I was sorting out my cookbooks the other day, with the intention of taking some of them to the charity shop. There were some that I have not used in more than 10 years, some that were pretty useless – The Cocktail Cook, I’ve not been into cocktails for years, apart from a good mojito every now and then. “Classic Italian Cooking” went too, as my perception of what’s classic and Italian dramatically changed since I got that book 15 or so years ago.

“Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch” was on the pile too, but as I was having lunch I flipped through it and decided to hold on to it, especially as a tweak to my favourite creme brulee came to my attention. I normally make a simple, vanilla one, but the rhubarb idea appealed to me a lot. I took 2 nice pieces from the garden, cleaned them, peeled, chopped and quickly cooked them down with some sugar and butter. Then went on to make my brulees the usual way, 4 egg yolks whipped with about 3 tbsps of sugar and vanilla sugar, while 250 ml of double cream and 75 ml of milk infused with vanilla paste were heating up. Once hot enough, cream and milk mixture went onto the egg yolks slowly, then the foam got discarded.

On the bottom of the ramekins went the rhubarb, then the custard, then into the oven ready at 140 degrees in a bain marie for about 30 minutes. I always take them out when there’s still a bit of a wobble.

The rhubarb seemed to have infused the custard nicely. Good stuff!