Meringue Puffs: Fun With Ethnic Food!

I'm a dessert maker par excellence. (At least, that's what I've been told.) Since MF smuggled a bright and shiny, Empire Red, Kitchen-Aid tilt-head mixer into the house, I've been the Grand Dame of all things sugared. What fun! I've spent my weekends soaking in a veritable papoose of syrups and extracts. I even bought Paula Deen's dessert cookbook for inspiration. (90% of her recipes call for something like 10 sticks of butter and a thick glazing of lard, by the way. Certainly not for the faint of heart.)

Last night (after I prepared sauteed grouper with baby corn in cream sauce over rice for MF) I embarked on an ethnic dessert adventure as described in an excellent Portuguese cookbook (with a recipe success rate of 95%) from MF's bookshelf. Portuguese cooking is known for its economy, sensibility, frugality and taste; the ingredients are (fairly) easily obtained, combined in rustic fashion, nothing is wasted, and the taste invokes comfort and saiety. This recipe is no exception.

If you know anything about European or Mediterranean cooking, you know the desserts are generally far less sweet than Americans are used to. Sugar was scarce and expensive, and its use was saved for special occasions. Most desserts were only prepared around festival times, such as Christmas and Easter -- typically with signs of the cross sprinkled across them in cinnamon or fruit.

This recipe sounds daunting, but it's not. It just takes a few seconds to wrap your brain around. Once you get the hang of it -- it's SO worth it. Light, fluffy, very low in calories (compared with your typical bite of cheesecake), and missing NOTHING in the way of satisfying taste and sweet richness. And it looks cool to boot. Get out your bowls! You absolutely must try this!

Gear:

• stove
• hand mixer
• 2 & 1/2 quart saucepan
• 1 quart saucepan
• two medium sized mixing bowls
• colander
• one small mixing bowl (a cereal bowl worked perfectly)
• ramekin (or a little glass dessert bowl)
• liquids measure
• cup measures
• teaspoon measure
• slotted spoon
• dinner spoon and fork from your silverware drawer

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs, room temperature, separated
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• the peel of one lemon (without pith) in large chunks
• 1/4 plus 1 & 3/4 cups WHOLE milk
• 1/4 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
• cinnamon for sprinkling

Alrighty! To prepare:

1. Separate your room temperature eggs -- whites into one of the mixing bowls, yolks into the cereal bowl. Why room temperature? They combine better, fluff better, take to cooking better, when they're a little warmer than they are in the tundra of your fridge. (If you're impatient like I am, you can let them soak in a bowl of warm water before cracking to bring them up faster.)
2. Beat the whites on high with your hand mixer until they form soft peaks (about 2 minutes or so). Gradually add the 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until you get stiff peaks (glossy, not dry). Set the bowl of whites aside.
3. In your little glass bowl or ramekin, whisk 1/4 cup of the WHOLE milk (no skimping) and your 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with a fork until the cornstarch dissolves.
4. Beat egg yolks (the ones in the cereal bowl) with a fork until they break. Whisk in the cornstarch and milk mixture. Add the lemon peel and stir a little. Set aside.
5. In the 2 & 1/2 quart saucepan, heat the 1 & 3/4 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup sugar on medium high, stirring constantly, until it gets to the point of boiling. Right before it boils, turn the heat down to where the milk can simmer happily.
6. Place the colander over the empty medium mixing bowl (to catch any draining milk). Bring your egg whites to center stage. Roll up your sleeves. Here comes the fun part.
7. Take your slotted spoon and dip it down into the whites. Gather up a heap about the size of a large golf ball. (Use the spoon from your silverware drawer to shape the puff rounder if you want.) Drop the puff into the steaming milk. Repeat. Now you've got two little meringue brothers poaching in sweetened milk. Let them bathe for about a minute and a half each. Flip them. Poach them another minute and a half. Remove them from the milk and let them drain in the colander. Repeat this process until there's no more meringue left to play with.
8. OKAY! After the puffs have drained, put them on a platter all pretty like. Take the leftover steamed milk from the saucepan (as well as any that may have drained into the mixing bowl) and transfer it to the clean 1 quart sauce pan. Carefully bring the milk to just below a boil. Bring your egg yolks and lemon peel bowl to center stage.
9. Take about a 1/4 cup of the steaming milk and pour it into the egg yolk and lemon mixure, whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs a little more and keep them from scrambling. After that, pour the tempered eggs into the steaming milk, making sure to stir constantly until the sauce thickens a bit, about 3 minutes or so.
10. Remember the colander and the draining bowl? Bring them up. Pour the thickened custard into the colander to catch the chunks of lemon peel. Discard the peel and chuck the colander into the sink. Pour the custard from the bowl over the meringue puffs (that have been waiting so patiently over on the platter) and then dust them with some ground cinnamon -- in whatever symbol you want.
11. Let them cool until almost room temperature and dig in.

Like I said, light, fluffy, rich, creamy, sweet and heavenly. Thanks to some little old lady in Portugal, I now have a dessert to take to Our Married Friends bi-weekly dinner. The Husband will be so jealous.