Tuesdays with Dorie—Floating Islands

While watching the Grammy's Sunday night and working on this post, I was reminded of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs: "I Am a Rock".

I pretend to be an island most of the time, choosing to be very independent and private. Last week, while riding on a school bus for a field trip with my daughter's Grade 4 class, I was reminded how social children are. They relish the time they have to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences with each other every chance they get. The bus was noisy with their giddiness and excitement for life.

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." —Angela Schwindt

Maybe it's the fact that I spent the first four years of my life on a floating island in the South Pacific (Papua New Guinea) that I have a fascination for islands. And this culinary version of a floating island is the perfect dessert. It is now my favorite dessert and the one I would have at my "last meal". I can't believe it took me this long to taste it, but now that I've made it three times this past week, I won't have to live without it again!

Floating Islands versus Snow Eggs
There is some discrepancy about what Floating Islands (Île Flottante) are versus Snow Eggs (Oeufs à la neige). In my research, I found Floating Islands to be one large island that is baked in the oven in a bain marie and typically contains toasted almonds. Snow Eggs are individual egg-sized meringue puffs that are poached in either simple syrup or milk. To confuse the issue even more there is another version of a French Floating Island that is a liqueur-sprinkled sponge cake spread with jam, and topped with nuts and whipped cream, surrounded by a pool of custard.

After making Dorie's version of Floating Islands, I decided to try making the Floating Islands and Snow Eggs from my vintage 1971 Grand Diplôme Cooking Course book.

Both Floating Islands and Snow Eggs are made up of three components: crème anglaise, meringue and caramel. Each element on its own is delicious, so I knew together they would be amazing.

Crème Anglaise
Crème anglaise contains sugar, yolks, milk, and vanilla, but it can be flavored with all sorts of delicious things such as cardamom, rum, chocolate, ginger, chamomile, brandy, Grand Marnier, espresso, or even stout! Crème anglaise is a stirred custard as opposed to a baked custard. It must be stirred constantly so that it doesn’t curdle at the bottom of the pan or overcook. Because it’s stirred, it doesn’t thicken as much as a crème brulée or crème caramel which thickens in the oven.

It’s a rich, smooth sauce that can be served warm or cold. It is also common as a base for making ice creams.

Meringue
Meringue is simply sweetened egg whites. You can use superfine sugar since it dissolves faster, but I just used regular sugar. The salt helps stabilize the meringue. After poaching half of the meringue puffs, I folded in some red food coloring to the remaining meringue mixture to make pink ones.

To shape the islands, I used my 1-tablespoon ice cream scoop. I also tried a larger ice cream scoop, but they puffed up too big. And I tried using two spoons to shape an oval, but found these were oddly-shaped and puffed up too big as well. Whatever method you use, you should know that they expand quite a bit when poached in the milk.

Caramel
Caramel shouldn't be that hard to make. However, I made it three times this past week and only once did it work. The first time, I let it get past a perfect amber color to a point where it started to smoke and burn. The next batch hardened too quickly before I could get it on a floating island. Finally, the third one worked. (I also supplemented with store-bought caramel sauce from a plastic jar for some helpings of floating islands.)

Joe from Joe Pastry did a whole segment on making your own caramel with pictures, and here's a video showing how to make caramel.

Recipe

Makes 6 servings

For the Crème Anglaise:
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the Islands:
2 cups milk
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
¼ cup sugar

For the Caramel (optional)
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup water
To make the crème anglaise: Bring the milk to a boil.

Meanwhile, put the yolk and sugar in a heavy saucepan and whisk vigorously until thick and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Still whisking, drizzle in a little of the hot milk — this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining milk. Put the saucepan over medium-low heat and, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, cook until the custard thickens, lightens in color and coats the spoon (this can take 10 minutes or so) — if you run your finger down the spoon, the track should remain. For this recipe, the crème anglaise should be cooked until it reaches 180˚F on an instant-read thermometer.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat, strain the custard into a bowl and stir in the vanilla extract. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, or for up to 3 days. (The crème anglaise will improve with at least on overnight rest.)

To make the islands: Spread a clean kitchen towel on the counter near the stove and have a large slotted spoon at hand. [The towel will help the floating islands drain after poaching.] Put the milk in a wide saucepan and bring it to a simmer over low heat.

Meanwhile, put the egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a large bowl and a hand mixer. Beat the whites on medium speed just until foamy, then beat in the salt. When the eggs turn opaque, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and add the sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time. Whip until the meringue is firm but satiny and still glossy.

