Manu's French Kitchen - Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

500ml pouring cream

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

5 egg yolks

90g caster sugar

1.  Place the cream,  vanilla seeds and the pod in a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for 1 hour to infuse. strain the cream through fine-mesh sieve into a jug and discard vanilla pod.

2.  Place the egg yolks and 50g of sugar in large bowl and whisk until just well combined. slowly stir in warm cream until just combine; do not stir vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles in the custard. (at this stage, you can cover the custard closely with plastic film and refrigerate overnight to enhance the flavour and then remove any bubbles which may have formed on the surface of the custard before cooking).

3.  Preheat oven to 120 degrees C

4.  Place four 150ml capacity brulee dishes or ramekins in a a deep roasting pan, carefully divide he custard among the dishes, then place the pan in the oven. Pour enough boiling water in the pan to come halfway up the side of the dishes. Bake the custards for 30-40 minutes or until just set. The cooking time will depend on the depth of the dishes - the custards should still be a little wobbly in the centre.

5.  Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven, then remove the dishes from the water bath and set aside to cool. Cover the brulees with plastic film, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

6.  Just before serving, sprinkle the surface of each brulee with 2 teaspoons of the remaining sugar, using the back of the teaspoon to spread evenly. Using a kitchen blowtorch, melt and caramelise the sugar. The sugar should be dark golden but not burnt. Serve immediately.

Serves 4