Accidental Syrup: Ile Flottante (or Floating Island)

By now you're onto my small obsession with all things French. 2011's trip to Paris might have stoked the flame but truly its been there for quite some time. My first recollection of being smitten with la cuisine francaise was actually in middle school. Living abroad in Saudi Arabia, our close friends were the closest thing to family therefore we spent many a holiday and holiday meal together. Our friend Susan Elving made Coq au Vin one year for New Year's Eve and she made Ile Flottante or Floating Island the next year I believe it was for Christmas Eve. I remember both meals very distinctly to this day and these French classic dishes remain a few of my favorites. If you're not familiar with Floating Island, it is delicate, light as air meringue literally floating on a puddle of creme anglaise (or custard sauce) topped with caramel. It is what I like to think of as "angel food" for a special occasion.

Susan brought the Floating Island dessert to our house. The meringue and custard were made ahead but my little sister and I got to watch her make a fantastic "web" of caramel. Spoiler alert: I was not able to recreate the net of sugar this go round - I ended up with a soft caramel sauce instead- but I intend to attempt again pending some further research. Susan cooked sugar down to a caramel (to thread stage I believe) that was then pulled into strands as thin as a spider's web and tangled together to form an avant garde kind of hat atop the meringues. The sugar then hardened to crispy which added just a slight toasty crunch to the fluffy meringue and silky custard. As you can imagine for two young, curious cooks in training, this was basically a yummy sugar laden art project and thus a big hit.

I looked at a few pictures online to give you a visual and this was similar to what I remember...

Amazing photo courtesy of http://www.latartinegourmande.com/

I studied a few recipes for the other components and landed on my dear friend Ina Garten's recipe. My Mom and I made this dessert together on New Year's Eve and for the record, she is the.master of meringue. I've been aspiring to make mile high meringue as she does on my cream pies for most of my adult hood... to no avail. She tackled the meringues and I made the creme anglaise. Note: The recipe serves 8-10 people. It held up okay for left overs the next day as well.

Creme Anglaise:

4 extra-large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 3/4 cups scalded milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons Cognac
Seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean, optional

**Can be made a day or two ahead of serving
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, or until very thick. Reduce to low speed, and add the cornstarch.

With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the eggs. Pour the custard mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened. The custard will coat the spoon like heavy cream. Don't cook it above 180 degrees F or the eggs will scramble!

Pour the sauce through a fine strainer, add the vanilla extract, Cognac, and vanilla seeds, if using, and chill until ready to serve.

Meringue:

8 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

**You want to make these the day of, especially for company, though a few hours ahead is fine.
Heat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until frothy. Turn the mixer on high speed and add the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Beat until the egg whites are very stiff and glossy. Whisk in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With dessert spoons place 8-12 mounds (depending on how big you want the servings to be) of meringue on the parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

**In studying some other recipes, I learned some people actually cook the meringue in molds. You can make individual size or a single large meringue in various shapes. One recipe actually bakes the meringue in a pan lined with caramel sauce almost like a flan. Here are a few other ideas to consider:

Martha Stewart uses a Tube Pan as a mold
A fellow blogger bakes the meringue in a pan and then scoops out servings into a wine glass
Pipe the meringue for a more polished presentation

For the caramel sauce... as I mentioned, I went with a smooth, soft caramel sauce as is the most common approach. We actually struggled with Ina's recommendation. We attempted her caramel method twice unsuccessfully. I eventually switched gears and the below method was just right.

Caramel Sauce:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon butter

Measure the sugar into a dry sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, swirling gently until the sugar starts to dissolve and turns golden brown. This takes 4-5 minutes but don't leave it unattended because once it starts to turn to caramel, it goes quickly. Remove the sugar from the heat and pour in the cream and vanilla. (It will bubble like crazy and the sugar will seize up a bit.) Whisk until the sugar dissolves completely. Lastly, whisk in the butter which I think gives it a nice silkiness. **This can also be done the day before- gently reheat when ready to serve.

To serve: place 1/3 cup or so of the creme anglaise in your dish of choice. Top with a meringue and drizzle with caramel sauce. You can garnish with some candied almonds as Ina does though it really doesn't need anything else...