I have 3 egg whites and a pint of double cream I don't want to waste. What can I make with them?

Question

I have 3 egg whites and a pint of double cream I don't want to waste. What can I make with them?

Answer 1

I know just the thing. Also, if you've never made meringue before, it doesn't matter if it all goes wrong.

ETON MESS

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

450g of fresh strawberries

1 tablespoon of sugar

250g of meringue

250ml of cream

METHOD

Wash the strawberries, remove any stalks and chop them into quarters. Break or chop the meringue into rough 2cm (1 inch) pieces.

Put the strawberries in a bowl. Sprinkle over the sugar. Mix together.

Pour the cream into another bowl. Lightly whip the cream. Don’t over-do it: it should still be pourable.

Add the strawberries to the cream, or vice versa. Add the meringue pieces. Mix together and serve.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use ready-made meringue nests, especially if they are already broken and reduced in price.

If you make your own meringue, this is the dish to practice with. If they weep, crack or even collapse, you can still use them in this. However, you do have to make it a day in advance.

For the romantic version, top with a large strawberry and offer this to your partner.

An authentic Eton mess uses strawberries, but other summer fruits work well.

However, even Heston Blumenthal has had to concede that Eton mess is “quite simply impossible to improve upon”.

HISTORICAL NOTES

Eton mess originated at Eton College in the 1930’s, when a mixture of either strawberries or bananas with cream or ice cream, all stirred together (hence the name "mess"), was served in the school’s “sock shop” (tuck shop). One anecdotal story is that the dessert was ‘invented’ by a Labrador dog, when it sat on a picnic basket in the back of a car. With the later addition of the meringue, it has evolved into the unashamedly wicked, yet still utterly English, summer dessert. It is traditionally served at Eton College's annual prize-giving celebration picnic on what is still called the "Fourth of June”, despite actually taking place on the last Wednesday in May.

PS. Just in case ...

Meringue

250g egg white

250g caster sugar

250g icing sugar, sieved

Preheat the oven to 110C. Whip the egg white and, when soft peaks start to form, add the caster sugar. Continue beating for five minutes, then add the icing sugar. Beat slowly for five more minutes. Spread the mixture on to a non-stick baking sheet and bake for two hours, or until the meringue is crunchy and dry. Leave to cool on a rack.

Answer 2

eggnog?

Answer 3

Preheat the oven to fan 100C/ conventional 110C/gas 1⁄4. Line 2 baking sheets with Bake-O-Glide non-stick liner or parchment paper (meringue can stick on greaseproof paper and foil).

Tip the egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl (not plastic). Beat them on medium speed with an electric hand whisk until the mixture resembles a fluffy cloud and stands up in stiff peaks when the blades are lifted.

Now turn the speed up and start to add the caster sugar, a dessertspoonful at a time. Continue beating for 3-4 seconds between each addition. It's important to add the sugar slowly at this stage as it helps prevent the meringue from weeping later. However, don't over-beat. When ready, the mixture should be thick and glossy.

Sift a third of the icing sugar over the mixture, then gently fold it in with a big metal spoon or rubber spatula. Continue to sift and fold in the icing sugar a third at a time. Again, don't over-mix. The mixture should now look smooth and billowy, almost like a snow drift.

Scoop up a heaped dessertspoonful of the mixture. Using another dessertspoon, ease it on to the baking sheet to make an oval shape (pic 3). Or just drop them in rough rounds, if you prefer. Bake for 1 1⁄2-1 3⁄4 hours in a fan oven, 1 1⁄4 hours in a conventional or gas oven, until the meringues sound crisp when tapped underneath and are a pale coffee colour. Leave to cool on the trays or a cooling rack. (The meringues will now keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for a month.)

While these are cooling, whip the double cream until it forms stiff peaks.

Stir in some mini marshmallows and chopped strawberries. When ready to serve, crumble over some meringue and there you have Eaten Mess

Answer 4

Cream-filled meringues

Answer 5

what about meringues with the cream, yummy

Answer 6

make a meringue with the egg white and some sugar, and then whip the cream and put it on top with whatever fruit you may have!

Answer 7

A gooey mess.

Answer 8

All I can think of off the top of my head is to make a pavlova with lots of cream.

EDIT: Gah, someone else got there first.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/databa...