Le uova: crème brulée e budino di riso [Guest post]

Il meglio che possa capitare a un uovo

Sono stata sempre affascinata dalle uova. Amo tutto di loro, la superficie, la loro forma e il colore. Qualunque colore, dal bianco, al verde, al marrone maculato, e in varie dimensioni, che vanno da quelle più piccole a quelle più grandi, mi piacciono tutte.

credits: Veronika Studer – The kitchen finesse

Ultimamente, ho avuto anche la folle idea di fare la mia piccola fattoria di polli nel cortile di casa. Niente di troppo grande, però, solo qualche pollo in giro.Ho visto tante volte le uova di anatra, ma non ho mai avuto la fortuna di averne in realtà una.

Potete immaginare la mia emozione quando qualche settimana fa, nel mio negozio preferito, per sbaglio ho trovato sia le uova verdi (è un tipo di anatra, il Germano Reale, che depone uova con il guscio verde chiaro) che le uova di anatra allo stesso tempo. Avevo già speso troppo quel giorno – acquistare props può essere impegnativo per il portafoglio, si sa – ma ho dovuto prendere un paio di dozzine di quelle uova. Ero come una bambina nel negozio di caramelle.

Erano proprio belle come mi immaginavo. Avrei potuto guardarle per giorni.

Ho fatto diversi progetti su come avrei potuto cucinarle al meglio. Dopotutto, non sono come le uova normali, per me sono qualcosa di straordinario e prezioso. Cosa avrei potuto farci? Riflettevo con me stessa. Potrei preparare una omelette al tartufo, forse. Oppure un uovo d’anatra affumicato o qualcosa di più esotico.

Dopo diverse considerazioni, ho scelto di fare una crema. Nulla sarebbe stato più adatto per queste uova che trasformarle in una crema dolce e sexy. Così preparai la crème brulée.

credits: Veronika Studer – The kitchen finesse

Ho preparato creme con ogni tipo di uova. Un giorno l’ho aromatizzata con una spruzzata di Nocino. Hmmmmmm, era divina. L’altro giorno, ho aggiunto un pizzico di creatività alla crema pasticcera classica: fave tonka. Aggiungerne qualche tocco rende incomparabile il dolce.

E infine, ho preparato qualcosa di più infantile, ma altrettanto gustoso: il budino di riso. Il riso morbido e cremoso è stato una bella sorpresa insieme alla crema dolce. Ne ho apprezzato ogni morso e ogni volta ne volevo sempre di più.

credits: Veronika Studer – The kitchen finesse

Original version

Veronika Studer grew up in the Western part of Hungary. Since her early childhood she had a great interest in fine-arts. She fell in love with photography, more specifically with food photography a few years ago. She combines her two great passions in her work, food preparation and photographing. Her images are filled with life, reflecting the vivid colors of nature. Lately, with a graphic designer friend they created a food magazine designed for Ipad, called The Spoon. Veronika is a freelance food photographer and food stylist and works currently from her home studio in Switzerland.

The Spoon magazine website

The best that can happen to an egg.

I’ve been always fascinated by the eggs. Just love the smooth, even surface, their shape and color. It can come in several color range from the white, to green to spotted brown, and in several sizes, ranging from extremely tiny to a small hands size, but I like all of them.

Lately, I’m also having the crazy idea to make my own tiny chicken farm in the backyard. Nothing too big though, just a few chickens running around.  I’ve seen so many times those great looking greenish or duck eggs, but I’ve never been so lucky to actually have one. You can imagine my excitement when few weeks ago, at my favorite shopping place, I accidentally ran into the green and the duck eggs at the same time. I already had overspent that day -buying props can be heavy on the wallet that’s for sure- but I had to grab a couple of dozens of those eggs. I was a child yet again in the candy store.

They were just as beautiful as I imagined. I could have looked at them for days. I’ve been making plans what to cook with them. After all, they are nothing like regular eggs, they are something extraordinary and precious to me. What should it be, I argued with myself. Should it be omelette with truffles maybe. Or smoked duck eggs, or something more exotic. But after careful consideration, I’ve cast my vote on custard. Nothing would suit the eggs more than the creamy, sweet and sexy custard. And so it happened.

I prepared custard from all of the eggs. One day it was flavored with a splash of Italian nut liquor. Hmmmmmm, it was just was heavenly.  The other day, I added a bit of decadence to the classic custard. Tonka beans add some incomparable twist to the sweet. And finally, I prepared something more childish but just as tasty. Rice custard. The soft creamy rice was a nice surprise in the sweet cream. I enjoyed every bits of it and I still cannot have enough. I’m craving for more.

Baked custard (Creme brulee)

Ingredients (for basic custard)

• 5 egg yolks
• 500ml heavy cream
• 5-6 tablespoons sugar

Add the flavor to your liking, like:

• vanilla beans
• tonka bean
• lemon zest
• nut liquor

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan forced).
2. For custard, combine warm heavy cream and sugar. Stir mixture until sugar dissolve. Add egg yolks and stir with an electric mixer until fully incorporated. Add flavoring, and spoon the cream into the ramekins.
3. Place the ramekins into a large roasting tray and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up their outsides. Place the tray onto the center shelf of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until just set.
4. Remove the ramekins from the water and let it cool to room temperature.
5. Sprinkle the top of the custard with sugar  then caramelize with a chefs’ blow-torch.

credits: Veronika Studer – The kitchen finesse

Rice custard

Ingredients

• 75g risotto rice
• 400ml milk
• 450ml heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 vanilla pod
• 4-5 tablespoon sugar
• 4 egg yolks

1.  Heat up 400ml milk in  sauce pan and add risotto rice, vanilla seeds and lemon zest. Cover with a lid and on medium high heat cook it until soft. (about 20 minutes) Let it cool to room temperature.
2. Heat up the heavy cream in a sauce pan and add sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Until it cools, beat the egg yolks until pale and fluffy then add it to the cooled heavy cream with the milk rice.
3. Spoon the cream into ramekins and cover with foil.Place the ramekins into a large roasting tray and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up their outsides.
4. Place the tray onto the center shelf of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until just set. Remove the ramekins from the water and let it cool to room temperature.
5. Sprinkle the top of the custard with  sugar  then caramelize with a chefs’ blow-torch.