Don't Sweat the Aubergine

put milk or tea into your cup first.)
    5 • Don’t boil . Your safest bet is to warm the custard in a double boiler above simmering water. Or put it into a bowl – a glass one will do – that fits inside a saucepan. The bowl shouldn’t touch the water. But you can get away with stirring the custard vigorously in a heavy-bottomed pan above a very gentle flame, perhaps with a heat disperser between flame and pan. To be thorough, clean any scorched milk from the bottom of the pan before returning the custard to it.
    If bits of custard stick to the bottom of the pan, they will curdle – the egg will scramble, in other words. The egg will also scramble if the liquid approaches boiling point. Heat the custard gently, and stop heating it, despite the temptation to get it just a bit thicker, as soon as it has the consistency of a pouring cream.
BAKED CUSTARD
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 6
    Regular version
1
    4 whole eggs
    300ml milk
    300ml double cream
    Rich version
1
    6 egg yolks
    150ml milk
    450ml double cream
    For both versions
    1 vanilla pod, split lengthways, or 2 tsp vanilla essence
    50g caster sugar, or 1 tbsp (about 50g) honey
    Make the custard as you would the pouring version, above. (If you use honey, you’ll be able to beat it with the eggs – thick honey will go runny.) Pour it into an ovenproof dish, lightly greased with oil, and put the dish inside a pan – a roasting pan, say. Pour hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the custard dish. 2 Bake at gas mark 3/160°C for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until the custard is set. Serve hot or cold.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • How rich is your taste? I sometimes prefer the lighter, less unctuous texture of the custard made with whole eggs.
    More egg yolks, and more cream, are required to set the richer version. Of course, you could perm these ingredients: use 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks, for example; or, in the yolk-only version, use less cream and another egg yolk (making 7).
    2 • The bain-marie . The temperature of your oven is 160°C – high enough to curdle the custard in contact with the sides of the cooking vessel. The water in the bain-marie – the bath in which the cooking vessel sits – cannot of course get hotter than 100°C, and protects the custard from the oven heat. Don’t allow the water to come too high up the sides of the custard dish, or it might bubble over.
PANETTONE BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    For 6
    6 slices panettone 1
    Butter
    Ingredients for baked custard (see above)
    Lightly oil an oven dish. Butter the panettone slices (on one side only, if you want to make a token concession to heart-preservation), and place them in the dish, as evenly as possible.
    Make the custard according to the baked custard recipe, and pour it over the panettone. It should cover the slices, but not swamp them; add another slice or two of cake if you think there’s too much liquid.
    On the other hand, you might find that the panettone is quite bulky; if so, start with fewer slices, pour on the custard, and then add more cake if there’s room.
    Place in a bain-marie (see Baked custard, here ), and bake in a gas mark 3/160°C oven for 45 minutes, or until the custard is set.
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VARIATIONS
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    This recipe is itself a variation, on traditional bread and butter pudding made with sliced white bread. One reason why I like it is that the cake provides the fruit and spice that you would otherwise have to supply yourself.
    For the traditional version, use about eight thin slices, crusts removed, of white loaf, again buttered on one side. If you want fruit, scatter about 20g each of raisins and sultanas over the bread slices; you could soak them first for 20 minutes in a few teaspoons of brandy or liqueur (pouring the alcohol over the bread with the fruit). If you want spice, flavour the custard with a pinch or two of grated nutmeg and cinnamon.
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WHY YOU DO IT
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    1 • How much cake? As I imply in the recipe, I cannot give precise quantities. I don’t know how big your panettone is, or how thickly you’ve cut your slices. What I do know is that most bread and butter pudding recipes give too high a proportion of bread for my taste: I think that bread and butter pudding should consist of bread (or cake) with a liberal lubrication of custard, rather than simply of eggy bread. For this reason, I don’t leave the bread (or cake) to soak up the custard before baking it, as some recipes advise. It absorbs plenty of