
- Yield: roughly 6
Oeufs à la Neige
Recipe courtesy of Matthew Blazey, Executive Chef, Camargo Club (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Ingredients
- Meringue
- egg white - 8 ea.
- granulated sugar - 1/2 cup
- cream of tartar - 1/2 tsp.
- cardamom - 1/2 tsp., ground
- Anglaise
- egg yolks - 6 ea.
- whole milk - 1 cup
- heavy cream - 1 cup
- vanilla paste - 1 tsp.
- granulated sugar - 6 Tbsps.
- Compressed Berries
- strawberries, halved - 1/2 cup
- blackberries, whole - 1/2 cup
- bluberries - 2 Tbsps.
- raspberries - 1/2 cup
- granulated sugar - 1 1/2 Tbsps.
- lemon zest - 1 tsp.
Instructions
Procedure for meringue
- Allow egg whites to come to room temperature. In a mixing bowl fitted with a whipping attachment, whip egg whites along with cardamom and cream of tartar until frothy and smooth.
- Slowly begin to incorporate sugar, ½ Tbsp. at a time. Allow mixture to whip with the previous added sugar for 1 minute until adding the next amount. Continue whipping until very glossy and stiff peaks have formed.
- Once finished, add mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large crown tip. Pipe half of the mixture onto a parchment lined tray into roughly 1- to 1 ½-inch diameter star-shaped cookies while leaving the rest of the mixture in the bag and transferred to refrigerator.
- Bake the piped meringue in a preheated 215°F oven for 45 minutes. Be sure to check your meringues periodically, as oven temperatures and speeds may vary.
- Remove meringue from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, place in a dry container and store at room temperature.
Procedure for anglaise
- Place milk, cream and vanilla in a medium sauce pot and slowly bring to just before a simmer.
- While heating, add yolks and sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth and slightly frothy.
- When vanilla cream mixture is warm, add 1 cup to the eggs and blend until smooth. Then add that mixture back into the remaining milk, cream and vanilla.
- When everything is mixed, place into original mixing bowl and set on top of a medium sauce pot with simmering water. Gently stir custard mix with a rubber spatula while scraping sides continuously until custard starts to thicken.
- Once the custard can stick to the back of a spoon, transfer to a shallow container and place plastic wrap directly onto the mixture to avoid a crust forming. Allow to cool for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Reserve for plating.
Procedure for compressed berries
- Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl a gently toss.
- Add mixture to a vacuum bag and seal to compress berries. Allow berries to marinate for 1 hour before opening and pouring both berries and juice into a container for service.
Assembly
- Assemble berries in small piles randomly on desired serving dish.
- Pipe unbaked meringue into equally sized dollops as of the baked meringues and very quickly brown with a torch while on plate.
- Fill in empty spaces with be baked meringues, leaving a generous empty space for the anglaise.
- Fill empty space and serve cold immediately.