Easter Creme Caramel

Easter time is a time of eggs. There are two things that I love making with eggs. Macarons are one (which, in their little round shape remind me very much of a sweet version of eggs). But Macarons only use egg whites and I am always at a loss at what to do with the yolks.

I'm a little precious about eggs, so I would never throw the yolks out. And then, there is only so much custard and hollandaise sauce that you can make. But then I happened upon creme caramel!

Oh! What a delightful dessert! It is delicious just plain, but for Easter I decided to try something a little different. Also, I love the fruit and spiceiness of hot cross buns, so I mixed this in with the creme caramel mixture and, hey presto! You have the perfect Easter dessert, decadent and sweet! Serve this with whipped or double thick cream.

If you have the opposite problem and use the egg yolks for this and don't know what to do with the egg whites, you could always keep them in the fridge (for up to a week) and make a pavlova. See the recipe here.

Ingredients

Custard:
1 cup of fruit cake mix
1 tin of condensed milk
100 ml full cream milk
1 tsp all spice
15 ml water
7 egg yolks

Caramel:
175 ml water
100 g sugar
30 g butter


Method

The night before place all the custard ingredients, except the eggs into a bowl and place in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Make the caramel. Dissolve the sugar in the water in a pan with the butter. DO NOT STIR!
Wait until the mixture turns a caramel colour. Place at the bottom of the dish.

Whisk the egg yolks into the mixture and then pour that slowly on top of the caramel mixture.

Cover the baking tin with foil and place in a roasting dish that has been filled half-way with water.

Cook in the oven for 1hr - 1 hr 20 mins. Make sure that the custard is solid.

Turn out the creme caramel onto a plate, drizzle the caramel over the top and serve with whipped cream.

ASARA Wine Farm, Stellenbosch

Two weeks ago, just around harvest time, I visited ASARA Wine farm. The farm has always 

produced wonderful wines but now is a stay-over and culinary destination in it's own right. 

At their recent Pure Food festival, held on Human right's day,  the y launched their new Beaujoulais  Nouveau, a French-styled  wine that is meant for everyday drinking and which  is made from the Gamay grapes grown on the estate. It is the only one of it's kind in  South Africa.  

This is a wine that is traditionally released on the 1 November in France and that is well looked forward too by those inhabitants each year. It is an unusual style for South African palates in that it is primarily fruit driven, tasting of cranberries with brambles on the nose. It is meant to be drunk within the first six months and has very light acidity. The grapes were picked at the end of February, pressed and then kept in tanks for only two weeks.

Apart from the usual wine tasting Asara has a delectable deli which sells, not only the best coffee made by bassister Charles (that's a pic of Charles making my coffee below) but a tantalising array of sweet treats.  

Macarons that simply explode with flavour. My favourite were the plumb and litchi. Close on that is the green granny smith apple flavour. A selection of the chocolates, made by passionate pastry chef Karen Roussouw are also a must-have and a bargin at R25 for a selection of four. 

Sansibar cigar and whisky lounge the perfect place to hang out after dinner, especially if you are a hotel guest. In addition to rare cigars and whiskies that are on offer, there are also a fantastic range of wine-based cocktails that are whipped up  by Jasper. This place has quite a buzz in the evening and is frequented by hotel guests and students from Stellenbosch alike. It also has it's own bar menu with the massive burgers and the winemaker's and cheese platters being the favourites.

If you prefer something along the lines of fine dining, then the estate boasts Raphael's.

The menu is diverse and everything on it looks so yummy that it is definitely hard to choose. The lamb shank, which is slow cooked and then pulled off the bone is delicious.

Estate wines are served by the glass and are exceptionally well priced so you can enjoy a white or red with whatever you have chosen with your starter or main.

If you have space for it, their dessert menu is also excellent!