The Adventures on Floating Island Dessert- French-Indian touch

œufs à la neige or Floating Island Dessert with flavors from Fennel, Rosewater, lime n how to make islands floating light…

I love beating egg-whites until they fluff up and try to become one with air. As I beat in I trap billions of air bubbles into the whites. It is hard work n I love doing this hard work n I don’t even use an electric beater; my friend is a good old big hand whisk. Sometimes I feel there is a big traditionalist living within me with experimental hands.  There is a sense of magic in cooking where one thing transforms right into something else before your eyes, there is such a joy in observing that. Every time I beat the egg whites to quadruple in volume, becoming white as snow I sense that joy again n again. And that is at the heart of the floating island dessert.

The floating island dessert has another name- Snow Cream or œufs à la neige, French in origin. Egg whites are beaten with sugar as they fluff up, then they are quickly poached in vanilla milk, then placed in a vanilla custard known as crème anglaise which is made from the same vanilla milk. Some people treat the beaten egg whites with sugar or the meringue in a different way; they bake them in the oven. The poached egg white portions are so light that they float on this vanilla crème, n that’s how they become the floating islands.

They are so light to bite into, in fact there is almost nothing to bite into…almost air with touch of vanilla, sweetness, and the crème anglaise gives a smooth body that dissolves into my mouth. You have to close your eyes when you experience this sensation.

I interpreted the floating island dessert with touches of fennel seed known as ‘Saunf/ Mouri’, the citrus touch n fragrance from lime, the subtle touch of rosewater. And three of them lift the islands to a new height only to be enjoyed with your loved ones. After all it is a work of love. I dry roasted the fennel seeds ever so slightly to boost their flavor and then pound them to a fine powder, n I incorporated the powder at the final stages of beating the egg whites. As I made the crème anglaise or vanilla crème I flavor it with some whole fennel seeds just to give them a touch of that flavor, as it was cooling down I introduced the hint of rosewater n lime into it.

Caramel was coming into life in a pan, so when it the sugar transformed into dark caramel pour that over the chilled poached meringue floating in the crème anglaise.  Some of the caramel drops into the vanilla crème and it further gives it a depth of flavor.

 I completely transformed into a vanilla fennel guy as I went on with the islands, all over I smelled of vanilla n fennel, as if I live in those islands! Well I did live there for a while, you know.

Well now you must visit there, so here is the recipe. Bon voyage.

For The Recipe: You will need

Eggs-5 (4 whites n 5 yolks separated)

Caster sugar – around 80gms

Full fat milk- 800ml

Salt a pinch

Fennel seed- 1 tsp, roast slightly half of the seeds n pound into a fine powder

Lime- 1 medium

Rosewater- a few drops

Sugar-3 tbsp to make caramel

Vanilla flavor- 1-1 ½ tbsp

1. Begin by separating the egg-whites carefully , make sure no drops of egg yolks comes into the egg whites, yolks are fat , so their presence in the whites will reduce the rise of the whites by a quarter of a volume. So add about 7-10 drops of lime juice into the egg whites and then start beating them, the lime juice won’t let the egg whites go grainy.  Always beat them in a big bowl so there is enough space for air to circulate. Use either a hand whisk which will take about 20 minutes to make them reach stiff peaks or a electric hand beater which will take about 5-7 minutes. Start beating the egg whites, as the egg whites goes to soft peak stage start adding 1 tbsp of caster sugar as you whisk, the sugar will sweeten n stabilize the meringue. Add another tablespoon of caster sugar; in total add about 4 tbsp of caster sugar as you beat in. When the whites begin to hold peak i.e. when you lift some of the white with whisk it holds its shape with a stiff peak, sprinkle the powdered fennel powder over them n beat  them in for a final time.

