← Nouns Cooking · Spanish

Ingredients

• 600 ml whole milk
• 1 lemon, peel only, pared into wide strips
• ½ orange, peel only, pared into wide strips (optional)
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 6 egg yolks
• 100 g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp Cornflour (cornstarch)
• 6 tbsp caster sugar, for the topping

Method

1. Put the milk, citrus peel and cinnamon in a saucepan and heat until steaming and just about to boil. Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 min, then lift out the peel and cinnamon.
2. In a bowl, whisk the yolks, 100 g sugar and the cornflour until pale and smooth. Slowly pour in the warm milk, whisking all the time.
3. Pour everything back into the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon, for 5–7 min, until it thickens like a thick custard. Do not let it boil hard, or the eggs will curdle.
4. Pour into 6 shallow dishes (traditionally terracotta), cool, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours.
5. Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar evenly over each and caramelise with a kitchen blowtorch until amber and bubbling. Leave for 1 minute to harden, then serve.

Tips

• No blowtorch? Put the chilled dishes under a very hot grill for 1–2 minutes, watching closely.
• Freeze the leftover egg whites for meringues or the Tarta de Santiago.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Spain on a Fork