SWEET VALENTINES

Fané or my Favorite Meringue & Ice Cream

I first tasted Fané (“faded in French, which is what can happen if you eat too much of this fabulous dessert) at my friend Gail Monaghan’s apartment in Manhattan. I was astonished at the ease and speed it was assembled, amazed at how good it was, and entranced by the story she told her guests of the dessert’s origin. At Vaux-le-Vicomte in the Loire Valley.

Which may be my favorite large private house in the world, and as a teenager in school in Paris, I spent many afternoons wandering its frozen, snowy gardens in winter.

This is what Gail told her guests that night in her apartment.

“I first tasted Fané over the Christmas holidays in 2001 while staying with French friends, the Comte and Comtesse de Vogue, at their legendary chateau, Vaux-le-Vicomte. The kitchen produced one luxe dish after another, an opulent succession of caviar followed by smoked salmon, followed by white truffles, followed by foie gras, followed again by caviar . . . and the wine pairings were perfectly chosen for each dish. But my most distinct memories are of the remarkable desserts, and the most remarkable of these was Fané, a riotous combination of ice cream, whipped cream, meringue chunks, and white nougat topped with two sweet sauces and chocolate shavings.”

And the recipe from Gail.

Serves 10 to 12.

About 5 hours, including 4 hours' freezing and prior day's prep

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

Pinch of salt

¼ teaspoon (o.7 gr) cream of tartar

¾ cup (180 ml) plus 5 tablespoons superfine sugar

Cooking-oil spray

3 pints vanilla ice cream, softened

5 cups (1250 ml) heavy cream, chilled

1 ½ (750 ml) teaspoons vanilla

12 ounces (340 gr) hard white nougat, crushed into small pieces

3 ounces (84 gr) shaved bittersweet chocolate

The day before, prepare the meringue: preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar on low speed. When soft peaks form, increase the speed and sprinkle in 3/4 cup of the sugar until the meringue holds stiff peaks.

Spread meringue into a rough 1-inch layer on baking sheet. Bake until slightly sticky when pierced with a knife, about 2 hours. Turn off oven and leave meringue inside for a few hours to dry completely. Break into 1- to 2-inch chunks. Store in an airtight container.

Four hours before serving, assemble the fané: spray the inside of a 4-quart metal bowl with cooking spray and lay a large piece of plastic wrap against the inside of the bowl. Spread the ice cream evenly over the entire inside of bowl and plastic wrap. Cover and freeze.

Two hours before serving, whip the cream. When it begins to thicken, add remaining sugar and the vanilla, then beat to soft peaks. Set aside 2 cups of the whipped cream and refrigerate. Fold nougat into remaining whipped cream, then add to the ice-cream-lined bowl. Cover and freeze.

Just before serving, rewhip the reserved whipped cream to firm peaks. Turn the bowl out onto a platter, separating the plastic wrap from the bowl. Remove the plastic wrap. Cover the ice cream with whipped cream, followed by chunks of meringue. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings. Let soften a bit at the table before cutting into wedges.

When I was eight, meringues were an obsession. The large, purely white, puffy, crisp and fragile ones, two halves sticking on either side of at least ¼ cup of English Clotted Cream. It took a week in a wintry and food-deprived boarding school to reach a frenzy of anticipation, and worth every day I had not spent my pocket money on sticky buns to save up for that meringue.

At a dinner for 200 at Oxford University, I stuffed them with cooked rhubarb and mascarpone, set them in a Crème Carême custard, and covered the top with pink rose petals.

For this dessert system, I like to pipe and bake these in the shape of little cups, to hold ice cream, fruit - whatever you like, topped with crème anglaise and chocolate or berry sauces.

Meringue with Ice Cream, Strawberries & Fresh Berry Sauces

Meringues are a staple dessert component for me. You can fill and top them with so many different things, creating endless possibilities.

For this version, I fill the merengue cup with strawberry ice cream, top with fresh strawberries, crème anglaise, and a few drizzles of fresh berry sauces.

If all the components are prepared ahead, this dessert can be assembled and served in mere minutes!

Serves 4

4 baked meringue cups

4 scoops strawberry ice cream, or other ice cream of your choice

1cup diced strawberries

1 cup crème anglaise

¼ cup fresh blueberry sauce

1/4 cup fresh raspberry sauce

1/4 cup fresh strawberry sauce

1 handful rose petals, cut into strips with scissors (optional)

Place each meringue cup on a dessert plate.

Fill each meringue cup with 1 scoop of strawberry ice cream.

Top each meringue with a quarter of the chopped strawberries, followed by a quarter of the crème anglaise.

