(In English below)
Pas plus Français que l’île flottante. Trois desserts sont quasiment toujours inclus au menu d’un restaurant traditionnel: La crème caramel, les profiteroles et l’île flottante. C’est quand même fou ce qu’on peut faire avec des oeufs, du lait et un peu de sucre :0)
- Préparez ne crème Anglaise (1 litre pour 4 à 5 personnes). Pour cela faites blanchir 6 jaunes d’oeuf avec 120g de sucre. Faites bouillir 1 litre de lait avec une gousse de vanille ouverte. Ajouter le lait aux oeufs en remuant au fouet (les oeufs ne doivent pas coaguler!!). Mettez le mélange dans une casserole à feu très doux et remuez en permanence jusqu’à obtenir la consistence désirée.
- Faites monter des blancs en neige. Certains les font pocher dans du lait sucré pour qu’ils se tiennent. Je préfère les faire juste avant le service et les servir crus.
- Faites un caramel
- Faites torréfier des lamelles d’amendes
- Mettez un louche de crème Anglaise très fraiche dans l’assiette, placez un morceau d’oeufs en neige dessus, nappez de caramel et saupoudrez d’amendes
Not many dessert are as traditional in French cuisine as the floating island. Three desserts are almost always included in a traditional restaurant menu: crème caramel, profiteroles and floating islands.
- Prepare a “crème Anglaise” (1 liter for 4-5 people).I would translate crème Anglaise by “English Custard”, but it is not the same recipe: First beat 6 egg yolks with 120g of sugar until the mix gets whiter. Boil 1 liter of milk with a vanilla pod sliced in the middle. Add the milk to the egg mix, whisking the eggs so they do not clot. Put the mixture in a saucepan over low heat and stir constantly until obtaining the desired consistency (about 5 minutes?). Let the cream cool at room temperature and then place in fridge. Crème Anglaise should be served really really cold (too sweet to be served at room temperature or warm).
- Beat up 6 egg whites. Some people then form dumplings and poach them in sweetened milk so they hold together. I prefer to make my “blancs en neige” just before serving and serve them raw.
- Make a caramel
- Roast some almond slices
- Put a ladle of custard in a bowl, place a piece of “blancs en neige” on top, drizzle with caramel and sprinkle with roasted almonds
I am always amazed at what one can do with just a few eggs and some sugar ;0)
MY FRENCH HEAVEN 
Cette recette est une excellente occasion pour t’informer que je te décerne le “Super Sweet Blog Award”.
http://lesrecettesdupanier.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/suis-je-super-sucree-am-i-super-sweet/
Bises et bonne semaine, Anne.
Merci beaucoup! Je suis très touché!!
j’en raffole… yummy total! 🙂 Amitiés toulousaines et bon weekend! 🙂
Merci Mélanie! C’est vrai que j’en fais rarement, mais c’est un succès à chaque fois. J’en ai fait pour un dîner le weekend dernier. Après foie gras, saumon, rôti etc. tout le monde voulait passer au café. c’est alors que je suis entré dans la salle à manger avec les îles… Ils se sont jetés dessus… 🙂
ça donne envie 🙂
N’est-ce pas;)
This looks beautiful! And so classically French 😉
Thank you Eliza! You are right, it doesn’t get much more French than that 🙂
Stephene! You beat me to the punch. I was thinking about floating islands the other day. Blast! But yours look great. (Look of envy….) I particularly love how every one at your table is having such a marvelous time. That is a sign of a superb host.
Can’t wait to see pictures of your islands! As for the guests, I only posted the pictures of the ones who looked happy… 😉 I always lock the sober ones, the sad ones and the cranky ones in the kitchen and make them do the dishes while the rest of us are having fun 🙂
I’m enjoying your blog very much. The floating islands made me smile, because they have something of a history for me. The first time I had them was at Le Français, prepared by Jean Banchet, who was a protege of Paul Bocuse. So something of a connection to your past. The second time I had them was while traveling with a friend who is an expert on Napoleonic history — we had them at the the Hôtel Napoléon on the Île d’Aix — last place Napoleon stood on French soil. The exceptional meal included mussel soup with cream and vegetables, a beautiful grilled quail salad with foie gras shavings and truffle oil, ballottine of salmon and sole with spinach and herbs, and those floating islands, served with a nice Pouilly Fumé. Seeing your recipe makes me want to prepare it myself, for the sake of those wonderful memories. Thank you.
What a great comment and story! Please do try them and let me know how they turn out. If you have never made crème Anglaise before, I suggest you find a video on Youtube. I am sure about the ingredients, but I never know how to explain the cooking process… 😉
This is such a cool recipe! I am bookmarking it and will try it soon! 🙂
Please do! They have the great advantage of being tasty AND really light… Let me know how it goes… 🙂
PS. When I say “light” Roberta, I mean they FEEL light;)
I’ve been so tied up recently I’ve hardly had time to read the bloggers I follow let alone write (or photo) anything. But this weekend I did manage to catch up on all the reading and even post something (on my other ‘photo’ blog grumpytykepix) and wondered why there were no notices of posts by MyFrenchHeaven. Somehow you became un-followed (I guess when you made the change back to wordpress.com) so I’ve done a ‘follow’ again and hopefully that will solve the problem. So I’ve now got a few of your recent past posts to enjoy when I have a bit of time.
I’m glad you are back!! I need to include a little note on top of my main page regarding the following thing… I was really pissed when I noticed that none of my followers received e-mail notifications… Everything should be fine now. Thanks for being so patient and such a loyal reader and commentator!!
This looks beautiful!
Thanks Pam!!
Something with custard that I’ve never made (although always order if on a menu in France). To be remedied…
You should indeed try to make them Sally! They are so delicious and it is a surprisingly light dessert.
Sounds heavenly. I’ve never had this dessert before. Just my sort of thing 🙂
And it’s got eggs in it 😉
My grandmother, who mostly made Viennese pastries, made floating island quite often. She would put a dollop of homemade apricot jam on each island.
Oh my, that sounds fantastic Sybil!! I will have to try soon 😉
Mmmmmmmmm, looks wonderful
Thanks! It was delicious indeed 😉
“I am always amazed at what one can do with just a few eggs and some sugar.”
I’ve said the same thing. Great blog, and thanks for visiting mine!
Thanks for coming over. I really like your blog!!
You are a very, very bad man………:-)
Hi Hi!
Looks delicious! Great photos too!
Thanks!! I served them last evening to my friends after a HUGE meal. Before they knew what was for dessert, they all said they’d just have coffee. But then I walked in with the islands and they all cheered as if I had brought them the moon 🙂
hey! you make me remember my childhood! this is something my grandmother used to prepare for me….her recipe was not including the almonds! and she was not having any french influence ( theoretically:)….thank you for helping me remember certain things!
You are welcome my dear! My mom didn’t put almonds either 🙂
Beautiful. 🙂 And making me hungry!
They are delicious! 😉
beautiful. do you know the difference between iles flottantes and oeufs a la neige?
They are the same thing. Some recipes are slightly different (some people use biscuits etc) but this is the basic recipe. 🙂
I remember this from childhood vacations in France. I remember mousse au chocolat more than profiteroles as a standard dessert back then. Creme caramel was ALWAYS on the menu.
You are right! Mousse au chocolat is one of the standard items! 🙂 I need to post the recipe for it soon…