Food is life and what a good life it is!

With Valentine’s Day this weekend, I thought decadence would be a valid column topic. Often we speak of the importance of everyday food in a tone that is more about comfort or health than luxury but there is nothing wrong with a bit of decadence now and then. In fact, I think it should be required to keep one’s stamina up! I hope you won’t think I am trying to justify a delectable Valentines’ Dinner or assuage guilt over past indulgences. If anything, see me more as a missionary on the hunt for prospective converts to the religion of gourmandise…

 

Let me start by offering a definition:

Gourmandise is technically a French word that can either mean being greedy or as a noun, a sweet treat. However the true use of the concept relating to “gourmand” is more in terms of someone who is very fond of good food.

A gourmand is different than a “gourmet” as the original connotation of a gourmet is someone who is a connoisseur, knowing food and cooking well and also preferring the finest of ingredients. Today of course the word most of us employ instead of gourmand is “Foodie” but don’t you think that brings the concept to a much more mundane and unimportant level? Gourmands love it all – the rustic picnic and the four star dinner – and I think in today’s world any time taken to appreciate anything is valuable. Why should we only appreciate the fancy or expensive things?

Okay, so now you are thinking I have written myself up against the wall. No, I just want to reinforce the fact that everyday appreciation helps encourage the desire for variety. It is easier to appreciate something when you don’t have it all the time. (Some of you will probably be figuring I am now justifying not being able to afford more decadent meals – perhaps I am, but the same truth still applies. So there!!)

One of my earliest decadent food memories came from a trip to Europe, and it was around Valentine’s Day, interestingly enough. I was only 18, and could not nearly afford to enter Fouquet’s, a famous restaurant on the Champs-Elysées in Paris. But I did stand with my nose almost touching the glass, staring at the dessert cart parked in the window. The most impressive item on the cart was a huge brandy-snifter shaped glass bowl that housed something I learned later was called “Ile Flottante” (“floating island”). These little meringue islands floated over a sea of custard, and little rivers of caramel syrup wound their way through the islands and dissolved into the custard sea, creating beautiful patterns.

This moment exposed me to something more decadent than I had imagined was possible, and that mesmerized me. I stood there for longer than was proper, but I remember the maitre d’ didn’t give me a nasty look. It was more of a knowing smirk, a fleeting moment when I felt a kindred spirit through that window glass. I knew then the importance of indulging in things like Ile Flottante: it is a celebration of life. Just look at holidays like Easter and Christmas if you don’t believe me – we indulge after Lent or in the dead of winter to remind ourselves that we should appreciate our existence, and by doing that amidst more humble meals we show respect and we heighten our appreciation at the same time.

So, now that I have written myself back to the dining room table, let me toast your good health and encourage you to have that extra chocolate from the Valentine’s box. Or, if you are the poetic type, let me leave you with the words of the Bard himself:

Sonnet 75 - William Shakespeare

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet seasoned show'rs are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then bettered that the world may see my pleasure;
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

 

For those of you who want to create your own impression, I have asked my chef husband to supply a recipe for that wonderful dessert. It's actually not too hard to do, but it can produce a fabulous reaction (wink wink).

 

"Ile Flottante" / Floating Island

• 4 egg whites
• 3 tbsp sugar
• Enough milk for boiling the islands (approx. 2 cups)
• 2 cups of milk
• 4 yolks
• 1/2 cup castor sugar (this is finer than regular white sugar)
• Good quality Vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean

First, make the meringue or 'islands':

1.  Beat the egg whites in a bowl with a little pinch of sugar, until the eggs form a peak. Keep beating the eggs and add the remaining sugar. When you have shiny firm peaks, stop beating.

2.  Drop big clumps of egg white mixture into a large pot with a slow boiling milk and vanilla mixture to cook for 2 minutes or so. Remove carefully and let cool on a tray, but do not refrigerate. (This milk can be used for something like hot chocolate afterwards if you like.)

 

Next, make the custard or “ocean”:

1.  In a bowl mix the egg yolks and ½ cup of the sugar and set aside.

2.  Heat the 2 cups of milk with the vanilla, being careful not to burn it. (A trick here is to rinse the pot with cold water first, and that helps the milk not stick to the bottom.) Heat until slightly bubbling, then remove from the heat and pour the hot milk on the yolk mixture while stirring quickly. Pour back the mixture into a clean saucepan, and RE-heat over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. It should not boil during this second time. After a few minutes the custard will have gotten thicker.

3. Remove the vanilla pod if that is what you used.

The custard can now be put into flat soup bowls or regular bowls or even deep plates, and the islands placed on top.

Voilà!

The ile flottante is now ready to eat straight away as by that point the custard is warm and the meringue is at room temperature.

If you drizzle caramel sauce on top of that and put it in a fancy dish it will look like a million bucks.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.