CW Florida Quarantine Cookbook

Heidi Peckhaus | Miami Floating Island aka ile flottante

Ingredients

Caramel Topping

Cream Sauce

2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise 2 cups heavy cream (or you can substitute regular milk) 6 large egg yolks ½ cup sugar (either brown sugar or regular white sugar will work)

½ cup sugar (white sugar) ¼ cup water

Prepare your ingredients, works best if eggs are room temperature - separate the egg whites and the yolks into different mixing bowls. Make sure all of your ingredients are measured and readily available.

Meringues

2 cups milk 4 large egg whites Pinch of salt ¼ cup sugar (white sugar)

Preparation

For the caramel topping. This is your last step and you can prepare this right before you serve the dessert, or you can prepare individual serving bowls to chill in the refrigerator with all of the ingredients. This is my preference. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. The sugar will begin to boil. Do this for about 5 to 6 minutes until you see a golden color appear, and you will smell the goodness of the caramel. Don’t overdo it because burnt sugar will ruin the dish. Take your time through this entire process, you won’t regret it! And if you mess this up, start again, just lower the heat. To prepare for the grand finale add the chilled crème anglaise to a serving bowl, put one of the meringues in the center and using the caramel topping, dipping a fork into the slightly thickened sauce and going back and forth over the meringue. And now you are ready to serve!

For the sauce. Add the sugar to the egg yolk and stir and set aside. Combine the split vanilla beans and cream, or milk, into saucepan on medium/medium-high, stirring to make sure you don’t burn the bottom. Bring the milk to a simmer, remove and whisk slowly into the mixing bowl with the eggs and sugar. You must whisk as you pour in order to get a smooth base. Once you have this step done use a spatula to get the mixture out of the bowl and back into the saucepan. Then use the spatula to stir the cream sauce over medium heat until it appears thick and leaves a path on the back of a spoon, or somewhat thicker on the back of the spatula. This should take approximately 8 to 9 minutes. Stirring continuously is the key here keeping the heat medium or a little under. When finished with this step pour into a small bowl and cover and chill until cold. For the meringues. The milk provides the base to cook the meringue, so pour the milk into a larger saucepan than what you used for the cream sauce. Set on medium heat to get the milk to a simmer. While this is heating up, stirring when you can, you will need to prepare the meringue. Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites until foamy, then add a pinch of salt and beat until the white begins to hold peaks of soft fluffy mountains of goodness. Add sugar slowly while beating the egg whites until they appear stiff and glossy. Use a large serving spoon to add plentiful drops of the meringue into the simmering milk. I usually do 3 at a time. You can turn the meringue once with a slotted spoon – those small puffs will begin to drastically grow as the meringue cooks quickly. Remove to a large flat plate or wax paper. Once you get the meringues finished you need to refrigerate for at least an hour or more.

Imagine fluffy clouds of poached meringue floating on top of a creamy vanilla-bean sauce. Yes, it is real (don’t ask about the calories) but know in advance this takes some time. Be sure to have a cold glass of French Rose! Unless you are making this in the morning, then skip the wine

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