4th September

So the time has come for me to write another blog I think. Alas not much has changed over the last few days; I am still waiting on America to send me the document I need to edit by Friday and I have not received any more jobs over the weekend. However, I thought today should not be an entirely wasted one so I have come up with an idea to make this blog (hopefully) more interesting.

From now on with each post, I intend to attach a translation of a French recipe or an article from somewhere that I find interesting etc etc.

So for this post I have decided to start off by attaching a translation of the French classic, crème brulée à la cannelle (cinammon crème brulée). I'm a food fanatic and I love nothing more than being able to spend a weekend cooking and baking so I hope that you enjoy the recipes etc that I post on here along with my news.

So this is the French recipe:

Crème brulée (pour 5 personnes)

Difficulté: Facile
Preparation: 10 min

Temps de cuisson: 1h

Ingrédients

• 5 jaunes d'oeufs
• 35cl de crème liquide à 30% de matière grasse
• 12cl de lait
• 70g de cassonade
• 1 gousse de vanille

Et, pour le caramel:

• 60g environ de sucre blanc

Préparation

• Mélangez les jaunes d'oeufs et la cassonade à l'aide d'un fouet.
• Versez le lait dans une casserole.
  Ouvrez la gousse de vanille en deux et grattez (à l'aide d'une pointe de couteau) les grains. Ajoutez-les au lait et faites chauffer
• Versez le mélange bien chaud sur les jaunes et fouettez énergiquement. Ajoutez la crème et fouettez encore.
• Laissez refroidir le mélange et réservez au frais une heure
• Au bout d'une heure, préchauffez votre four à 120° en versant de l'eau dans le lèche-frite de votre four. 
• Versez la préparation dans des plats à crèmes brûlées et enfournez pendant une heure, au bain-Marie. 
• Au bout d'une heure éteignez votre four et laissez les crèmes environ 10 mn dedans. Sortez du four et laissez refroidir. Mettre au frais.
•            Au moment de servir, saupoudrez le sucre blanc sur les crèmes et colorez à l'aide d'un chalumeau, ou d'un fer à crèmes brûlée ou sous le grill de votre four.
  
  
  
  
  So that was the French, and here's the translation:
  
  
  Crème brulée (serves 5) 
  
  
  Difficulty level: Easy
  Preparation time: 10 mins
  Cooking time: 1 hour
  
  
  Ingredients
  
  
• 5 egg yolks
• 70g brown sugar 
• 12cl milk
• 1 vanilla pod               

For the caramel:

• About 60g white sugar

     Method

• Mix the egg yolk and the brown sugar with a whisk
• Pour the milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod in two and extract the seeds. Add the seeds to the milk and heat the mixture (do not boil)
• Pour the mixture onto the egg yolks and whisk. Add the cream and then whisk again.
• Put the mixture in the fridge and leave to cool for 1 hour.
• Towards the end of the cooling time, pre-heat the over to 120°C.
• Pour the cooled mixture into 5 ramekins and bake for 1 hour in a bain-marie (bain-marie = pour boling water into a roasting tin containing the ramekins, and ensure that the water comes half way up the sides of the small dishes)
• At the end of the cooking time, turn the oven off and leave the ramekins in the oven for 10 minutes. 
• Remove the ramekins from the oven and leave to cool.
• When you are ready to serve them, sprinkle the white sugar over the top and either put them under a grill until the top has caramelised or alternatively, use a kitchen blow torch to achieve the same results.

NB. The crème brulées can be made 24 hours in advance but take care not to caramelise the tops until you are ready to serve them or it will become soft and lose its lovely crunchy texture.

For a bit of variety, try putting fresh raspberries or strawberries in the bottom of the ramekins before you pour the mixture in.

So there you have it, a classic easy French recipe for a gorgeous dessert.

Right then, I'm off to do some more editing of this medical document I have been sent (trust me, I'd rather be making crème brulées!)

A bientôt mes amis!