You have two options in shaping the islands: you can just scoop up some meringue — specifically, an amount about twice the size of an egg — in which case you'll have the equivalent of a rocky volcanic island, or you can smooth the meringue to get a manicured island. For the smooth look, use a large oval spoon to scoop up the meringue, then use another large oval spoon to very gingerly transfer the meringue from spoon to spoon a couple of times to form a smooth oval.

Either way, one by one, lower the islands into the simmering milk, adding only as many islands as you can fit into the pan without crowding. Poach the meringues for 1 minute, gently turn them over and poach 1 minute more, then lift the islands out of the milk and onto the towel. Repeat until you've poached 12 islands. Put the puffs (which will have inflated when poached and will deflate when cooled) on a wax paper-lined baking sheet and chill them for at least 1 hour, or for up to 3 hours.

To make the optional caramel: Decide whether you want to serve the meringues in one large bowl or six individual bowls, and have the bowl(s) at hand.

Right before serving, stir the sugar and water together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat, bring the sugar to a boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, until the caramel turns a pale gold color, 6 to 8 minutes or so. Pull the pan from the heat and let the caramel cool just until it is thick enough to form threads when it is dropped from the tines of a fork. (If the caramel hardens, rewarm it slowly over low heat.)

Either pour the crème anglaise into a large serving bowl and top with the meringue islands, or make six individual servings. If using the caramel, working quickly, dip the tines of a fork into the caramel and wave the fork over the floating islands to create threads that will quickly harden.

Serving: Once the dessert has been assembled, it should be served immediately.

Storing: You can make both the crème anglaise and the meringue puffs in advance and keep them chilled, but the assembled dessert won't keep.

Notes
You can also find the recipe for Floating Islands in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger!

You can find tips about this recipe here.

Ideas for variations to flavor the meringue: lemon, orange, lime or even espresso

Tasting Notes
Now that I've eaten three batches of Floating Islands and Snow Eggs, I'll have to put these recipes aside for awhile. It's just too hard for me to leave them alone since I'm the only one eating them at our house! I loved the caramel with this dessert and not the chocolate that I tried for one plate. I found the chocolate overpowered the delicate taste of the Snow Eggs. This is also a great dessert to make ahead and assemble just before serving. There is still one more recipe I'd like to try: Fernand Point's recipe in Ma Gastronomie for Île Flottante, which contains egg yolks in the meringue mixture. But I'll have to wait before making any more batches of this delicious dessert.

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."
— St. Theresa's Prayer (sent to me by Kate from Aapplemint on a day when it was just what I needed to read)

Recipe for Next Week (February 17)
Devil's Food White-Out Cake on pages 247-249 (the cover recipe) chosen by Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater.

A few other links to Floating Islands or Snow Eggs
• Béa from La Tartine Gourmande's Pistachio Floating Islands and Vanilla Cardamom Snow Eggs
• Helen from Tartelette's Strawberry and Vanilla Floating Islands

My Tuesdays with Dorie Trivia
Since I got to pick this week's recipe, I thought I'd share with you a bit of my TWD trivia. It's been a wonderful year meeting other food bloggers who share their passion about baking (and cooking). Thanks for making this year a great one for me!

• I joined March 25, 2008 and made another of my favorite desserts that week: Caramel-Topped Flan

• I've made 46 desserts from Baking: From My Home to Yours and have loved most of them.

Apple Cheddar Scones
Arborio Rice Pudding
Berry Surprise Cake
Black-and-White Banana Loaf
Blueberry {Saskatoon/Raspberry} Sour Cream Ice Cream
Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Buttery Jam Cookies
Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake
Caramel-Topped Flan
Carrot Cake
Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
Chocolate Chunkers
Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
Chocolate Pudding
Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte in a Popsicle
Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes
Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
Crème Brûlée
Dimply Plum Cake
Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie
Florida Pie
Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake
French Chocolate Brownies
French Pear Tart
Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread
Gooey Chocolate Cake
Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
Granola Grabbers
Kugelhopf
La Palette’s Strawberry Tart
Lenox Almond Biscotti
Linzer Sablés
Madeleines
Marshmallows
Mixed Berry Cobbler
Peanut Butter Torte
Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Peppermint Cream Puff Ring...Swan
Pumpkin Muffins
Quintuple Chocolate Brownies
Rugelach
Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins
Summer Fruit Galette
Thanksgiving Twofer Pie
The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
World Peace Cookies

An Award
I received an award called the Lemonade Award - When Life Give You Lemons, Make Lemonade from Gretchen of Canela and Comino. I feel very honoured!