savoiardi

 *Crema Pasticcera (also known as Crema Inglese or Crème Patissière or Crème Anglaise) is essentially custard…delicious, home-made, easy to make and rich-tasting custard!

This recipe makes 6 portions

First of all, make the Savoiardi biscuits as per my recipe, but ensure you SUBSTITUTE THE FOLLOWING: Instead of using vanilla essence, use the finely-grated rind of half a lemon (ideally an unwaxed lemon).

Note: If you are short on time, you can use shop-bought Sponge Fingers. 

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Resting Time: 2 hours +

“EGG WHITE”

Ingredients

• 200g white chocolate
• 300g mascarpone cheese
• 50ml double cream
• 50g caster sugar

Method

• Break the chocolate into small squares then melt in the microwave (in short bursts of 30 seconds to ensure you don’t over-heat it and burn it!)
• While the chocolate is melting, mix the mascarpone, cream and sugar in a large bowl, ensuring you end up with a smooth thick creamy mixture
• Gradually add the chocolate, beating the mixture vigorously with a spatula/spoon (don’t worry if it looks slightly ‘curdled’ at this stage, but make sure you add the chocolate gradually!)
• Whisk the mixture with an electric whisk for about 30 seconds on a high setting until it is smooth and glossy and has thickened slightly to the consistency of whipped cream

Distribute the white chocolate mixture into 6 small bowls and smooth the surface as much as you can using the back of a teaspoon, then clean around the edges of the bowl with a clean teatowel or kitchen tissue paper.

Place the 6 bowls in the fridge to set.

“EGG YOLK”

Ingredients

• 350ml semi-skimmed milk
• 100g caster sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 25g plain white flour
• Rind from 1.5 lemons (preferably unwaxed lemons)
• 1/4 tsp good quality vanilla essence
• 1tsp yellow food colouring

Method

• Peel the rind off the lemons (using a potato peeler) and place them in a medium saucepan with the milk and the vanilla essence
• Turn the heat on and bring the milk to boiling point, without actually letting it boil and taking care not to let it burn
• Meanwhile, place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until they have gone almost white and very ‘fluffy’
• Sift the flour into the egg yolks and whisk it in
• Remove the lemon rind/peel from the milk and pour the almost boiling milk into the egg mixture, VERY SLOWLY whilst whisking continuously…starting off with just a few drops and gradually adding more until all the milk has been whisked into the egg yolks
• Return the mixture to the pan, add the food colouring and, over a low heat and while stirring with a spatula/spoon or hand-held whisk (using a whisk is a good method to avoid lumps, but use it to STIR rather than whisk!), heat it until it thickens to a rich thick custard.  Ensure you stir continuously!
• Pour the mixture into a bowl and place the bowl into a larger bowl containing ice cubes (not absolutely necessary but helps speed up the process!) and stir continuously until the custard has cooled to at least room temperature

ASSEMBLY OF THE ‘EGG’

• Take the pots with the white chocolate mousse/cream out of the fridge and carefully scoop out a central circle with a teaspoon
• Pour the yellow custard into a squeezy/decorative bottle with a nozzle (if you have one, otherwise you will have to pour carefully from a jug or using a spoon, but it could get messy!)
• Squeeze/pour the yellow custard into the hollowed-out centre of the white chocolate mousse until it reaches the same level as the white chocolate mousse
• Carefully (avoiding over-spill of the custard onto the white mousse) move the pots back into the fridge and rest for at least a couple of hours

SERVING OF THE ‘EGG AND SOLDIERS’

• Cut the Savoiardi into long 1cm-wide strips, the same as you would with toast for traditional ‘egg and soldiers’ with boiled eggs
• Place a few onto each plate
• Add one ‘egg’ pot to each plate
• Serve

Dig in….Gloriously Good!!!