Creme Anglaise Sauce

A delicious sauce that goes wonderfully with your poached pears!

Ingredients

1 Cup milk
1/2 Cup heavy cream
1-inch piece vanilla bean
6 tablespoons sugar
4 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions

Combine the milk, cream, and vanilla bean in a saucepan. Bring just to a boil: let stand 10 minutes to absorb the flavor of the vanilla bean.

In a clean bowl, gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks, and continue beating for about three until the mixture is pale yellow and creamy. Beat in the cornstarch. Stir the milk-and-cream mixture into the the yolks, beating vigorously with a wire whisk.

Return this mixture to the saucepan and cook it over very low heat, without boiling. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon until the mixture is quite thick and coats the back of a silver spoon, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Remove vanilla bean, cover the sauce, and chill throughly unitl ready to serve.

Note: Use a whole vanilla bean, if you can get it. if not, one teaspoon of vanilla extract added when the sauce has cooled will do the trick. When using a fresh vanila bean, be sure to fish it out of the sauce after it has finished cooking. Then, wash and dry it if you wish to save and use it again.