Recipe: Ile Flottante

Ile Flottantes, literally floating islands, are baked meringues floating on pools of creme anglaise, flavoured with almond flakes and caramel.

Apparently in the UK, floating islands involve poached meringues, but in France those are known as oeufs à la niege.



I first had this dessert at Sebastien's, a bit of a risk, since I don't really like egg whites. But I was blown away by the feather-light meringue; it was almost like eating sweetened clouds. It became my new favourite dessert (it's also low fat and cholestrol and high-protein), a light way to end a heavy meal.

I also became quite obsessed with reproducing it at home, but without much success as I couldn't find a reliable way of making baked meringues. Eventually though, I managed to stumble my way onto a fairly decent recipe, itself adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 cup chilled creme anglaise
80g egg whites (2 - 3 eggs, use the yolks for the creme anglaise)
80g sugar
1 strawberry
8 blueberries



You could use the aforementioned caramel and almond flakes in place of the fruits, but I prefer the slight tang of the berries to offset the sweetness of the meringue and sauce.

Preheat the oven to 120°C, and butter two ramekins.



Central to the success of any meringue is the beating of the egg whites. I am told there are many tricks to achieve properly stiffly beaten whites. The ones I find most useful are to use day-old, room-temperature whites (store them in the fridge for a day), and use a really powerful KitchenAid mixer.



Failing which, try to beat the whites at an angle to incorporate more air into them, rather than letting the beaters go around horizontally (as you see here). This is especially helpful if you're only beating a small quantity of egg whites.



Keep beating...



...and beating, until the egg whites form stiff peaks.



Using a spatula, fill the pre-buttered ramekins with egg whites. Tap the ramekins to ensure that there are no air-pockets. They should just reach the rim of the ramekins. Use your spatula to level off the top.

Place the ramekins into a baking tray, and pour hot water to come half-way up the ramekins. Pop them into the oven and bake for forty minutes. They should rise evenly, and at the end of forty minutes, the tops should still be white and smooth (not sticky) to the touch. If in doubt, bake for another five minutes.

Turn the oven off and leave the door slightly ajar, and let the meringues cool down in the oven for half an hour. Subsequently, transfer them to the refrigerator to chill for another half an hour. I suppose if you're pressed for time you could remove them straight from the oven to the refrigerator, but I prefer it this way.

When you're ready to unmould the meringues, remove them from the refrigerator. They should have shrunk in the ramekins, leaving a gap on one side. Tilt the ramekins, allowing the liquid egg whites to drain off through this gap.

Pour the chilled creme anglaise onto a plate and unmould the meringue onto it, wiping off any excess liquid that is clinging to your meringue.



Slice the strawberry and lay the slices around the meringue in a rosette, and drop the blueberries in between the strawberry slices.

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Desserts, Floating Islands

Review: Island Creamery

Ice cream parlours are all the rage these days, with many boasting their own creative flavours. The Daily Scoop, Eskimo and Wild Hisbiscus are some names that spring to mind.



But surely the pioneer must have been Island Creamery, with the Tiger Beer and Ginger ice creams that set tongues wagging all across town. Previously occupying only a small corner of Serene Centre, doing mostly takeaways, Island Creamery has now expanded considerably and has become a place for young people to congregate. In the day, students drop by after school, and at night, friends come to relax and enjoy a nice cool ice cream.



Unfortunately, Island Creamery doesn't seem to make such funky flavours, sticking to more reliable tastes like Teh Tarik, Coconut and Reverso (Chocolate and oreo). They serve other things like banana splits and shakes, but most people come for the ice cream. It is said that they also come for the pretty girls behind the counter, but this is of course hearsay.

A single scoop of ice cream will set you back $3.50, which is quite a fair bit. So far I've tried the coconut and reverso flavours, and found both to be quite agreeable. Island Creamery makes their ice cream quite thick, which does cause it to stick a bit to your throat, so it's best to wash it all down with the cups of water they provide. The reverso, in particular, with chunks of crumbly oreo cookies, is likely to cause sore throats in large quantities.



Island Creamery still runs a pretty successful retail business, selling their ice creams in nice white tubs, as well as other sweet things like baked alaskas and ice cream cakes.



Another thing that makes this place popular with young people is its friendliness. There is a Wall of Fame feature that is absolutely plastered with photos. In fact, you're encouraged to take a picture using a digital camera suspended from the ceiling.

So if you're in the mood for some ice cream after lunch or dinner, or a place to relax, Island Creamery is definitely a venue to consider.

Technorati Tags: Reviews, Casual, Ice Cream, Island Creamery

Review: La Petite Cuisine

I'm always on the lookout for places to eat when you're on a budget. I know this is a rather pointless exercise, considering the plenitude of hawker centres and food courts dotting this island.

Still, there are occasions where you don't feel like jostling with a sea of other diners and queuing for seats and food.

So while reading I-S magazine the other day, I was intrigued to find a review of La Petite Cuisine, a little French bistro set up in Serene Centre, serving food on the cheap.



It occupies the spot Island Creamery used to operate out of, before they expanded and took up a few more shop spaces. La Petite Cuisine really is petite, able to accomodate at most ten people. To leave you no doubt that it is a French establishment, the lady at the counter cheerfully calls out "Bonjour!" to you as you walk past.