Lastly, drizzle a tablespoon of each fresh berry sauce on top of and around the meringue. Sprinkle on cut rose petals if using, and serve immediately.

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Fresh strawberry sauce is a perfect complement to a number of proteins, as well as a key ingredient in my dessert system. Strawberries in particular can benefit from being put through a food mill.

If you prefer to use a sieve, make sure to dice the strawberries very finely. Otherwise you can cut them and then pulse a few times in the food processor, just enough to make the pieces the size of large peas. At that point they are ready to be pressed through a fine mesh sieve with the back of a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

1pint fresh strawberries, hulled & diced small

1pinch kosher salt

¼ cup heavy sugar syrup

Finely dice the strawberries (or chop and then pulse them a few times in a food processor). Push the strawberries through a sieve or food mill into a bowl. Discard the seeds.

Mix the salt into the purée. Refrigerate until ready to add the heavy sugar syrup to make the berry sauce.

Add the heavy sugar syrup to the strawberry puree. Mix well & serve. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, and shake or stir well before using again.

Meringue Ice Cream Sundae w Crème Anglaise & Chocolate Sauce

The ice cream Sunday with chocolate sauce was one of the most popular dessert at Stars. This is an updated version using a meringue as the base of this unique ice cream sundae. I fill the merengue cup with vanilla ice cream, top with crème anglaise, and a generous drizzle of my chocolate sauce.

Serves 4 as a dessert.

4 baked meringue cups

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

1 cup crème anglaise

½ cup chocolate sauce, gently warmed. Plus more if you like!

Place each meringue cup on a dessert plate.

Fill each meringue cup with 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Top each meringue with a quarter of the crème anglaise, spooning some of it on the plate around the meringue.

Lastly, divide the warmed chocolate sauce over each meringue sundae and serve immediately.

Crème Glacée a La Française: Final Dessert on the Titanic

Another diary entry from my grandfather and his brother, my great uncle Billy: “My valet aboard the rescue ship RMS Carpathia discovered this menu folded in the breast pocket of my evening clothes, the same I was wearing in the lifeboat. I thought many times of the irony that for many, before hitting the ice and then drowning in it, the iced cream was their last memory, other than the two-and-a-half hours the ship took to sink. Watching it happen has erased all memory of what those dishes were like. All I remember is Billy taking two bottles of “Napoleon” Cognac into the lifeboat to help the blankets prevent us from freezing to death.”

À la française means it was a custard ice cream, not just frozen cream which was the original American ice cream. Think Häagen-Dazs “Vanilla.”

You could churn this into proper ice cream, but it's delightful in its custard form with a wide variety of desserts. In this dessert system, I use it in every dish.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

6 egg yolks

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups whole milk

1-inch piece vanilla bean

ice, to make an ice bath

Heat the milk and vanilla bean together until almost boiling, and pour slowly into the yolk mixture while whisking.

Cook over simmering water in a double boiler, stirring constantly, until the custard begins to thicken and coats the spoon.

Remove from heat and place over an ice bath to cool, stirring constantly with a spoon—this prevents the custard from overcooking (curdling) and forming a skin when it cools.

Strain and serve. If not ready to serve right away, you can refrigerate it for up to a week in an airtight container.

Rose Petal-Infused Crème Anglaise

One of my favorite variations of Crème Anglaise is this one: custard infused with fresh rose petals. It imparts an incredible flavor and enhances any dessert where you'd otherwise use regular crème anglaise. The flavor is subtle, yet lasting.

¹/² cup granulated sugar

6 large egg yolks

¹/⁴ teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups whole milk

1-inch piece vanilla bean slit down the middle and scraped

1 cup tightly packed rose petals

ice, for an ice bath

Perfect Chocolate Sauce

This is an incredibly simple recipe, yielding a divine chocolate sauce. It can be stored in the fridge for a few days until ready to serve or if you have extra from using it the first time.

The key is to use high quality chocolate and to not over-whisk the chocolate once the butter is fully incorporated.

To re-warm, put the amount of chocolate sauce you want to use in a small sauce pot and heat over low heat, stirring. If it breaks, whisk in a splash of cream until smooth.

12 ounces Valrhona or good quality bittersweet chocolate, broken in pieces

12 ounces whipping cream

2 tablespoons salted butter

Put the chocolate and cream in a stainless steel bowl and set over simmering water.

When the chocolate is melted, whisk until smooth (just a few minutes) and then whisk in the butter. Be careful not to over-whisk the chocolate sauce.

Use immediately, or store covered in the refrigerator and warm when needed.

And here is another of my favorite ways to use meringue.

Make a shape and fill with fruit and cream. Here poached pears and pear caramel sauce.

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