Natillas (dessert)

8 To 10

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
4 Eggs, separated
¼ cup Flour
1 quart Heavy cream
¾ cup Sugar
⅛ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Vanilla
Canela
Nutmeg or Santa Fe sweet spice

Directions

OPTIONAL SEASONING

Here are the final two recipes I sampled at the Santa Fe Cooking School. I hope you enjoy them. Traditional Foods of New Mexico from the Santa Fe School of Cooking, Santa Fe, NM (505) 983-4511.

Make a paste of egg yolks and ½ cup of the cream, and then stir in the flour, mixing well. Add sugar and salt to the rest of the cream and scald in saucepan. Stir scalded cream gradually into egg mixture and place in double boiler. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until the mixture has become thickened, about 20 minutes. Mix in vanilla and let cool. Beat egg whites until stiff, then fold into custard. Garnish with canela, nutmeg, or sweet spice.

Notes from the chef: To cut down on the amount of fat, substitute evaporated skim milk or half and half for the heavy cream. Make sure to place double boiler over, not in, boiling water. Thickened consistency is correct when the mixture coats the back of a spoon and you can draw a track with your finger down the coating and the mark remains. Canela is described as similar to light cinnamon; Santa Fe sweet spice is a commercially prepared blend of sweet spices. To achieve best results with beating egg whites, make sure the whites are room temp before beating them. Adding a pinch of cream of tartar near the end helps, too. The instructor seemed mildly offended when one of us voiced the salmonella concern since the egg whites aren't cooked. She seemed to think that Santa Fe was somehow immune from that health concern (NOT!). But she said that if we were afraid to serve uncooked whites, they could be beaten and then poached by large spoonfuls in boiling water and served atop the creamy custard. I did eat the uncooked version at the lunch and it was wonderful. Obviously I lived to tell the tale. But I do plan on poaching the whites when I prepare this dessert for company! Posted to FOODWINE Digest 09 Oct 96 From: Gretl Collins <gretl_collins@...> Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:59:07 -0400

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