August 2011. Upon first glance at this recipe's title, we weren't entirely sure what "crostado" meant, but "whipped pastry cream" is a food stuff that everyone can understand and none can resist. Recipe by Chef Erick Loos at La Provence.

This dessert recipe caused the Country Roads Cooks alternating fits of delight and anxiety. The ingredient list and the first couple of steps are basic and simple enough. Stirring peaches and sugar together is something most of us Southerners can do before we can walk, and the same's true of warming up some milk. But then all of a sudden Chef Loos instructs: "Heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the custard reaches 170˚ on a candy thermometer and is thick." Friends, a candy thermometer is not likely to be found in the Country Roads Test Kitchen, and we kind of panicked. Had our measurements been exact? Would our mixture thicken? And was it possible to get it right without a candy thermometer?

Hearts raced as we stirred and stared into the saucepan filled with an egg and milk mixture. Clumps formed at first and our hearts sank, but at the end of nearly two minutes, we had a thick, smooth, custard-like substance and there was much celebration in the Test Kitchen. Was it 170º? We didn't care. We had created something fit for even the finest millefeuille.

After that, it was smooth sailing. When the pastry cream had chilled in the fridge for about an hour, we spread it in the pie crust and topped it with those sugary peaches. Into the oven it went for 35 minutes, and the result was a dessert as beautiful as it was delicious. We ate this crostado sans sorbet, so if you decide to go all the way and make Chef Loos' blueberry sorbet, please let us know the outcome! GET THE RECIPE...

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