Creamy Citrus And Saffron Soup With Cranberry-Balsamic Meringue
makes 4-6 small servings
You can use just about any kind of citrus in this chilled dessert soup, but I really like using sweeter varieties, like blood oranges or mandarins.
Read more about this recipe at Cook & Eat.
For the soup:
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 to 4 strands saffron
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
2 cups citrus juice, strained
For the foam:
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 egg white, at room temperature
prep: 10 minutes
total: 35 minutes, allow 30 minutes' refrigeration
saucepan
whisk
heavy pot
thermometer
copper bowl (optional)
ziploc bag (optional)
1. Heat the cream, saffron and sugar on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
2. Slowly whisk in the citrus juice, and continue to stir. Let the mixture heat until it starts giving off a lot of steam, and remove from heat just before it comes to a boil. Continue to stir as it cools to room temperature.
3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Combine the cranberry juice, sugar and balsamic in a heavy pot and heat on medium to medium-high until the sugar dissolves. Continue heating until the syrup mixture reaches 248F.
5. While that is heating, start whisking your egg white. If you are doing this by hand, a copper bowl helps.
6. Once the whites are forming soft peaks, start pouring in the hot syrup and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
7. Assembly is pretty straight forward: Just fill shot-sized glasses up with the soup, and dollop on the meringue. Or, you can put the meringue in a ziploc, cut off the corner and pipe it on to make a cool swirl.
