PLANTAIN CUSTARD, ROASTED GINGER RHUBARB AND MALT CRUMBLE
A beautiful little summer number.
Welcome back to Unfiltered Flavours+, Issue #35.
You may think I’ve gone a little plantain mad, but I bought 5 ripe plantains for £1 the other week and this recipe is the last of that steal! I couldn’t let the last 2 plantains go to waste now could I... Sticky roasted ginger rhubarb, spiced plantain custard and a Horlicks malty crumble. This is basically a deconstructed crumble, but done well.
Flavours and technique
Now you guys know I couldn’t just keep the flavours classic…I wanted to experiment a little and I’m glad I did! I’ve been experimenting with a set custards/cremeuxs for a while now. A cremeux, is basically a stabilised custard and I simply added plantain into the mix.
Rhubarb…
Im a big rhubarb lover and it’s slowly coming towards the end of rhubarb season, so when I saw rhubarb going for cheap at the market I knew what I wanted to do with it. Rhubarb is extremely tart and sour, but it works so well in this recipe because it provides balance. When desserts are sweet , they need that balance otherwise they’re on the sickly side
You do need to add a bit of sugar, bite into a piece of rhubarb and see how manageable that is without sugar. Rhubarb isn’t like an apple, that has a fair bit of of natural sweetness by itself. So with that being said, you can use less sugar than I used, but just know it’s going to be sour!
Spiced plantain set custard…
The custard is incredibly rich and creamy, so the little bursts of tart rhubarb and sweetness of the ginger syrup that’s created from roasting really makes this a nice summer dessert. When making anything that involves adding plantain to an existing recipe, you need to think about what the plantain is going to do and how it’s going to impact the texture and result. One thing that’s going to happen is it’s going to impact the texture and thickness.
I’ve played around with this recipe so much and blending the plantain whilst HOT is key. As soon as you let the plantain cool, you lose moisture and regardless of how much you blend it, once it’s gone cold the result will be really grainy. So always blend your plantain into your custard base whilst it’s piping hot. It’s also crucial that you keep whisking that pot and use a thermometer if you can. You’ll know the custard is ready once it thickens, but I always like to be safe and have a thermometer to hand. It’s really is to accidentally overcook something like this and be left with a scrambled mess
This set custard requires gelatine, you could make it without by using more egg yolks as they’re the primary thickening ingredient in a custard. I haven’t tried that method before and it would require some testing which I haven’t done. I feel like you’d need 2 extra egg yolks, but that’s a lot of egg yolks?!
Malt Crumble…
It’s simply really, no different preparation method to a normal crumble topping. When I made milo ice cream last week I remembered how much I love the taste of malt and barley, so I added a little sprinkle of Horlicks into the crumble topping and it added a nice warmth to the crumble topping. The great thing about making crumble just by itself is that it lasts for ages if you keep it in an air tight container. So whenever I’m making desserts that need a little crunch or some texture, I can whip this out of the cupboard and be satisfied
Ingredients & Methods
Roasted ginger rhubarb:
300g rhubarb, cut into chunks
1 tsp vanilla