2. Take the milk in pan with sides, add the vanilla extract, the rest of the fennel seeds and let the milk come to almost a simmering point, then with a tablespoon or ladle lift 1 tbsp or 1 ladle of meringue n place them over the milk lightly, they will float, don’t worry. In one go put about 5-6 portions, the milk should barely be simmering n not boiling. Now put a high lid on the pan and give them 2-3 minutes, then turn them over and give them the same amount of time. If you have dropped 1 tbsp of meringue, they will take about 2 minutes on each side and the ladle scoop portions will take about 4 minutes on each side. After that with a slotted spoon pick n drain them, put them a dish.

3. In a different bowl take 5 yolks and 60 gm caster sugar and beat them with whisk until well combined n smooth. Then take the hot milk in which the egg whites were poaching n pour a little milk into the yolk mixture whisking, then gradually add the milk while whisking all the time. After that place the mixture back into the pan and on a very low heat keep whisking the milk. Add a pinch of salt. Don’t increase the heat, the milk should not come to a boil or simmer. After about 5-7 minutes the milk will start to thicken and it will comfortably coat the back of a spoon. When the milk thickens slightly take them out of the heat and let it cool. Add 3-4 drops of rosewater and mix.  I just want a hint of rosewater, so add drop by drop n mix n taste, if added too much the rosewater flavor will prevail. When the mix is almost cooled add 1tbsp of lime juice, mix well. Taste, add more if you want.

4. Place the cooled vanilla crème n the meringue in the freeze for a couple of hours to chill. When you are about to serve make the caramel. In a pan take the sugar and add touch of water so that the sugar is just wet, then on a high heat let it go to light brown stage, the reduce heat and watch it as it reaches the dark brown stage,add a slight pinch of salt n a dash of lime juice, remove from heat. Pour the caramel over the floating meringue on the vanilla crème. Pour some caramel over the vanilla crème. And now either you can dig in or freeze it a little more. Scatter some lime zest over the islands as you serve them n it is a beautiful sight to watch.

So now you are on the island, venture and enjoy. Bon appétit.

Cherishing the Cherry Clafoutis ...

Red Cherry Clafoutis with a hint of spice to lift it to new heights and let’s not forget the old secret tradition; using cherries with pits

                                                                  Clafoutis! Clafoutis!

                                                           The cherries roll on my finger,

                                                          U loose urself, let it be, let it be

                                                         Inside my mind now u just linger.

Well that’s a new start for my blog post, with a tiny poem! A month ago when I had a box of cherries in my hand, I rubbed my chin for what all I’ll be making with them, as it turned out I made only clafoutis, the rest I ate simply. Now I always tend to believe that fruits are always best eaten alone not just for their nutritional values also because I feel their flavor is reduced at the end of it. So before making the clafoutis I had my doubts which got cleared away to some extent after I made it. You can guess why? Because the clafoutis was delicious.

                       Clafoutis come from France, the region of Limousin, almost the central region of the country. Traditionally clafoutis is always made with black cherries, but other seasonal fruits are often used in making clafoutis such as pears, prunes, apples, cranberries, blackberries. In fact there is another name often used when any fruit other than cherries are used, known as ‘Flaugnarde’. The French pronunciation of clafoutis is ‘Klafuti’ or ‘Cla-foo-tee’. Now when we do say it like that note how it makes us smile at the end of it.

                                                      It is a baked desert of fruit, traditionally of cherries, arranged in a buttered n sugared dish and a batter is poured over the cherries without completely drowning them and then baked in the oven until it is set and starts to brown on the surface. The batter is made with eggs, milk, cream, sugar, flour, butter n basically that’s it. Now the alternations happen on this basic recipe as everyone alters it with their own taste.

In my version most importantly I've kept the whole cherries with their pits as it was done traditionally unlike the versions we most see on internet where the pits have been removed for the ease of eating! But then you remove one thing and you have to deal with the loss of flavor. And talking about the ease on eating! Come on, once you know you have made a clafoutis with whole cherries your brain automatically knows not to bite into that like a blind brain!

