If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you might remember
that last week I shared a homemade pasta recipe, which (since it calls for lots
of egg yolks) always provides me with a great opportunity to make my favourite dessert,
meringue, with the leftover egg whites. These little beauties are the perfect
taste of summer for cold and rainy January days, and although they look rather
special they’re actually really easy to put together. If you haven’t made
meringue before or you’ve had a few disasters, then fear not and read on,
because I’ve got some great tips.
Ingredients
4 egg whites
235g caster sugar
A few drops of lemon juice
For the cream:
400ml double cream
A small handful of fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp icing sugar
¼ tsp peppermint essence
¼ tsp green food colouring (optional, I just think a very
pale green looks pretty)
To decorate:
Fresh raspberries
A few more fresh basil leaves
Makes 8 individual
meringues, or you could just make 2 big pavlovas
Preheat the oven to 150°C (140°C fan). Start by
separating the eggs (if you’re not using leftover egg whites from my awesome
homemade pasta dish), making sure not to get any of the egg yolk mixed in, as
this will stop your egg whites whipping up properly. Then add a drop or two (no
more) of lemon juice to the whites – this doesn’t add any flavour, but instead
stops the egg whites becoming over-whipped, which is when you end up with a
bowl of goo that won’t thicken.
Beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until they are
light, fluffy and form soft peaks. Add about a third of the caster sugar and
whisk vigorously until the eggs thicken up and form soft peaks again. Repeat
with the second third, whisking again until the mixture thickens, and finally
add the last third. Whisk until the mixture is stiff and glossy, and forms
solid peaks which do not wilt. Each of these stages can take a little while, so
don’t panic. Also, and I’m letting you into a secret here (so shh), Mary Berry
won’t tell you this but the egg whites do
not have to get so stiff you can do the upside down bowl trick. The idea is
that you should be able to hold the bowl upside down over your head and not end
up wearing a Georgian-style wig made of egg. But, although this is ideal, it’s not actually essential. If you’ve
been whisking the eggs for ten minutes and they’re really thick but not
actually immobile yet, then don’t worry. As long as they hold their shape well,
you can go ahead and cook them.
The next important thing I need to tell you is that you
must use baking parchment or siliconized baking paper, and NOT greaseproof
paper. If you use greaseproof paper, the meringue will weld itself to the paper
and refuse to let go. Baking parchment and greaseproof paper, although often
used interchangeably, are not the same thing.
Anyway. Spread out the correct paper on a flat baking
tray, and then spoon the meringue mixture out to create little nests about 8cm
in diameter. They shouldn’t spread in cooking but they might puff up slightly
so leave a bit of space between them (you might ned to use two trays). Place in
the oven and bake for an hour, then without opening the oven door, turn the
oven off and leave it to cool with the meringues inside. This helps them to dry
out for maximum crispiness.
To decorate, simply chop the fresh basil as finely as you
can, then add to the double cream with the icing sugar, peppermint essence and
green food colouring and whip until soft peaks are formed. Top each meringue
with a generous dollop of cream and then arrange the fresh raspberries on top
with a small sprig of basil. You can easily decorate these a couple of hours
ahead, and just keep them in the fridge until you want to serve.
Ingredients