Active Time 20 min
Total Time 5 1/2 hr (includes chilling)
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
· 1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (not dyed red; 4 oz)
· 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
· 2 cups heavy cream (if using oat milk, only do 1 1/2 cups or if using a thinner milk, maybe combine with a dairy free yogurt to make it a bit thicker)
· 3 large egg yolks
· 6 teaspoons turbinado sugar such as Sugar in the Raw
Materials
A fine-weave kitchen towel (not terry cloth)
4 (1-cup) gratin or other shallow flameproof dishes (I use smaller 1/4 pint glass jars)
a 9x13 cake pan
A small blowtorch
Steps to make it
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Spread pistachios on a baking sheet and toast until nuts are fragrant but not browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool completely. Rub off and discard any loose skins (some will remain on nuts).
I always toast in a cast iron pan on the stove and they are usually still hot when I put them in the food processor and I don’t worry about any skins. I’m impatient!
Pulse nuts with granulated sugar in a food processor just until finely chopped. (Do not blend to a paste.)
Stir together nuts and cream with a pinch of salt in a 1-quart heavy saucepan and cook over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until just hot. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 30 minutes.
Rinse kitchen towel under cold water and wring out as much water as possible. Line a large sieve with towel, then set sieve over a bowl or large glass measure and pour pistachio mixture into towel. Wrap towel up around mixture and, working over sieve, squeeze pistachio cream from towel into bowl. Discard ground pistachios.
I use a nut milk bag and that works just great. I used to use a dish towel but eventually all that twisting and turning ripped the towel.
Lightly beat yolks in a medium bowl, then whisk in pistachio cream. Divide mixture among gratin dishes.
Arrange jars set in a cake pan and bake in a hot water bath until custards are just set around edges but centers tremble slightly when dishes are gently shaken, about 20 minutes. Remove jars from pan and cool, uncovered, then chill, covered, at least 4 hours. (Custards will set completely as they chill.)
I typically put the jars in the pan and then heat a full tea kettle with water. When the water is boiling, I put the pan in the oven and pour the hot water in the pan around the jars until it’s about 1/2” up on the jars.
Very gently blot any moisture from surface of chilled custards with paper towels. Sprinkle 1 1/2 teaspoons turbinado sugar evenly over each custard, then move blowtorch flame evenly back and forth just over sugar until sugar is melted and caramelized.
I don’t blot anything and I’m still only passable at using the blowtorch. I need to practice that.
Cooks' note:
Custards (without sugar topping) can be chilled up to 2 days.
Jess’s birthday is a week from Wednesday and since Julie’s birthday is the same week and there was no birthday to write about THIS week, I thought I would write this a little early. Jess and I met in high school. Here we are with Hannah posing for our senior pictures. If I remember correctly we all went together to the rock mazes to save on location fees but I also remember being thankful because I thought our photographer was a little bit creepy and I wouldn’t have wanted to head up into the hills with him by myself. I also remember that we had to hike a little bit to get to one of the locations and warned him and he showed up wearing cowboy boots so we had to carry his equipment. Looking for pictures of Jess I realize I have very few because I’m so bad at making sure to capture the moment. I’m too busy living in it. I’m sure Mindy has many more good photos of us that look good but the only other recent one I could find was from singing karaoke after the 30th reunion with Kevin, Kelly, and Mindy when they were attempting to force Jess to sing along to a Cranberries song. As you can see she is having the time of her life.
I chose this recipe because when she was visiting Minneapolis I brought it when we met up at Maggie’s house. She has mentioned it a few times since as one of her favorites and I totally agree. I’m always on board for anything pistachio and this recipe is not very hard and so, so good. I went looking for this recipe after Alison and I went to a restaurant by my house for dinner. The restaurant is no longer open, but the food she ordered was so salty it burned so she had to send it back. They brought her another meal, but then charged her for both entrees. I ended up circling the cost of the second entree and writing “tip” next to it. But one thing that was delicious was three different types of creme brûlée where one flavor was pistachio. It was the best part of the meal and I immediately went looking for a recipe. This recipe had a sour cherry sauce, but it overpowers the pistachio flavor so I don’t make it.
The only complicated part of this creme brûlée is toasting the pistachios and straining them out. Otherwise creme brûlée is one of those recipes that feels like it might be difficult but really isn’t. And it seems fancy. And it’s delicious. And you can put it in adorable jars.
As I’ve said before, no need to buy ramekins when you have small jars. They can go in the oven and come with a lid and are pretty inexpensive. And did I mention that they were cute? Makes it pretty simple to transport in single serving sizes to all your friends. I had to make it this week because I didn’t have any pictures of it and I was not sad about that. But I am glad I got to share it with others AND ate the last one this afternoon. Now I can make the next thing.
Jess and I lost touch for awhile after college, but through the magic of Facebook were able to reconnect and hang out when she is in Minneapolis with her kids or I am in Rapid City. When Anna was living with me they came for Thanksgiving and we had a craft day where we took Jesse’s cartoons, scanned them onto some t-shirt paper and ironed them onto a shirt and Lyra and Anna sewed pajama pants. Her kids are as delightful as she is.
I’m so glad we’re still friends and I hope we are for many more years. Happy birthday friend!