GUAVAS AND CUSTARD DESSERT

by former executive chef Christiaan Campbell of The Werf restaurant

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

Brown-bread burnt-butter ice cream

2C cream

2C full-cream milk

2 slices sourdough bread, toasted

1C sugar

6 egg yolks

pinch salt

125g butter

Frangipane crumble

50g unsalted butter

60g (80ml) sugar

1 egg

30g (50ml) cake flour

125g ground almonds

pinch of salt

Poached guavas

9 ripe guavas

2C sugar

3C water

2 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

2 cloves

Vanilla custard

2C cream

2C milk

12 egg yolks

1C sugar

pinch of salt

1t vanilla essence or ½t vanilla paste

Spice sprinkle

4 cardamom pods

2 cinnamon sticks

4 cloves

4 star anise

1 vanilla pod

100g castor sugar

METHOD

Brown-bread burnt-butter ice cream

1. Bring the cream and milk to a boil and take off the heat.
2. Slice the toasted bread into rough pieces and add to the hot milk/cream.
3. Cover the pot with clingwrap and leave the milk to infuse for 30 minutes.
4. Strain the bread out of the milk and discard. Bring the milk to a boil again.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, egg yolks and salt together.
6. Pour some of the hot milk mixture over the yolk mixture and whisk.
7. Pour everything back into the pot and over low heat, cook the mixture until it coats the back of a spoon, or reaches 84°C.
8. Strain the mixture through a sieve and set aside.
9. Melt the butter over low heat, keep it on the heat once melted, the milk solids in the butter will start caramelizing and turn brown. Once it is a dark brown, remove the butter from the stove and strain through an oil filter (a coffee filter works just as well at home).
10. With a handheld blender running, slowly pour the melted butter into the ice cream mixture. Blend until all the butter has been incorporated.
11. Churn the ice cream mixture in an ice cream churner according to the manufacturers’ instructions.

Frangipane crumble

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy in a stand or handheld mixer.
3. Add the egg and mix through.
4. Add the cake flour, ground almonds and salt and mix through.
5. Spread the mixture on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
6. Take a fork and break the mixture up to form a rough crumble.
7. Return to the oven and bake a further 10 minutes. Repeat the process with the fork to break up the mixture.
8. The end result should be an even light brown colour, so if it needs an extra 5 minutes in the oven, then return it to the oven once more. Set aside to cool down.

Poached guavas

1. Peel the guavas and half them.
2. Bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat, together with the spices.
3. Once it has come to the boil, add the guava halves.
4. Let it just come back to the boil, and immediately take it off the heat, let the guavas cool down in the hot syrup.

Vanilla custard

1. Bring the cream and milk together to a boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla together.
3. Pour some of the hot milk over the egg mixture and whisk.
4. Pour everything back into the pot and cook over low heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon or reaches 84°C. Take care that the mixture does not start boiling, it will split.
5. Immediately pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl and cover the surface of the custard with clingwrap to prevent a skin from forming.

Spice sprinkle

1. Heat the oven to 160°C.
2. Put the spices, including the vanilla pod, on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Let the spices cool down.
3. Put it all together in a spice grinder and grind till fine.
4. Add the castor sugar to the spices and put the mixture in a spice shaker.

PLATING

1. Remove the pips from the guavas if preferred and quarter them.
2. Divide the frangipane crumble between 6 bowls.
3. Put a scoop of the brown bread burnt butter ice cream onto the crumble in each bowl.
4. Place the guavas in a big bowl with some of the syrup and spices.
5. Pour the custard in a jug.
6. Put a bowl with crumble and ice cream in front of each guest and let them help themselves to guavas and custard.
7. Lastly, send around the spice shaker for each guest to sprinkle some over their dessert.