Sauce Anglaise

French for English cream, this is a light pouring custard used as a dessert cream or sauce. It is a mix of sugar, egg yolks and hot milk, often flavoured with vanilla.This can be poured as a sauce over cakes or fruit. Alternatively, it can be eaten as a dessert on its own, for example in Île flottante ("floating island"). It can also be used as a base for desserts such as ice cream or crème brûlée. It has a mild taste but a rich, and thick vanilla flavor. However, ice cream base is much thicker and has various flavorings.

Preparation time:  1 minute
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Serves: 1 litre

Attachment: Flexi Beater

Method

1. Add the sugar and egg yolks to the bowl. Attach the Flexi Beater and beat on speed 4 until the mixture is light and pale.
2. Split the vanilla pods with a knife and scrape out the seeds, then add them to the bowl with the milk.
3. Set the temperature to 85ºC and the speed to stirring 1.
4. When the temperature has reached 85°C, set the timer for 5 minutes and continue cooking on stirring speed 1.
5. Check the custard has thickened then transfer to a container and place in the fridge immediately to chill.

Variations:

Chocolate Anglaise
Add 2 tbsp of fresh espresso coffee and 80g of chopped up dark chocolate, and stir into the warm sauce.

Grand Marnier
Add 4 tsp of Grand Marnier and a handful of finely chopped orange zest that has been
blanched for 5 minutes in boiling water.

Swiss Custard
You can add 1 tbsp of fine grated un-waxed lemon zest to the basic recipe.