Natillas -- mmm, excellent. A Spanish dessert -- essentially a boiled custard that's really really yummy. We'll make that first, since it takes longer. I'm not going to give necessarily exacting amounts here... when I made this, I scaled the recipe in the book... but here's a general idea of the process. You might be able to make out the amounts from the photos.
Clear some space on the table. Crack a few eggs open, and split the egg yolks and egg whites.
You'll also need some of this stuff. Milk, flour, sugar, and the unlabeled dealy is cinnamon.
Measure out about these amounts of this stuff...
...and while you're doing that, begin beating the egg yolks.
Pour the dry stuff in, and keep mixing. Hopefully you'll get something that looks like this.
Pour the milk in. Enjoy the nice fluppa-fluppa-fluppa sound that the mixer makes when you mix.
You should now have a nice liquidy goo. Pour that into a pot, and begin boiling it. Make sure to continuously stir so you don't get burnedness.
Pour it into a bowl and cover it when it gets to about this consistency. Let it sit while we begin making the steak in puff pastry.
To make the steak in puff pastry, you'll need various seasonings, some steak (tenderloin is preferable, although in this case, London broil is what I had around. Really, you want tenderloin. It'll taste just oh so much nicer.), and obviously, puff pastry.
Remove the fat from the steak. Season it on both sides with salt and pepper, and cut it up into pieces of about the size you see here.
Get your frying pan on, and braze the steak quadrants on both sides. It doesn't need to be cooked through -- in fact, it really shouldn't be. See sample here.
Roll out the puff pastry, and...
...cut it into quadrants.
Stick a brazed steak piece in each puff pastry quadrant, and begin folding up the puff pastries. Use some water to seal them.
Melt some butter, and coat the tops of the puff pastry steaks with it. Mmmm, butter. Put the puff pastry steaks on a rack.
Twenty minutes, 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
When the oven beeps, pull them out, and you should get something that looks like this. Mmm. Be careful, they're really really hot.
Migrate them to a plate. They should be nice and pinkish in the center. If you like yours slightly more well done, go for a few minutes longer.
Watermelon goes really well with this.
Digest your food, and unwrap the natillas custard. At this point, you have one of two options... you can fold in some merengue, or you can just eat it as it stands. When I had it in Spain, they did not have the merengue in it... I think I liked it better without. The recipe that I followed here, though, gave the opportunity to fold in some, so I'll show how to make that and what it looks like with it in there. If you don't want it with merengue, pour the custard into some dishes, and stick it in the fridge. When ready to serve, take it out and jump down to the bottom. If you want it with merengue, keep following along...
Put the egg whites in a bowl, and get out the venerable mixer.
Set it to beat and keep mixing until you get this. I usually set mine at full power along with the "burst of power" button, but of course my mixer is archaic.
Plonk the resulting fluffy stuff into the custard and "fold" it in, cutting the merengue in half until you get something that looks nice. This is about halfway through.
Now pour the resulting mixture into a few bowls, and stick it into the fridge. Let it set for a few hours.
When ready to serve, pat some cinnamon on top. Mix in to taste.
Lardass the cat likes it.
You have successfully made Spanish natillas. Enjoy. Join us next week when we make flan!
Clear some space on the table. Crack a few eggs open, and split the egg yolks and egg whites.
You'll also need some of this stuff. Milk, flour, sugar, and the unlabeled dealy is cinnamon.
Measure out about these amounts of this stuff...
...and while you're doing that, begin beating the egg yolks.
Pour the dry stuff in, and keep mixing. Hopefully you'll get something that looks like this.
Pour the milk in. Enjoy the nice fluppa-fluppa-fluppa sound that the mixer makes when you mix.
You should now have a nice liquidy goo. Pour that into a pot, and begin boiling it. Make sure to continuously stir so you don't get burnedness.
Pour it into a bowl and cover it when it gets to about this consistency. Let it sit while we begin making the steak in puff pastry.
To make the steak in puff pastry, you'll need various seasonings, some steak (tenderloin is preferable, although in this case, London broil is what I had around. Really, you want tenderloin. It'll taste just oh so much nicer.), and obviously, puff pastry.
Remove the fat from the steak. Season it on both sides with salt and pepper, and cut it up into pieces of about the size you see here.
Get your frying pan on, and braze the steak quadrants on both sides. It doesn't need to be cooked through -- in fact, it really shouldn't be. See sample here.
Roll out the puff pastry, and...
...cut it into quadrants.
Stick a brazed steak piece in each puff pastry quadrant, and begin folding up the puff pastries. Use some water to seal them.
Melt some butter, and coat the tops of the puff pastry steaks with it. Mmmm, butter. Put the puff pastry steaks on a rack.
Twenty minutes, 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
When the oven beeps, pull them out, and you should get something that looks like this. Mmm. Be careful, they're really really hot.
Migrate them to a plate. They should be nice and pinkish in the center. If you like yours slightly more well done, go for a few minutes longer.
Watermelon goes really well with this.
Digest your food, and unwrap the natillas custard. At this point, you have one of two options... you can fold in some merengue, or you can just eat it as it stands. When I had it in Spain, they did not have the merengue in it... I think I liked it better without. The recipe that I followed here, though, gave the opportunity to fold in some, so I'll show how to make that and what it looks like with it in there. If you don't want it with merengue, pour the custard into some dishes, and stick it in the fridge. When ready to serve, take it out and jump down to the bottom. If you want it with merengue, keep following along...
Put the egg whites in a bowl, and get out the venerable mixer.
Set it to beat and keep mixing until you get this. I usually set mine at full power along with the "burst of power" button, but of course my mixer is archaic.
Plonk the resulting fluffy stuff into the custard and "fold" it in, cutting the merengue in half until you get something that looks nice. This is about halfway through.
Now pour the resulting mixture into a few bowls, and stick it into the fridge. Let it set for a few hours.
When ready to serve, pat some cinnamon on top. Mix in to taste.
Lardass the cat likes it.
You have successfully made Spanish natillas. Enjoy. Join us next week when we make flan!