Eton Mess
The blog has been offline for a while because the Booties have upgraded some hardware. All BNA blogs seem to be back in service now. Good work, lads & lasses 😉
Also, because this is Tadley, I can only go online on alternate Wednesdays, so blogging is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair.
Finally, if you look at the photos for this entry, you will appreciate just how much I miss my old camera. These were taken with a gimmick digital ‘spy camera’ with about 1/10 of the picture quality you get from your average mobile phone.
I bought my mobile phone in 2001, and it doesn’t take pictures— it’s a phone! 😉
At long last, today the sun is back! It’s irritating that this is such an occasion —I’m actually working on something right now and don’t feel like dropping everything to go for a walk in the woods. Why can’t this be the norm here?
In the last three days we only had about 20 minutes of sunshine, but those 20 minutes fell on Sunday afternoon: during the window between the first, slight drizzle of rain and the late afternoon wash-out when we had a BBQ.
It was the second BBQ within one month, and more will follow. Finally we are managing to get past the once-a-year rule!
The reason, on both occasions, was the visit of John’s former students, who are Morrocan and who took care of the meat, transforming several kilos of Halal chicken, lamb and mince into fragrantly marinated skewers and patties—enough to feed us for two days afterwards.
I was left with the veg and salad and, on the last occasion, dessert.
The strawberries, although not yet locally grown, are looking better and I made the most of a special offer, ending up with about half a bowl of reasonably ripe fruit (slightly more than half of what I bought). This wasn’t enough to feed five people, so I decided on a variation of strawberries with cream: Eton Mess, named after the famous boarding school where strawberries with cream and crushed meringue present a favourite seasonal treat.
To be honest, I only considered making meringue after being left with an egg white from making Aïoli. The aïoli was crap, but dessert was a success.
The recipe for the meringues comes from ‘The Australian Women’s Weekly’ ‘French Cooking Made Easy’, one of my few cookbooks which has stood the test of time as it is surprisingly authentic but with easy-to-follow recipes. The meringues turn out to be quite sweet, but using less sugar means they won’t hold their shape, so take no shortcuts.
Eton Mess
1 egg white;
½ tsp white vinegar;
75g castor (fine) sugar (or vanilla sugar);
1tsp icing sugar;
½ large bowl ripe strawberries (or divide up among smaller bowls);
150 ml whipping cream
Prepare the meringues: Combine the egg white, vinegar and castor sugar and mix on high for about 10 min or until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is shiny and stiff to the touch. Fold in sifted icing sugar with a metal spoon and pipe tablespoon-sized mounds of meringue mixture on a baking sheet that has been buttered and dusted with cornflour. Bake at 120°C for 30 minutes (it should just about not start to turn brown), turn off oven and leave to cool.
Wash and cut the strawberries. Whip the cream until stiff and pipe on top of the strawberries, using a large bag and nozzle. Top with the cooled meringues.
Denni