Ginger & Lemon Grass Crème Brulée

WizzyTheStick's Note:

Recipe taken from the Trinidad Express Newspaper. Lemon grass is used in Trinidad herbal medicine to make a tea which brings down fevers, hence the reason it gets it's local name, fever grass.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• ½ cup gingerroot (finely chopped)
• ½ cup lemongrass (finely chopped)
• 4 cups heavy cream
• 12 large egg yolks
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 7 -8 dashes angostura aromatic bitters
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place ginger and the lemongrass into a medium saucepan.
3. Add the heavy cream and simmer gently for 25 minutes to infuse the flavours.
4. Remove the infusion from the stove and strain through a fine sieve.
5. In a mixing bowl whisk together the yolks, the sugar the lemon extract and the bitters.
6. Slowly mix in the heavy cream infusion.
7. Pour into ramekins or an oven casserole dish. Remove any foam from the top of mixture with a teaspoon.
8. Place ramekins into a large casserole dish and pour hot water until the level is halfway up the sides of the ramekin dish. Put into oven and bake until the custard is firm (the center should jiggle just a little when you shake it) approximately 40 -50 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the water bath and completely cool before you cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
9. To serve.
10. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar and using a blow torch caramelize the sugar. The oven broiler can be used in place of the torch.
11. Place the ramekins in a tray of cold water and ice and leave in the broiler for 3-5 minutes--just enough to caramelize the sugar.
12. Variations: 1/4 teaspoon grated lime peel can be substituted for the lemon grass.

Reviews

[Auntie Mags]

Really enjoyed this wonderful combination of flavors. Left out the bitters because I wasn't sure when to add it. You might want to revise your recipe. Same with the vanilla but I added it with the cream. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for sharing de Roche!

[Sharlene~W]

Absolutely wonderful flavor. Other brulee recipes I have tried call for straining the mixture after the yolks have been whisked in so you strain out any lumpy material from the eggs--I did it that way and recommend it. The aromatic bitters (and vanilla) don't appear in the directions, and it seemed like 7-8 dashes might be quite a bit, so I left the aromatic bitters out and just went with the vanilla. I cut the recipe in half and it made nine 1/4-cup brulees. One for me to sample in advance and 8 little sweet treats for the perfect end of a great meal.