World Egg Day Recipe Extravaganza

The Parent Bloggers Network is celebrating World Egg Day (10/10/08) along with 12 of their bloggers (like me) who are participating in the American Egg Board's most expansive ad campaigns ever, since introducing Americans to the incredible edible egg, I mean.

Of course, being raised by Hungarian parents, eggs play an important part in European tradition and can be found on our holiday table, in some form, or fashion.

My favorite, by far, has to be the Hungarian dessert my mom served at Christmas called Madártej, or birds' milk - although, I've never actually prepared it, you know, without her by my side - but, it's usually translated as Floating Islands; a thick vanilla cream soup with puffy meranges (birds) floating on top.

So, I decided to give it a try - just for PBN!

[one beat, two beats]

Aaaand, my husband, Garth (not his real name) is taking care of the kids (while I'm away in L.A., next week) so, I sorta need to be nice to him, too!

For a dessert that will comfortably feed a family of 6 (like us) you will need:

6 eggs
6 cups of milk
1 cup of sugar
3 tbs. vanilla
1 tbs. flour
1 pinch of salt

Before we start, a quick cautionary note:

Please, make sure that you have time to stay by the stove and never, EVER leave boiling milk unattended - trust me on this!

Okay, with the help of a very handsome camera man and aspiring cook (a.k.a. The Boy, he's 9) we're ready to begin.

You'll need to separate the yolks from the whites (do it over a mixing bowl, like above) and place the yolks into a separate bowl, for now.

Or, just crack the egg into your hand and let the whites drip through your fingers.

Add 3 tbs. of the sugar into the egg whites.

Beat egg whites until light and fluffy.

It's ready when the egg white mixture resembles marshmallow fluff.

Pour milk into a large pot, add a pinch of salt and bring to a slow, bubbly, boil and you may as just way for it, because the milk has to be hot for this to work, trust me.

Dip a large spoon into the hot milk and spoon dollops of the egg white mixture into the milk.

Adding only about 5, or 6 dollops at a time, cook for 30 seconds and gently turn them over to cook the other side of the island.

Take the islands out of the milk with a strainer and set aside in a large bowl.

Add the remaining sugar into the egg yolks and then mix in the flour.

Mix some of the hot milk (little drizzles at a time) into the egg yolks, flour and sugar mixture. This is called "tempering" and makes sure you don't make scrambled eggs, by mistake.