Chicken Soup with Asparagus and Shiitakes with Roasted Fennel Matzoh Balls
Lime and Mint Custard Meringue
in-dulge (in-duhlj) – to yield to, satisfy, or gratify (desires, feelings, etc.): to indulge one’s appetite for sweets. This pretty much sums up the reason for today’s posting! It was a lovely weekend full of sunshine and what better way to end the weekend than with an uplifting, sinfully delicious dessert!
Serves 6
recipe adapted from Occasions food and drink magazine
For the custard:
3/4 cup sugar
zest of two limes
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 mint leaves, chopped
5 egg yolks (save 4 whites for the meringue)
4 whole eggs
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (roughly 5-6 limes)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Cooking method for the custard: Combine the sugar and lime zest in a saucepan. Add 1/4 cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil over moderate heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Continue to boil the syrup for 5 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and slowly whisk in the milk and cream. Add the salt and mint. Return to stovetop and cook the mixture on low heat until it is hot but not boiling. In a bowl whisk together the yolks and whole eggs. Temper the eggs by very slowly adding the hot milk mixture in a stream to the eggs; whisking constantly. Be sure not to add the hot milk too quickly or the eggs will scramble. Stir in lime juice. Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl to remove any lime zest or mint. Return the mixture to the stovetop and add the cornstarch. Heat the custard over medium heat, whisking the entire time, until it thickens. Transfer the custard to a bowl and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap touching the surface to prevent congealing, for at least 3 hours.
Meringue:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
To make the meringue, preheat oven to 200f. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and continue to beat the meringue until stiff peaks form (you know it’s stiff when you can hold the bowl upside down and nothing comes out!). Transfer meringue to a pastry bag and pipe meringue into small circles (or to the size of desired serving dish) onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. Remove the meringue from the oven and let cool.
Spoon the custard into your desired serving dish and top with meringues.
The Culinary Chase’s Note: Custards taste so much better when homemade but sometimes even the most seasoned cook can make the eggs scramble…like I did! To avert disaster, if you see some curdling starting, take the pan off the heat immediately and whisk to cool. But if the sauce is completely curdled, start over as there’s nothing pretty about a custard turned into egg drop soup! Cooking at too high a temperature or for too long toughens proteins and squeezes out liquid. This makes a baked custard “weep,” and a stirred custard curdle which are both signs of overcooking. Keep the heat low and gentle, using a thermometer to check that the temperature stays below 175°f to 180°f. If you have any meringues left over, eat them like you would a cookie or try crumbled and combined with berries and whipped cream to make an Eton Mess.
your photos are lovely!
Thanks Michelle! 🙂
This sounds very unusual and cool! I like the idea! xxx
Thanks Curious!