creme anglaise.

Do you notice something?

I got a new camera- a Canon DSLR! Wooh! I'm so excited I'm bouncing up and down in my chair as I type. Finally I can properly learn how to take good pictures like the good folks from cannelle et vanille and evan's kitchen ramblings. But I'm actually more stressed now because I can't blame it on the camera when the pictures turn out crappy. ><

Back to creme anglaise. It's basically something very much like pastry cream, only less thick and require that element of patience that I sometimes seem to lack. If you turn up the heat to full blast to cook it, you'll pretty much end up with scrambled cream sauce. Yuck. Luckily, if you have a instant read thermometer, it makes life so much easier. Just cook it until the sauce reaches 170F and take if off the heat immediately. The temperature will still rise. It doesn't look very thick at first, but that's why you have to refrigerate it overnight, so that it'll become thicker.

Cold creamy creme anglaise. Yum.

Creme Anglaise
very much adapted from Davidlebovitz.com

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt 
3 whole eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Combine the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized saucepan. Make an ice bath by nesting a medium-sized metal bowl with a larger bowl filled with ice and water. Set as mesh strainer over the top. Warm the milk until it is warm but not hot. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warmed milk, whisking constantly. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over low to moderate heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula, scraping the
bottom, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Immediately strain the cooked custard through the strainer into the bowl set in the ice. Stir the creme anglaise with a clean spatula to help cool it down. Once cool, refrigerate overnight.

Makes 2 1/2 cups