Vanilla Floating Island
Madagascar vanilla floating island: egg whites poached in vanilla milk, custard sauce, caramel. One milk used for both preparations.
- Prep 30 min
- Cooking 25 min
- Total 55 min
- Serves 6 servings
- Difficulty Medium
Floating island combines poached egg whites, a custard sauce and caramel. Madagascar vanilla flavours the poaching milk and the custard sauce; our family grows and prepares this vanilla in the SAVA region, in north-eastern Madagascar.
The same milk is used twice: first to poach the whites, then to make the custard sauce, so none of its flavour is wasted.
Preparation
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Separate the whites from the yolks of the 6 eggs.
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Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. In a large saucepan, pour in the milk with the seeds and pod, add 50 g of sugar and bring to a simmer.
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Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks with the pinch of salt. Poach them in large spoonfuls in the simmering milk, 1 minute 30 seconds on each side. Drain them on a clean tea towel and set aside.
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Remove the pod from the poaching milk. Whisk the yolks with 100 g of sugar until the mixture turns pale, then pour in the hot milk in a thin stream while whisking.
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Pour everything back into the saucepan and thicken over low heat, stirring constantly, without letting it boil, until the custard coats the spoon, about 8 minutes. Pour into a dish, cover with plastic wrap touching the surface, let cool then refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
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Prepare the caramel: heat 100 g of sugar with 20 ml of water, without stirring, until it turns an amber colour.
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Divide the cold custard sauce among small bowls, place the poached egg whites on top and drizzle with caramel just before serving.
The little extra that changes everything
Poach the egg whites in small amounts: too large a mound takes longer to cook through in the centre and may stay liquid. The custard sauce should be well chilled before plating, so the contrast with the whites and the warm caramel stays sharp. For the full method for custard sauce, see vanilla custard sauce. To adjust the amount of vanilla to your taste, see how much vanilla to use. Our products for this recipe: Madagascar Bourbon vanilla pods
