Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Floating Islands

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Shari of Whisk: a food blog. These floating islands are poached meringues in a pool of creme anglaise. It's not a bold dessert, but its subtle flavor and sweetness make it delicious.

This was my first time making creme anglaise, and I loved how it ended up tasting. Creme anglaise ice cream, anyone? Creme anglaise is essentially ice cream batter on its own, so you could just throw it into an ice cream maker and have another delicious dessert waiting for you. I poached the meringues for 2-3 minutes per side instead of Dorie's suggested one. I knew that these would be sitting in the refrigerator for a few days, so I wanted to make sure that they held some structural integrity.

Unfortunately when I showed up with these at work, my serving dish was a ceramic pie pan filled with creme anglaise and topped with the islands. My boss asked me what was wrong with my lemon meringue pie. Uhm. So if I make this again, I'm going to make sure it's served in such a way that it's painfully obvious it's not a failed pie.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, pp. 401-402

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

the creme anglaise was my favorite part. it was delicious.

Shari said...

That's funny about the lemon pie! I'm glad you made them and liked them. Thanks for baking along with me this week!

Lady Baker said...

I agree, the creme anglaise is just pure heaven! I had to laugh out loud at the 'lemon meringue' comment!! too funny!

Anonymous said...

How funny! the creme anglaise was my favorite part too.

Ivette said...

Funny boss! I'm sure she took the comment back after she tasted this goodness of a dessert! I'm glad you liked them!

TeaLady said...

I think you need a new boss!!!!! Your islands look just fine. The creme anglaise was the best part.