Pastry Cream with Winter Fruit

For the pastry cream: Break the vanilla bean into pieces. In a mini-chop or spice grinder process the pieces with the sugar to a fine powder.

Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan. Meanwhile, combine the vanilla sugar with the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk for 1 minute. Stir in the cornstarch.

Pour the boiling milk on top of the sugar-yolk mixture and whisk well, then pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Whisking constantly, bring the mixture back to a boil and boil 10 seconds. Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl, press plastic wrap against the surface of the cream, and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, prepare the garnishes: peel the mango and kiwi and cut them into slices. In a small bowl, combine the apricot preserves and the Grand Marnier.

When the pastry cream is cool, spread it in a layer about 1 inch deep in a pretty serving dish. Arrange the fruit on top in a decorative patter. Using a spoon, coat the fruit with the preservers-Grand Marnier mixture, and sprinkle on the pistachios. Serve with slices of pound cake or cookies, if desired.