Île flottante – floating island with meringue and vanilla sauce Recipe
“Floating island” is a light French dessert: a cloud of meringue floating on cold vanilla sauce, often drizzled with caramel. In France it’s served at home for Sunday lunch or in traditional restaurants as the dessert after the set menu. The taste is reminiscent of vanilla pudding combined with meringue, but the overall effect is surprisingly light.
Prep Time
35 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
60 min
Servings
6
Ingredients
- milk for the vanilla sauce - 600 ml
- cream 30% or 18%, for the sauce - 100 ml
- vanilla pod or vanilla extract - 1 piece
- egg yolk - 5 piece
- sugar for the sauce - 120 g
- egg white - 4 piece
- powdered sugar for the meringue - 60 g
- salt for the egg whites - 1 pinch
- milk for poaching the meringues - 500 ml
- sugar for the caramel, optional - 80 g
- water for the caramel, optional - 2 tablespoon
Main Ingredient:
eggs
Preparation
- Start with the vanilla sauce: split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a knife. Pour 600 ml milk and the cream into a saucepan, add the seeds and the pod. Heat over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes so the milk absorbs the aroma.
- In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with 120 g sugar until pale and thick.
- Remove the vanilla pod from the milk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking constantly.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Heat over very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, until the sauce thickens and lightly coats the back of the spoon (be careful not to let it boil or the yolks will curdle). This can take 8–10 minutes.
- When the sauce has thickened, strain it through a sieve into a clean bowl so it is perfectly smooth. Cover with cling film so that it touches the surface of the sauce (this prevents a skin from forming) and leave to cool, then refrigerate.
- Prepare the meringue: pour the egg whites into a clean, dry bowl and add a pinch of salt. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until the foam is very stiff and glossy.
- Pour 500 ml milk into a wide saucepan and gently heat until hot but not at a rolling boil (only small bubbles should appear around the edges).
- Using a large spoon, form big “dumplings” from the foam and gently place them on the surface of the hot milk. Poach for 1.5–2 minutes on each side, turning carefully with a slotted spoon. The meringues should puff up slightly and become springy.
- Lift the cooked “islands” out with a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with paper towel to drain. Set aside to cool.
- If you want to add caramel, put 80 g sugar into a small saucepan, add 2 tablespoons water and heat over medium heat without stirring until the sugar dissolves and turns golden brown. When it reaches the color of dark honey, remove from the heat.
- Pour the chilled vanilla sauce into bowls or deep plates. Place one or two meringue “islands” in the center of each portion.
- Drizzle the meringue with warm (not boiling) caramel in a thin stream to create threads. Serve immediately or keep in the fridge until serving.
Storage
In fridge:
2 days
Freezing:
No
Sos waniliowy możesz przechowywać osobno w lodówce do 3 dni. Gotowe „wyspy” najlepiej zjeść w ciągu 1–2 dni, przechowywane na sosie w lodówce, przykryte folią.
Recipe submitted by
Marek, Site owner
Published:
Updated:
Oceń przepis
Average:
(0 ratings)
Komentarze
0
Ładowanie komentarzy...
