Current Recipe: Bien Me Sabe

I’ve been moping around the house because my kids have gone back to college. The house is so silent, my current mood is sad and weepy. Usually to give me a lift I’d head to B&N to have a cup of expresso and purchase a new book,  but none of my authors have releases so instead I cooked one of my favorite comfort food. There are recipes for Natilla (Spanish custard) all throughout Latin America, here’s my favorite:

Ingredients:3 cups of milk, 1 lemon peel, 1 cinnamon stick, 3/4 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. In a large saucepan, combine the milk, the lemon peel and cinnamon stick.
2.  Cook in medium heat.
3. Add slowly the sugar, mixing until it has dissolved.
4. Separately, combine the cornstarch with a little bit of the milk that you had reserved from the 3 cups of the recipe.
5.  Beat egg yolks and add one by one to the cornstarch/milk batter.
6. Slowly add the egg/cornstarch mixture to the saucepan. Cook until it starts to boil and the custard thickens.
7. Remove from stove. Add the vanilla extract. And chill.
8. Optional: You may dust the custard with cinnamon or just serve with a butter or shortbread cookie as decoration. Plus they are darn good with the custard.

Note: I used to serve this custard warm as breakfast-think of it as a yummy oatmeal. My kids loved it!