Project 366: day 138

I’m using the veg box veg again.

The “Ood”…

…has become celeriac soup.

And, I’ve made Spanish potatoes with potatoes, red pepper and onion, along with a few spices.

Eton mess – Improv Challenge, May 2012

Strawberries – the taste of summer!

The theme for the “Improv Challenge” this month is Strawberries and Cream. Every month the challenge takes 2 ingredients and you have to make it into a recipe to post on the third Thursday of the month. It is run by Kristen of “Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker”. 

Eton Mess

Eton Mess is a simple summer dessert of meringue, whipped cream and strawberries mixed together and was originally made and served at the English public school of the same name. I decided to make Eton Mess because I had egg whites to use up, which I could put in the meringues and it is a great summer dessert which I will probably serve at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration next month.

Homemade meringues

You can make your own meringues following the recipe I include here, or you can buy meringues and crush them up – it is entirely up to you!

To make the little meringues:

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites

100g golden caster sugar

Method:

1. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. I use a free-standing mixer with a whisk attachment, but you can use a hand held electric whisk or indeed by hand if you have a lot of stamina and a strong arm!

Egg whites whisked to stiff peaks

2. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and whisk all the time. The mixture should be stiff and thick and sort of marshmallow like.

The meringue should be thick and creamy

3. Using a piping bag with a smooth, large nozzle or indeed a plastic bag with the corner cut off, pipe small mounds onto a baking sheet covered with baking parchment. This mixture makes about 50 2-3cm (1 inch) meringues. You can make bigger ones if you wish or just use a spoon to make mounds of meringue.

Pipe 1 inch meringues

The mixture makes at least 50

4. Put in an oven at 130C and immediately reduce the temperature to 100C. Bake for 2 hours and then turn the oven off and leave in the oven to cool.

The cooled meringues

To make the Eton Mess (serves 4):

Ingredients:

400g strawberries, washed and hulled

300ml double cream, whipped to stiff peaks

1 quantity of meringues

Method:

1. Take 8-10 strawberries and blend to a puree. Cut the rest into halves or quarters depending on their size. You could reserve some whole strawberries and some little meringues for decoration if you wish.

2. Whip the cream to stiff peaks and mix half the strawberry puree with it to make a rippled effect.

3. Layer the strawberry puree, whipped cream, strawberries and meringues in glasses or serving dishes so they look pretty.

Dessert is served