire on. Arrange the metal cups on the tray so that they heat and put a tsp o sugar in each. When the sugar melts and caramelises get the tray off the fire.

While this is all going on, beat the eggs and the sugar. When the mixture is smooth add the milk.

Once the caramel is ready and off the fire, pour the milky mixture in the metal cups.

Place the cups in a deep tray full of tepid water and put in the oven pre-heated to 140C.

Keep in the oven for about 1h and 20min or until the mixture is solid.

Now the little trick: you have to make sure that the water doesn’t boil. If it does, the Crème Caramel is still delicious but it is not going to be silky smooth.

When the Crème Caramel is ready leave to cool down and then put in the fridge.

Serve by turning the metal cup on a plate so that all melted caramelised sugar covers the custardy part of this wonderful desert.

Now, let me tell you why I’m giving you this recipe.

Remember our thing about being a frugal artist?

Making Crème Caramel from scratch is not that much cheaper, if at all, than buying it in the supermarket. It is not made from reconstituted egg and milk powder either.

This more than does it for me!

Now excuse me: I have to go and have dinner with John and our sons, drink some beer and dream about all the fun stuff we’ll do tomorrow.

Have a very good weekend, everyone!