A terrific recipe to add to your repertoire. The most simple local, Irish ingredients (bar the vanilla!) will transform your tarts and crumbles. This is also the base for vanilla ice cream. Just add a little more sugar and use half milk, half cream in the recipe.
Ingredients
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500ml Whole Milk
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1 Vanilla Pod
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125g Sugar
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6 Egg Yolks
Method
Split the vanilla pod in two lengthways. Put it in a saucepan with the milk and the cream. Bring to the boil but don’t allow to boil!Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until they are pale and have doubled in volume.Pour the hot milk onto the egg yolks, stirring all the time.
Then pour the custard back into the saucepan and put it back on a fairly brisk heat.
Stir with a wooden spoon, and when you feel resistance to it from the thickening custard, and a trace made with your finger on the back of the spoon stays put, whip the saucepan off the heat, still stirring.
Allow the custard to cool slightly before serving, or cool it right down in the fridge and eat it cold. I leave the vanilla pod in until I’m serving the custard, scraping out the little black beans at the last minute with the blade of a knife.
Photography by Marta Miklinska. Food Styling by Trish Deseine.
