Friday, September 24, 2010

Eton Mess


I have a huge pile of clippings from various newspapers and magazines. They tend to be human interest stories that may inspire a piece of fiction, or it might be a restaurant review for a new place I want to try, or perhaps a photo that conjures up something.

More often than not though, the clipping is for a recipe I want to try. I'll remember that I cut it out, and that it's somewhere in my pile o' clippings, but I usually can't retrieve it easily. So I'm going to start posting them here. At least this way I can a) find them again and b) allow you to try them too. I'll be honest. It's mostly so I can find them. Behold the blog as a filing system.

So let's start with this one I stumbled across today.

Eton Mess

(don't ask me why it's called that...something to do with the school?)**

Apparently this is the trendy new dish in New York right now. You can make it with fresh raspberries or strawberries. I bet it's good with crushed pineapple or bananas too.

Meringues:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Raspberry Sauce:
1 cup raspberries
2 TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP superfine sugar

Topping:
1 cup raspberries
1 cup whipping cream (35%) whipped with 1 TBSP sugar

How To:
Preheat oven to 275F.

Put egg whites in a bowl and beat until they froth like a mad dog. Add sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff and glossy like shaving cream. Beat in lemon juice.

Spoon onto parchment paper on cookie sheet in six 2" dollops. Bake for 1 hour or until crisp. Break meringues into large and small pieces. Set aside.

Combine raspberries with lemon juice and sugar in a food processor and process until smooth.

Fold together raspberries, whipping cream, raspberry sauce (reserving some for garnish) and crumbled meringue (reserving some for garnish) in a bowl. Place a spoonful of raspberry mixture onto the middle of a plate or use a ring mold if you want to go pretty. Garnish with more crumbled meringue and a drizzle of raspberry sauce. Repeat layers. Serves four. Ish.

** Of course after typing that I felt compelled to look it up. It's traditionally made with strawberries and is served at Eton College's annual cricket game against Winchester College. Apparently the recipe has been around since the 19thC.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yum. That sounds good. Sounds like it would be even better if the whole Eton Mess was served on a puddle of dark chocolate sauce... But then again, there ain't much in life that's not true of. *g*

Deniz Bevan said...

Jamie Oliver's got an Eton Mess recipe too. What a great idea, to start putting up your newspaper clipping stuff on the blog! Gosh, if I did that with all the pat rack-y piles I've got... well, I'd be a lot more organized, that's fer sure :-)
(word verification: funics. Now there's a word!)

Yutha said...

I think you should make it and post a picture. Of course then you'd have to eat it but I'm sure you don't mind making the sacrifice, right?

Anonymous said...

Picture!!!!

~kc

A Novel Woman said...

Sure guys. I'll get right on that.

Yutha said...

Yummy! Now be nice and make it for your sister...

(hey! verification word is ststers - it's a sign!!)