Dessert
Today we're looking at a Catalan cream, but an alternative one.
What does it mean? I called it "alternative" because I didn't make it in the traditional pans but plated it in a modern way with a piping bag.
I decided to make it with dark chocolate, I used a medium dark chocolate, not extra dark, which has a cocoa content of about 50%, so it is quite sweet.
After cooking the cream, I immediately pour it into a piping bag and let it cool and set in the refrigerator for a few hours. I store it this way until I need to serve it.
When it's time for dessert, I take it out of the fridge and start creating. With the piping bag, we can get really creative: we can make a spiral, straight lines, an S—in short, you can give free rein to your imagination. For convenience, I recommend not making thin lines, but rather joining several lines together so it's easier to flame the sugar and create the classic caramelized crust.
I then wanted to add some fresh fruit and in my opinion, peaches in syrup with chocolate go very well, as do raspberries to add a bit of acidity since we have the caramelized crust which is very sweet.
Then a touch of crunchiness with the oat crumble.
The dessert must then be served immediately; it cannot be put back in the fridge otherwise the caramel crust will melt.
Procedure
To prepare the cream, weigh all the ingredients separately.
Mix sugar and cornstarch together and then pour into the milk.
Blend with an immersion blender to dissolve the powders well, or mix with a whisk.
Cook on low heat or low power on induction, always stir with a whisk during cooking and bring to about 85˚, it will thicken slightly, it will not have much structure like custard.
Add the chocolate and mix well, first with a whisk and then with a spatula. Once the mixture is smooth and homogeneous, transfer it to a piping bag.
Close it well and let it cool and firm up in the fridge for at least 3 hours. It can also be prepared the day before for the following day.
Prepare the crumble.
In In a blender, blend the biscuits until they form a coarse powder. If you're using whole oats, blend them as well; if you're buying pre-crushed oats, this isn't necessary.
Then, mix the crushed biscuits with the oat flakes and add the melted margarine. Mix well with a spatula.
Prepare all the ingredients for plating, then drain and dry the peaches in syrup a little and cut into slices.
Then take the piping bag again, cut the tip, take the plate and create the design you prefer.
In this first plating, 5 S-shaped lines were made.
Add a couple of teaspoons of sugar and sprinkle well, then flame with the blowtorch until all the sugar is well caramelized and the caramel crust is created.
Now complete with a little crumble, sliced peaches in syrup and a few raspberries.
Serve the dessert immediately; don't put it back in the fridge otherwise the caramel will melt.
For the second plating, I created a spiral and then continued in the same way, caramelizing the sugar and then adding a little crumble, peaches, raspberries and currants.
