CITRUS & PASSIONFRUIT FLOATING ISLANDS
WHAT ARE THEY?
Small dessert glasses of orange juice and passionfruit coulis topped with a soft meringue and served with a crisp passionfruit tuile.
TIME TO MAKE
Preparation: 30–45 minutes
Cooking: 35 minutes
Resting: 3 hours
EQUIPMENT
25 small 60 g dessert glasses (2 cm high, like a liqueur glass) with small spoons
Fine strainer
Pastry brush
Piping bag (10 mm diameter)
Piston funnel or small ladle
Silicone baking sheet
VARIATION
Add crushed pink sugared almonds to the meringue just after beating.
ADVICE
When buying passionfruit, choose the wrinkled ones, as this is a sign of ripeness.
TECHNIQUES TO MASTER
ORGANISATION
1 day before | Make the tuile mixture and set aside in the refrigerator. Make the coulis and set aside in the refrigerator.
On the day | Cook the tuiles. Make the floating islands.
MAKES 25
1 COULIS
1 litre orange juice (from 2–3 kg juicing oranges)
250 g passionfruit (5–7 fruits)
200 g sugar
2 FLOATING ISLANDS
30 g unsalted butter, for greasing
40 g sugar, plus extra for dusting
120 g egg white (from 4 eggs)
3 PASSIONFRUIT TUILES
2 passionfruit
65 g sugar
30 g unsalted butter, softened
20 g plain flour
30 g chopped almonds
1 To make the tuile mixture, cut the passionfruit and extract the pulp using a teaspoon. Heat the pulp in a saucepan over a high heat for 30 seconds. Pass through a fine strainer, pressing with a silicone spatula to obtain the juice. Set aside 25 g and keep the rest for the passionfruit coulis.
2 Mix the sugar and butter. Mix in the flour, the 25 g passionfruit juice and the almonds. Cover with plastic wrap (with the plastic touching), and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3 To make the coulis, cut the passionfruit in half and extract the pulp using a teaspoon. Bring to the boil in a saucepan with the orange juice and sugar, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20–30 minutes to thicken slightly. Strain into a baking dish, cover with plastic wrap (with the plastic touching), allow to cool and set aside in the refrigerator.
4 To make the floating islands, grease silicone 2 cm dome moulds with butter using a pastry brush and dust lightly with sugar, turning the moulds upside down to remove any excess.
5 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Make the meringue (macarons), then pipe into the moulds and smooth the tops with a spatula. Put the meringues in the oven. If they start to swell up after 2 minutes, remove from the oven; if not, cook for a further 1 minute. Allow to cool, then carefully turn out of the moulds onto a wire rack lined with baking paper. Set aside in the refrigerator.
6 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Make six to eight small heaps of tuile mixture the size of a marble on baking paper or a silicone baking sheet, spacing them well. Bake for 6–10 minutes. Remove from the oven when the edges are golden and the middle pale. Allow to cool for 30 seconds, then drape the tuiles over the handle of a wooden spoon held up by two glasses. Allow to cool. Repeat with the remaining tuile mixture.
7 Pour 35–40 g coulis into each small dessert glass. Place a meringue dome on top, decorate with a tuile, add a small spoon and serve.
