Ile flottante recipe - Food and recipes of France

Ile flottante is a dessert that features very widely on French restaurants menus, but is often not of such great quality...but can and should be delicious. Consists of fluffy soft egg-white 'floating' on a sea of custard. But custard needs constant attention, and the eggs need to be just right, so this is a recipe to practice a bit before the dinner party...

Ingredients;

1.5 cups of milk

Split vanilla pod

3 eggs separated

115g caster sugar

Make the 'islands':

Method

• Beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl, with a little pinch of salt, until the eggs have firm peaks.
• Continue beating the eggs, while slowly adding the remaining 40gm of sugar.
• The eggs can now be put into boiling water to cook or, quicker and cleaner, cooked in a microwave on low power for 45 seconds. An alternative is to poach spoonfuls of the egg white mix in the hot milk for 2 minutes, before adding the egg yolks to make the custard. (Note: the egg-white can be cooked as a normal meringue if preferred - in a very low cooker for an hour or so - popular, but not really very traditional...)