Frozen nougat

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 12 people, you will need:

• 1 200 g Chantilly cream
• 2 2 sheets gelatin
• 3 80 g whole almonds
• 4 80 g pistachios
• 5 80 g dried apricots
• 6 80 g raisins
• 7 2 tablespoons rum
• 8 350 g italian meringue
• 9 200 ml fruit coulis (fruit purée)
• Total weight: 1,105 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
1 hour 10 min.	15 min.	1 hour 25 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Prepare 200 g Chantilly cream, then chill.
2	Soften 2 sheets gelatin in a bowl of cold water.
3	Roast 80 g whole almonds and 80 g pistachios on a baking sheet.
4	Place in a hot oven at 180°C (360°F) for 5 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the almonds and pistachios, as they should color little or not at all.
5	Once cooled, blend or coarsely chop almonds and roasted pistachios, then set aside.
6	Cut 80 g dried apricots into small pieces and set aside.
7	Soak 80 g raisins in boiling water for 5 minutes.
8	Then drain and set aside.
9	Cool (in the microwave, for example) 2 tablespoons rum. Drain the gelatine, melt it in the warm rum and mix well. Set aside.
10	Prepare 350 g italian meringue.
11	While you finish whisking, gradually stir the melted gelatine into the rum.
12	Add raisins, apricots, almonds and pistachios to the meringue.
13	Then the whipped cream.
14	Mix gently until smooth and light.
15	Fill small molds (like muffin tins) with the mixture, then put them in the freezer overnight.
16	Alternatively, fill a cake tin and cut into thick slices just before serving. Freeze for the same length of time.
17	On the big day, cut out a portion of nougat and place it on the serving plate, surround it with a little raspberry coulis, and garnish with a mint leaf and/or candied grapefruit peel.

Remarks

All types of dried fruit can be modified if you wish. Instead of apricots, raisins, almonds and pistachios, you can use walnuts, hazelnuts, prunes, bananas, etc.
Similarly, the coulis can be made with strawberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, etc. I'd still recommend something a little tangy to contrast with the very sweet nougat.
Two methods are possible for the meringue:

• French meringue", which is classic egg white + powdered sugar.
• Italian meringue", where the sugar is cooked before being added to the egg whites.

You can choose one or the other. My preference is for the Italian meringue, which is trickier to make, but much creamier.

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