Toasted Chile Custard
De Arbol (Capsicum Annuum) means tree like in Spanish. The plant has thick, upright, woody stems and the chile itself is narrow, curved and bright red in color. Believed to be closely related to the pequin, the De Arbol is thin fleshed, with tannic, smoky, grassy flavor and searing heat. This chile has a heat range of 7.5 on the heat scale of 1-10. De Arbol Chiles are comparable to a Cayenne Pepper. Scoville heat units 15,000 to 30,000.
Ingredients
2 lg Eggs
2 c Cream, Heavy
2 lg Egg Yolks
1/4 ts Vanilla
1/3 c Sugar, Brown
2 ts Chile de Arbol, powdered- toasted
2 tb Sugar, Brown
1/4 ts Salt
Instructions
- Heat oven to 300 degrees. Whisk egg, egg yolks, 1/3 c Brown Sugar and salt in nonreactive bowl until just blended.
- Scald cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat; remove from heat; rapidly whisk in half to egg mix until smooth; add back to cream in saucepan; bring back to just below a simmer (stir constantly) until custard coats back of a spoon; remove from heat.
- Pour custard into 4 4 ounce ramekins; place in hotel pan; plan pan in oven; fill with enough water to reach 2/3 up the sides of the ramekins; bake until set (about 35 minutes); refrigerate 3 hours.
- To serve; sprinkle each custard with 1/4 teaspoon chile powder; top with sifted brown sugar; broil until sugar is melted, not burned