CookEat Recipe
Latteruolo Custard Diamonds
A delicate pale reduced-milk custard baked on thin pasta matta and cut cold into diamonds.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 1 litre pasteurised whole milk; 100 g caster sugar; 8 egg yolks; 2 egg whites, unwhipped; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 150 g plain flour for the pastry, plus about 10 g for rolling; About 75 ml water for the pastry, adjusted as needed; A pinch of salt for the pastry; 15 g plain rendered lard for the tin; 5 g butter for the covering paper.
Step 2
Bring the milk and sugar to a gentle boil in a wide heavy pan and simmer uncovered for an hour, stirring frequently and breaking up any surface skin with the spoon. Scrape the bottom to prevent scorching. If using relatively thin milk, extend carefully to about 1 hour 15 minutes. Strain, stir in the vanilla, and cool promptly until lukewarm.
Step 3
For pasta matta, combine 150 g flour with the salt and add about 75 ml water gradually to make a smooth rollable dough. Knead briefly, cover and rest for about 20 minutes. The dough contains no egg or fat.
Step 4
Grease a roughly 25 × 20 cm shallow tin generously with the lard. Roll the dough very thinly, about 1–2 mm, on the lightly floured surface. Line the base and low sides, trimming excess. Beat the yolks and whites together without whipping them, then mix thoroughly with the cooled reduced milk and pour over the pastry.
Step 5
Grease a sheet of baking paper with the butter and lay it loosely over the filling, buttered side down. Bake gently at about 150°C for 40–60 minutes, adjusting to the depth, until the custard is set and at least 74°C in the centre. Keep the top pale under the paper and avoid drying or hard-browning the pastry.
Step 6
Cool promptly in the shallow tin and refrigerate at 4°C or colder within 2 hours. Chill until thoroughly cold and firm, at least 3 hours, then cut into diamond-shaped portions with the thin pastry base attached to each piece. Serve cold and use within 2 days.
Step 7
For coriander flavour, omit vanilla and lightly crush about 1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds. Simmer them in the milk from the start and strain them out before the cooled milk is mixed with the eggs. Keep all other quantities and the pastry method unchanged.
Cooked it? Rate it.
Cooked 0 times