I bought a bag of blood oranges at work a few weeks back,
intending to create something yummy with them. But, then I was totally distracted
with planning my cooking class, and the poor little beauties have been languishing
in my fridge ever since. Knowing I would
be off today, and wanting to create something decadent yet somewhat healthy to
serve my Mother-in-law for dinner tomorrow night for Mother’s Day Dinner, I started
looking for a recipe that would showcase their loveliness. Nothing had all of
the components I was looking for, so I had to get creative. (Just to show you
how my brain works when deciding what to cook, the combination of
this recipe,
this recipe and
this recipe led to the creation of my recipe...crazy but true) I
think they turned out divine.
The blood orange compote, as simple as it is, is a wee bit
messy and fiddly to make, but it is totally worth the effort. If you cannot get
blood oranges, any other macerated fresh fruit would be lovely on top of this
custard...I can see blueberries or raspberries as a wonderful substitution!
I am loving the coconut nectar lately, it adds a lovely flavour
that marries so well with the kafir lime in this recipe! Feel free to substitute
it for your sweetener of choice.
Kafir Lime Custard with Blood Orange Compote
Custard:
4 cups whole milk
½ cup coconut nectar (or other sweetener of choice)
6 kafir lime leaves
8 eggs, well beaten but not frothy
Pinch of salt
Compote:
6-8 blood oranges, depending on size, mine were small!
1 tbsp coconut nectar
Garnish:
¼ cup toasted coconut flakes
To make your custards:
Preheat the oven to 300F with the rack in the middle.
In a medium sized pot, combine the milk, first amount of coconut
nectar and the kafir lime leaves. Warm slowly over medium heat, stirring often,
until it just boils. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and leave for 20 minutes to
infuse the milk with the lime leaves.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until well
mixed, but not frothy.
When milk is infused, stir in a pinch of salt, and remove
the lime leaves.
Scoop out a cup of the warm milk, and add it slowly to the
beaten eggs, stirring constantly. (this will temper your eggs so that they don’t
cook when you add the rest of the hot milk) \
Add this mixture to rest of the warm milk in the pot. Stir
well, and then pour thru a mesh strainer over your mixing bowl. This will
remove any bits of cooked egg or lime leaves, and give you a smoother custard.
Place 9 ramekins in a large shallow pan. Fill each with
approx ¾ cup of your custard mixture.
(adjust to the size of your ramekins if they are smaller or larger than
mine!)
Carefully transfer your pan into your preheated oven.
Fill a 4 cup vessel that pours well with very hot tap water.
(a kettle works well too!)
Pour carefully into your shallow dish to surround the
ramekins. The water should come up the sides of the ramekins about ¾ of the
way.
Bake for approximately 1 1/4 hours , or until they set. If you insert a knife into the custard halfway
between the middle and the edge, it should come out clean when they are cooked.
Remove them from the water bath and let cool for a good half
hour, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24. Wait until they are completely cool to cover them if you will be keeping them refrigerated for the 24 hrs.
To Make your compote:
Cut the top and bottom ends from your blood oranges to
create a flat end on each. Cut the pith and peel away with a sharp knife (my
serrated steak knife worked beautifully) being careful to not waste too much of
the fruit on the peel.
Over a bowl, so that you can catch every drop of the
delicious juice, cut the sections carefully away from the membranes. Place the
membranes in a mesh sieve, you will press them at the end to get every last bit
of juice. Continue with all of your oranges, and press the remaining “waste”
thru your sieve into the bowl. Add the second amount of coconut nectar, and
stir to combine. My oranges were pretty tiny, and I ended up with just over ½ a
cup of juice and sections.
Just prior to serving, top each custard with a Tbsp of the
compote, and garnish with the toasted coconut flakes.
We are having a very slow start to spring here, but my herbs
are coming along nicely. They are usually the first green thing that we can eat
from the garden, and I use them all thru the growing season. This dressing
needed some perking up, and the handful of herbs from the garden was perfect. I
used chives, garlic chives and thyme here, just be sure to remove any tough
stems before chopping. You could substitute any other fresh herb that you like,
basil and oregano would be lovely!
2 tsp paprika
