Did you know Ile flottante is a French dessert consisting of a dollop of meringue floating on a bed of creme anglaise (a vanilla custard)? Sounds very grand doesn't it!
Did you know this dish is known in English as "floating island", and in German as "snow eggs"?
The meringues are prepared from whipped egg whites, sugar and pure vanilla extract, cooked at a low temperature for a long period of time using a bain-marie, then un-moulded onto the creme anglaise. Sometimes caramel is drizzled over the islands and sometimes it's decorated with toasted flaked almonds.
Did you know Ile flottante, was originally made using stale slices of savoy sponge cake or brioche that had been moistened with a liqueur, and sandwiched together with apricot jam containing chopped almonds and raisins, and served cold with a custard cream, or a puree of berries?
Floating Islands
3 1/4 cups of Milk
2 vanilla beans, split in half lengthwise
8 egg whites
3 tbsp caster sugar
pinch salt
Creme Anglaise
use the same milk as used for the islands
8 egg yolks
1 cup of sugar
Toasted Almonds or caramel for garnish
Put the vanilla beans and milk into a saucepan and bring to a steady boil,
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks with the salt, then fold in the sugar.
Using a tablespoon, gently drop portions of the egg whites into the boiling milk. Turn the egg whites so they are cooked all over. Cook for 2 minutes, remove the egg whites from the milk and drain on a cloth.
To make the custard,
Whisk the sugar and egg yolks until the sugar dissolves, and the mix is pale yellow. Remove the vanilla beans from the milk and scrape the insides of each one with a paring knife to release the tiny seeds, return the seeds to the milk.
Bring the milk to a gentle simmer and pour half of the milk over the egg mix, whisking gently.
Pour the milk/egg mix back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk and stir over a medium heat with a wooden spoon. Stir well being careful to scrape the mix from the sides of the pan where the cream is most liable to curdle.
DO NOT LET THE CREAM BOIL
Check the consistency of the cream by picking the wooden spoon out of the mix and running your finger along the back of the spoon, when the streak remains without the cream running down over the streak, then the cream is ready.
Immediately remove the cream from the heat.
Continue stirring for 1 - 2 minutes, or the heat in the base of the pan will cause the cream to curdle.
Strain the cream through a strainer, and set over a bowl of ice to cool.
Cooling quickly like this will prevent a skin forming over the cream.
When the cream is completely cold, pour into individual dishes and place the cooked egg whites on top, chill until ready to serve.
Serve drizzled with caramel, or dusted with toasted almonds, or sprinkled with freshly grated nutmeg.
Enjoy :o)
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