Passion Fruit Creme Brulee

Ingredients

• 300 ml full-cream milk
• 700 ml double cream
• ½ vanilla pod (cut across the centre)
• 12 ripe and wrinkly passion fruit 
•  10 large egg yolks
• 150 gm caster sugar

• 8-10 ripe and wrinkly passion fruit
• 75 gm caster sugar
• 120 ml water
• 1½ × 5-gm leaves of gelatine
  

Method

1. For the crème brûlées, put the milk, cream and vanilla pod into a pan and bring to just below boiling point. Set aside for 1 hour, to allow time for the flavour of vanilla to infuse the milk and cream.
2. Meanwhile, cut the passion fruit in half and scrape out the pulp into a sieve set over a bowl. Rub the pulp through with a wooden spoon – you want about 150 ml of juice.
3. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees Celsius. Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, then strain onto the cream and milk mixture and stir in the passion fruit juice. Pour the mixture into 8-10 × 175-ml ramekins and put them into a roasting tin. Pour hot, but not boiling water into the tin so that it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for approximately 1 hour until just set but still slightly wobbly in the centre.
4. Remove the dishes from the hot water and leave to cool, then cover and chill overnight.
5. For the passion fruit jellies, pulp and sieve the passion fruit as before, reserving 2 tablespoons of the seeds. Peel away the thin membrane lining the passion fruit half-shells and then put the shells into empty egg boxes, ready to fill with the jelly. 
6. Put the passion fruit juice, sugar and water into a small pan and warm through over a gentle heat to dissolve the sugar, but don’t let it get too hot. Meanwhile, soak the leaf gelatine in a bowl of tepid water until soft, then lift out, drop into the jelly mixture and stir until dissolve. Pour 5 tablespoons of the jelly mixture into a small bowl and set aside.
7. Fill the passion fruit shells almost to the top with the jelly mixture and chill in the fridge until set. Meanwhile, wash off the reserved passion fruit seeds and stir them into the reserved jelly mixture. When the first lot of jelly has set, spoon some of the seeded jelly mixture in a thin layer over the top of each one and return to the fridge to set.
8. Shortly before serving, dust the top of each crème brûlée with 1 teaspoon of icing sugar and, holding a blow torch about 10-12 cm away from the surface, caramelize the sugar evenly. Leave for a few minutes to harden, then transfer to dessert plates and place 2 of the jellies alongside each one. Serve straight away.