Postre De Cocada

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 medium fresh coconut, with lots of liquid inside (1 3/4 pound)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons good-quality sweet sherry or 1 1/2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 6 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons milk or 3 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small bits

Recipe

• 1 hull and peel the coconut, reserving and straining the liquid.
• 2 grate the meat (it should be medium-fine).
• 3 measure the coconut liquid and add enough tap water to bring the total quantity to 1 cup.
• 4 place the grated coconut in a medium-size, heavy saucepan, stir in the liquid and sugar and set over medium heat.
• 5 cook, stirring frequently, until the coconut becomes transparent (it will look almost candied) and the liquid has reduced to a glaze, 20 to 30 minutes longer, to evaporate its liquid, then remove from the fire.
• 6 beat the yolks with the milk or cream, stir in several tablespoons of the hot coconut, then carefully stir the warm yolk mixture into the coconut remaining in the pan.
• 7 return to medium-low heat and stir constantly until lightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
• 8 scrape the cocada into an ovenproof serving dish.
• 9 spread the almonds onto baking sheet and toast in a 325 oven until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
• 10 shortly before serving, heat the broiler.
• 11 dot the cocada with butter, run under the heat and let brown for a minute or so.
• 12 watch carefully: the sugar in the cocada will caramelized very quickly.
• 13 strew with the toasted almond slices and the dessert is ready to serve.
• 14 rick's notes: after the egg-yolk mixture goes into the hot coconut, make sure the heat under your pan isn't too high, or the yolks can curdle.
• 15 in no case should the coconut mixture come near a boil.