Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius / 300 fahrenheit and a boil a full kettle. Drain and rinse the soaked nuts and add them to a blender (preferably a high speed one) with all the remaining ingredients. Blend on high until completely smooth and emulsified, it should not be at all grainy. The mix should be warm‐hot at the end of the blending.

Grab 4 medium / large ramekins & place them in a large, deep sided baking tray. Pour the custard into the ramekins, filling them all equally. Place the baking tray on the middle shelf of the preheated oven & then pour the boiled water into the baking tray, so that the water comes about 1/2 way up the ramekins (not too high, you don't want any water in the custard!). Shut the oven door & bake the custards for about 40–50 minutes. It's difficult to tell if they are done by looking at them, use a spoon and check just underneath the surface of one of the brulees, it shouldn't be too runny; it should look thickened but still 'fluffy' and light. It will not look like a thick custard until it's chilled. If they appear to be very liquidy underneath the surface, bake for another 10 minutes and re‐check. Just remember if you bake them for too long they may over thicken and 'curdle' a little. So err on the side of caution.

Once baked, remove the tray carefully from the oven & slowly take the ramekins out of the water bath (use kitchen gloves!). Leave to cool at room temperature for 5 — 10 minutes & then place in the fridge. Allow to chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. I tried them at different stages ranging from 1 hour — the next morning. The custards that had chilled overnight had a far better flavour and texture. The vanilla bean works it's magic on the custards while they chill out in the fridge, so give it time.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius / 400 fahrenheit. Toss all the ingredients in a baking pan & bake in the preheated oven, covered with foil or baking paper for about 15 minutes or so, until tender but not stringy and mushy. Serve warm or at room temperature on the side of the crème brûlées.

When ready to serve, remove the custards from the fridge and pat the tops carefully with a clean tea towel to remove any condensation. Scatter the tops with a little raw granulated sugar (about 1 tsp.) to create a thin, even covering. Now caramelise the sugar until it is all melted, golden & crackly. You can do this with a blow torch (preferred) or using the back of a very hot metal spoon (see the link in description). I really don't remcommend doing this under the grill, it tends to heat the custard up too much which will make it warm and liquidy and not delightfully cool and custardy! But if you have no other option, just watch it very carefully. Let the caramelised sugar set for 10 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Serve asap with the orange roasted rhubarb alongside. These do not keep well once they have been bruleed, the sugar crust will begin to turn liquid and it will not be pleasant, so only brûlée when you are ready to eat them.