There is no menu, merely a chalkboard listing the offerings for the day. Most are within the range of $8 - $12, and range from cassoulet to steak. An additional $1.50 ensures that you get to choose dessert and coffee.

As this is such a small setup, La Petite Cuisine only accepts cash, a fact I was not aware of, resulting in a ten minute walk to the nearest ATM at Coronation Plaza. Also, they have a very inefficient method of taking orders, as you place each order at the counter (meaning you have to queue for your food, something I'd been hoping to avoid). You even pour your own water.



One of the cardinal rules of eating out is always order the type of food the restaurant was opened to serve. That means not ordering the foie gras at an Italian restaurant, and staying away from tiramisu at a French place.

I forgot this and went for the spaghetti ($8), which was a bit mushy from being overcooked, with only a small helping of bolognaise sauce, in keeping with the general small portions served. I suppose that's how they keep costs down.

At about 3pm, the chef himself had lunch at the restaurant, a rumbling Frenchman who inquired if there were any problems, whereupon, being told there were none, informed us he would have ignored them anyway. French humour.

La Petite Cuisine
#01-05 Serene Centre
10 Jalan Serene
Tel: 6314 3173

Location: 3.5/5
Ambience: 2/5
Service: 2/5 (there is none, really)
Food: 2/5
Overall: You'd do better with the French food, but good place for a quick cheap lunch to catch up with newspapers.

Technorati Tags: Reviews, Casual, La Petite Cuisine

Miscellaneous Food: Birthday Mom 2006

To celebrate my mother's birthday this year, my sister and I (mainly my sister, I only contributed a starter) cooked dinner for our family over the weekend. Recipes won't be provided, since most of them are varaitions of familiar themes found elsewhere on this blog.




The amuse-bouche was a shot of cauliflower puree topped with dashi jelly and ikura roe. The saltiness of the roe was offset by the bland cauliflower puree, though I didn't really taste the dashi jelly.




The first starter was a dish of Japanese Momotaro tomatoes stuffed with aubergine caviar and served on a bed of mixed salad dressed with a simple vinaigrette. These Japanese tomatoes are extremely sweet and go a long way to making any dish a success. Note to self: next time don't waste so much balsamic vinegar when drizzling.




My sister had some fun searing the tuna belly with a blowtorch (propane high!)...




In order to produce the second starter: seared tuna belly served with fig jam and daikon cress.




Next up was a pumpkin and crabmeat bisque. A very sweet soup, as the pumpkin was complemented by a generous helping of sweet crabmeat.




Our main course was rigatoni a la bolognese, using minced lamb in place of the usual beef, which resulted in a more robust ragout. The pasta was slightly overcooked, which tends to happen when cooking in large quantities, but it wasn't really a problem.

All in all a superb dinner, probably better and cheaper than eating out.

Technorati Tags: Miscellaneous, Birthday, Birthday Mom 2006

Recipe: Aubergine Caviar


Finally got some time over the weekend to do some cooking. The occasion was my mother's birthday, and the opportunity was Gordon Ramsay's Passion for Flavour that I had borrowed from the library earlier. It fell upon me to do a starter, and I originally thought of Ramsay's Tian of Tomatoes a la Greque. It seemed a little complicated though, so I decided to modify it.

Central to either recipe is the Aubergine Caviar, though. Aubergines, I have discovered, are much underrated. Their off-putting purplish hue belies a very versatile and useful vegetable. Ramsay's aubergine caviar is a neutral-tasting all-purpose intermediate ingredient that can be used as a stuffing, side or starter.

Ingredients

1 Aubergine
1 sprig rosemary
1 clove garlic
50g diced cucumber (optional)
1 tsp each of sliced basil, chives and parsley
Salt



Notes on ingredients: It's better to use larger aubergines rather than the small Japanese nasu, even if the latter are sweeter.

Preheat the oven to 220°C.



Cut the tops off the aubergine and halve it lengthwise. Score the flesh in a diamond pattern and sprinkle with salt, though not too generously.



Place the garlic and rosemary on one half and sandwich with the other, then wrap aubergine sandwich with foil. Place it on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 45 mins.

Reduce the temperature to 110°C and bake for another 20 mins.



Unwrap the aubergine, by which time its skin should have shrivelled and the flesh should have become very soft. Scrape away the garlic and rosemary.



Scoop out the aubergine flesh onto a chopping board and chop with a knife till you obtain aubergine pulp.

Place the pulp in a saucepan and heat over a low flame, until the excess moisture has evaporated and the aubergine pulp - caviar, as Ramsay now calls it - is quite dry. I added in the sliced herbs while heating, allowing them to wilt and infuse the aubergine pulp. Use either warm or cold.

I underestimated the amount of stuffing I needed, so I bulked it up with some diced cucumber, mixed in after the aubergine pulp had been heated and cooled. I found this added texture and moisture to the aubergine without making it moist and improved it considerably.



In this particular instance, the aubergine caviar was used to stuff hollowed out Japanese Momotaro tomatoes. If you plan on doing this, I strongly recommend buying these expensive tomatoes, because they are the sweetest I have ever tasted, which works well with the otherwise slightly bland caviar. Using sour local tomatoes, or even the pricey vine-ripened ones just isn't worth it, and the dish probably will not be well-received.

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Sides, Aubergine, Aubergine Caviar