Phil's fresh vanilla custard

Phil says: "The addition of cornflour is frowned on by the purists, but I think it helps to stabilise the whole sauce and make it smoother."

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

600ml full cream milk
150g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds removed
6 egg yolks
Pinch of cornflour or custard powder

Method

1. Place the milk and vanilla pod together in a pan and bring to the boil.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, cornflour and caster sugar together until thick and pale.

3. Pour on the boiling milk, whisk well and return to the pan and cook over a very low heat until thickened and coating the back of the spatula.

4. Immediately remove from the pan and strain, pushing through all the seeds from the pod.

5. Serve warm with puddings, cool with poached fruits and flans or warm with pies and crumbles.

Custard Powder (Phil's Dad's real custard)

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

600ml milk
55g custard powder
Sugar to taste or Golden Syrup

Method

1. Place the custard powder in a bowl and add a little milk to dissolve.

2. Heat the milk and just as it is about to boil, whisk in the ‘slaked’ powder and milk and whisk until it thickens (this should happen very quickly).

3. Remove once boiled from the heat and add the sugar or syrup and stir in well. I add the sugar at this point as it stops the sauce burning.

4. Serve warm.

Serve with Phil's Bramley apple pie.