A floating island (in French : île flottante or
oeufs à la neige) is meringue floating on a sea of custard sauce.
This tasty sweet and light dessert is a sure winner with kids.
Ingredients (for
4 people)
4 eggs
172 liter milk
100 g sugar
1level teaspoon
cornstarch
1 vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
1 vanilla stick
Procedure
For the preparation of the cream à l'anglaise, boil the milk with
the vanilla stick. During this time, whisk 4
egg yolks with sugar and one spoon of cornstarch in a bowl until the
mixture starts to whiten.
Add 1/2 liter of boiling milk without stopping stirring to avoid the egg yolks cooking
when in contact with the
boiling milk. Remove the vanilla stick.
Cook for about 10 minutes over gentle heat
constantly mixing with a wooden spoon. The cream must not boil. The
cream is ready when it sticks to the wooden spoon. Cool it down.
To prepare the egg whites, add a pinch of
salt to the egg whites and whisk them until they are quite firm. Add
vanilla sugar beat them again.
Bring to a boil a large pot of water. Lower
the heat and put 4 to 5 spoons of egg whites in the slightly boiling water.
They must not touch each other during cooking. Cook for 4 to 5 seconds,
turn them over and cook for a few more seconds. Drain them.
Put the cooled down cream and the meringues in
deep plates. Cool it down for an hour.
