Floating Islands

Our favourite childhood dessert and one that was made as a real treat was "oeufs a la neige" or floating islands. It is a dessert of French origin, consisting of meringue floating on crème anglaise (vanilla custard). The meringues are prepared from whipped eggs whites, sugar and vanilla extract then quickly poached.

The crème anglaise is prepared with egg yolks, vanilla and hot milk, briefly cooked. Here we topped it with organic homemade blueberry jam.

Serves: 6

Prepare: less than 30 minutes

Cook: 10 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar

Meringues:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 large egg whites
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. For the sauce:

Scrape seeds from vanilla bean halves into heavy small saucepan; add beans. Add milk and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Remove from heat, cover, and steep 10 minutes.

Whisk yolks and sugar in heavy medium saucepan until thick, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in warm milk mixture (including vanilla beans). Stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 9 minutes (do not boil). Strain custard into small bowl. Cover and chill until cold.

2. For meringues:

Lay smooth kitchen towel on work surface. Pour milk into medium (10-inch) skillet. Bring milk to simmer over medium heat.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large bowl until foamy. Add salt and beat until whites hold soft peaks. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until whites are stiff and glossy. Scoop some meringue (about twice the size of an egg) onto large oval spoon. Using another large spoon and gently transferring meringue from spoon to spoon, shape meringue into smooth oval. Drop oval into milk. Quickly shape 2 or 3 more meringues, dropping each into milk. Simmer meringues 1 minute.

Using heatproof rubber spatula, turn meringues over in milk. Simmer 1 minute longer (meringues will puff up while poaching). Using slotted spoon, transfer meringues to towel (meringues will deflate slightly as they cool). Repeat process, shaping and then poaching enough meringues to make total of 12. Transfer meringues to waxed-paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.

3. Spoon some sauce into centre of each plate. Arrange 2 meringues on each. Top it up with homemade blueberries jam like we did or any other toppings of your preference. Serve chilled.

Bon Appétit!