Khanyi Mlaba
(serves 4)
Andrea Burgener celebrates Jo’burg culture in her first cookbook, Lampedusa Pie (R420, Bookstorm). This milk tart recipe is also served at Andreas’s restaurant, The Leopard, in Johannesburg.
FOR THE PASTRY
125 g butter (Mrs Esterhuizen gives the option of margarine, but here I must part company with her)
100 g sugar
1 egg, beaten
275 g cake flour
10 ml baking powder
Generous pinch of salt
FOR THE FILLING
3 eggs
125 ml cream
150 g white sugar
20 g cake flour
20 g cornflour
Pinch of salt
1 litre milk
25 g butter
Cinnamon to sprinkle on top
METHOD
- Start with the pastry. Butter a large pie dish, either square or round (30 cm diameter or 30 cm square), or two smaller ones.
- Mix butter and sugar, then add 1 egg and mix well.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix all together well, but lightly. Leave to rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
- Thinly line the base and sides of the pie dish with the pastry by cutting off slices and pressing them onto the pie dish. Leave to rest again for about 10 minutes in the fridge. You can make the base long before and leave it covered in the fridge for days.
- Prick the pie shell all over with a fork and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden.
- While it’s baking, start the filling. Separate two of the eggs. Beat together the cream, one whole egg, two yolks, and the sugar, flour, cornflour and salt to a paste in a large bowl.
- Bring the milk and butter to the boil in a large pot.
- Gradually mix half the boiled milk into this paste, then pour all of this back into the mix, keeping it at a simmer, and whisking all the time to stop lumps from forming.
- Once thickened, keep on the lowest heat while you beat the two egg whites until soft-peak stage, and fold well into the hot milk mixture.
- Pour the filling into the baked pastry shell(s), sprinkle lavishly with cinnamon, and leave to cool until the filling has set. This will take a good few hours.
More Milk Tart recipes: Milk tart cookie cups