                                                                                 I have made two versions of clafoutis-one with the pitted cherries one without. And the result is the one made with cherries with pits, was much more flavorful n more delicious. So pits make a difference. In fact reading about it in Wikipedia taught me that the pits contain an active chemical called ‘Amygdalin’, during baking some amount of this chemical is released into the clafoutis, thus creating a delicious difference. Think about saving time also, you don’t have to pit the cherries, now isn't that nice? Now if you are serving it for your guests and if you don’t want them spitting cherry pits, then you remove it before baking knowing that it will be less delicious automatically.

                                             I have used black pepper and cloves in my versions, and guess what! Cloves go so well with the cherries, esp. the one I had, it is indeed a good combination, clove is a strong spice and we have to be careful because a little goes a long way. I used red rum to macerate the cherries along with the sugar n powdered clove n black pepper. I did not have ‘kirsch’ with me which is a cherry brandy which would've been nice but I love the flavor of red rum and so does cherries.

                                                                          While making the batter which gets poured over the cherries instead of plain butter I used ‘Beurre Noisette’ which is butter that is browned in a pan until the milk solids get separated and browned and it attains a nutty flavor. I love the flavor of that in many recipes.

So now I will take you to the recipe of clafoutis right away

For The Recipe:  you will need

For macerating the cherries

250 gm whole cherries

2-3 tsp of powdered sugar

1-1 ½ tbsp of red rum               

1 clove, slightly warmed in pan n powdered

Freshly crushed black pepper

For the batter

2 eggs

2-3 tbsp of flour

2 tbsp of powdered sugar

2 tbsp of milk

60 ml single cream

Pinch of salt

1/2 clove, warmed in a pan n powdered

Freshly crushed black pepper

1/4 -1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

20 gm of brown butter-beurre noisette

For buttering the ramekins

1 tbsp of lemon/lime zest

3 tbsp of powdered sugar

Pinch of clove powder

Some soft butter

                   

Texture of the batter has to be a pouring liquid consistency, preferably thin n not very thick; keeping the texture in mind we can adjust the amount of milk and cream n flour or eggs.

Pre-heat the oven at 180 Celsius.

1.  First with a paring knife cut the cherries along its length around the pit but don’t separate the cherry in half, with your fingers open the two half a bit just to expose the flesh. Now when all the cherries are done sprinkle  about 2 tsp of powdered sugar mixed with the clove powder, sprinkle some crushed black pepper on them and then add 2-3 tsp of red rum over them, toss them in that and let them macerate for half to an hour.

2. Grate the lemon/lime zest and mix that with the powdered sugar n pinch of clove powder kept for buttering the ramekins. Now butter the ramekins well, pour the sugar mixture into them and move around the sugar over the butter coat so the sugar creates a coating over the butter layer. Set aside.

3.  Take 20 gm of butter in a pan and on a medium flame let it melt, you will notice hiss sound as it keeps getting warmed, when the sound ceases down it is beginning to go to become beurre noisette, lower the heat now and within a minute you will see the separated milk particles below the butter had started to go brown and the whole butter has become brown in color. This is it, take it off the heat.

4. Time to make the batter, so in a bowl whisk the two eggs lightly, then add a pinch of salt, the milk and whisk lightly again. Then add the flour and whisk so there isn't any lump n nicely combined. Now add the brown butter, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, half clove powdered, freshly crushed black pepper, the cream and whisk to combine. Bring out the cherries now, you will notice some amount of liquid has gathered at the bottom of the cherries, add this liquid to the batter and combine.

5. In the baking dish/ramekins first lay the cherries, the base should be covered with cherries and some over them press the cherries lightly to pack them tightly. Then slowly pour the batter over them so that the batter drowns the cherries almost ¾ but not completely. Some of the cherry surface should be exposed. Now place them in the oven at 180 Celsius for around 30 minutes until the batter starts to go lightly brown on the surface. The batter will rise during baking. The batter should be crusty outside and soft n gooey inside. Let it cool so you can handle them. Serve them on their own or with crème fresh.

Cherry Clafoutis is ready for you now. Dig in with a spoon when it is warm or I like it more when cold. Bon appétit.