American Brunch "Ile Flottante"

with caramelized pancetta, essence of "Candy Cap" and maple syrup



I already posted about this dish in rather sorry French for Blog Apetit back in December. But since then, something interesting has happened as a result of my creating this unusual recipe, and so now I would like to share a little bit about it in English.

You all know about Ideas in Food, don't you? If not then you must have been asleep under a brick all of this time. If you don't know what I am talking about then dash over to Pagosa Springs and check out Aki and Alex right away - they run an incredible Chefs' blog with amazing pictures.

In November, Ideas in Food launched a little competition to win one of twelve bottles of Blis Maple Syrup which is aged in a whisky barrel. The idea was to create a a dish idea for a 12-Course Maple dinner. I decided to give the contest a shot because, no doubt inspired by Alex and Aki's creative approach, somewhere along the line the idea for an alternative Ile Flottante was hatched in my head and I thought it would be fun to experiment with it.

Alex and Aki obviously thought my attempt had potential too, because they awarded me with one of the twelve coveted prizes. I am looking forward to the arrival of my prize bottle of Maple Syrup, thank you Ideas in Food!

Here are the notes I entered into the competition with my recipe, recording its failures and successes with suggestions for improvement the next time around:
(Ingredients for two)
2 eggs
2 slices pancetta
2 tsp sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp finely ground dried candy cap mushrooms
salt
4 tablespoons maple syrup

What I did:

First I very finely diced 2 slices of pancetta.
I cooked them slowly over a low heat with 4 tsps of sugar until they were crispy and caramelised
I drained them of fat and set them aside on somewaxed paper to cool.

Next I buttered two small ramekins. I cut out four circles of parchment. I put a circle in the bottom of each rameking and butteres again.

Next I beat the whites of two eggs until softly whipped. Then I added 2 tsp of sugar and whipped further until glossy and forming peaks.
I broke up the caramelised bacon bits into their infividual pieces by carefully hammering. I covered the bottom of each prepped ramekin with bacon bits and then folded the remainder into the egg white. I divided the egg white mixture into the 2 ramekins and then topped each one with another buttered circle of parchment.

I placed the two ramekins in a bain marie in a preheated 275F oven and cooked for 40 minutes, after which time remove from oven to cool.

In the meantime I made a creme anglaise.
I finely ground some dried candy cap mushrooms into a powder.
I took tsp of the powder and 1 cup of milk in a heavy pan and gently brought to the boil to infuse the flavour of the mushroom.
Candy cap is a mushroom famous forthe maple syrup overtones in its flavour.
I strained the milk through some cheesecloth.
I took two egg yolks and whisked them until they formed ribbons.
I gradually whisked in the strained milk then returned to the pan, with a teaspoon of salt over a low heat, stirring to form the custard.
I strained the custard through cheesecloth and left to cool to room temperature.

To serve - I poured the custard into a bowl. Then I turned the egg white concoction out of its ramekin and placed it like an island in the sea of custard.
To finish I poured maple syrup over the 'island'.

Tasting Notes:
The island part was delicious. In particular the caramelised bacon bits are scrumptious.I could eat themby the handful. The maple syrup goes perfectly.
The custard was a little too rich for the volume. Next time I would make the custard in advance and chill it. I might also add a little sugar to the custard, or maybe a little maple syrup. Not too much, but just enough to round off the flavour. I would then serve it on a plate instead of a bowl, so the island is just floating on a little pool of custard instead of a whole bowlful. I would serve the island part warm on a cold custard. Next time I wouldn't put the bacon bits in the bottom of the ramekin. Instead, I would fold in half the bacon bits as before and reserve the other half. Then, after it is cooked, and once it is assembled, I would just sprinkle the crispy bacon bits over the maple syrup. I think this would look prettier and taste better because cooking them in with the 'meringue' made a slightly unsightly top surface and they lost some of their crisp.

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American Brunch "Ile Flottante"