When you make a commitment to bake a recipe every single week, some of those weeks are by necessity going to be half-assed. It’s not that I’m any less interested in floating islands than any other dessert – it sounds tasty, and it’s definitely not something I have experience with – it just happens that this week I have another dessert project that dominating my attention right now.
Floating islands are meringues that have been poached in milk and are served with crème anglaise. It wasn’t that I skimped too much on the effort involved; it’s just that I decided to use only one egg. That means I made a quarter of the meringue recipe and one sixth of the crème anglaise.
None of this recipe was very difficult, although the work involved with multi-component desserts always seems to add up. The only portion I had any problem with was the poaching, and most of that was because I didn’t carefully read the instructions that warn you that the meringues will deflate after poaching. I thought I had screwed them up, so I ate one while I poached the rest.
I served the floating islands with berry coulis. Dave and I both thought that the dessert was really good. It would be even better with some fresh berries. I’ll have to try that next time. Shari has the recipe posted.
Your floating islands look great! I can’t believe you only used one egg!
That looks lovely! Too much math involved. I always end up making a full batch of things.
They look beautiful!
Even half-assed this looks elegant and delicious 🙂 I guess people were kind of unenthused or underwhelmed, but I think it’s a good break from the usual 🙂
Gorgeous!!
Your photos are so gorgeous! I love the plate in the last picture!
Looks beautiful as always! 🙂 The fresh berries definitely work well with this!
I love that photo of the spoon on the black background. Looks lovely! I’m so glad you squeezed in time to make this dessert!
Very nice! What’s the texture like? I can’t really tell by the photograph, but if I were making these I would want a crispy meringue soaked in silky coulis.
The presentation is amazing!!
Very creative! I love your pictures and the different ways that you present you islands.. I thought this dessert was great!
Hehe, I did the same thing. One egg meant a lot less time over the simmering milk poaching things, and a lot less hassle. Berry coulis sounds fabulous with this – it would lighten things up nicely.