Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Nigella's comfort food

I love Nigella Lawson's books as they're full of stories, not just dry recipes. Making the recipes according to Nigella's guidelines is so satisfying, especially on a cold November evening as we had yesterday. I've recently got from my parents two of her books - Nigella Express and How to be a Domestic Goddess and  I adore both of them.  As it was already pretty late (we were teaching classes) and I was definitely in a mood for something sweet and comforting, Nigella Express with the comfort food chapter was the one to be chosen. And then... what a disappointment - I've realized that I had left both books in Poland (the beauty of living in two countries). Nigella's website though came to my aid and I found caramel croissant pudding which I saw in the book. Just a quick run to the nearby 24h corner store to get a tiny bottle of bourbon and off we were revelling in the taste of this "deeply luscious and easy to make, [...] all-too manageable indulgence".

In the original recipe there was more sugar and it was caster sugar while I used regular white sugar. I also used single cream instead of double cream, which is not available in Hungary (or at least I haven't found it yet). My croissants also were not plane but with chocolate filling, but they were equally yummy.




Nigella Lawson's Caramel Croissant Pudding 

2 stale croissant
80g of sugar
2 tablespoons of water (30ml)
125ml single cream
125ml full-fat milk
2 tablespoons of bourbon (30ml)
2 beaten eggs

As for the preparation I give over the voice to Nigella as she's the goddess :)

"1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish; I use a cast iron oval one with a capacity of about 500ml for this.
3. Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob over a medium to high heat.
4. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, without stirring, until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3–5 minutes. Keep looking but don’t be too timid.
5. Turn heat down to low and add the cream – ignoring all spluttering – and, whisking away, the milk and bourbon. Any solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve easily if you keep whisking over low heat. Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs.
6. Pour the caramel bourbon custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes if the croissants are very stale.
7.  Place in the oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon. "

Enjoy!

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