He starred in numerous TV movies, and in 1988, he co-starred with Sean Connery and Meg Ryan in the 1988 feature film The Presidio, as well as opposite Jodie Foster in the film Stealing Home. He returned to acting on TV after that, starring in police series Reasonable Doubt, as a detective, and appearing in The West Wing and JAG, where his NCIS character agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was first introduced. Mark loves black and white custards.


Black And White Custards

Ingredients

500ml Full cream milk
500ml Double fresh cream
10 Medium egg yolks
250ml (1 Cup) Castor sugar
1 Teaspoon vanilla essence
90g Dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

6 Tablespoons each dark and white
chocolate shavings
Icing sugar and cocoa powder for dusting


Method:

Preheat oven to 160ºC. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a small cooking pot. Turn up the heat, add the milk and fresh cream bit by bit, scraping the egg mixture and making sure it is mixed well. Keep on stirring every now and then while waiting to boil. Once boiled, divide the milk into two – one for white and one for chocolate custards. Add the vanilla essence to the white mixture and add the chopped chocolate pieces to the other milk mixture. Now, pour the white mixture into ovenproof smaller bowls or cups, (enough for one portion) and place into a roasting dish. Do the same with the chocolate mixture. Pour hot water into the roasting dish until the water comes two thirds of the way up the sides. Make sure you do not splash water into the custard cups. Place the roasting dish in the oven and bake for one hour and 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Leave the custards to cool completely. The custards should be set but may wobble slightly in the middle without appearing watery. Once cold, cover each custard and place in the fridge for several hours. Grate the white chocolate and sprinkle on top before serving. Do the same with the dark chocolate.


Tags: Mark Harmon, The West Wing, JAG, recipe, custard