Eton Mess

I realise I have become somewhat Americanised when I start thinking about pies, pies and more pies for desserts during the Summer.

Which is all well and good, except I don't very much like pies. I LOVE crumbles, but only if there's tons of crumble and not a lot of fruit, and the crumble should be moist and crunchy at the same time, and have oatmeal in it, and...oh goodness. Getting hungry.

But the one thing I do love, is meringue. And Pavlova. Unfortunately I seem to be rubbish at making it, but last week, with three barbecues to go to at which I had offered to make dessert for each, I decided to go back to my roots and make good old Eton Mess.

I'm not sure who brought it back into vogue - it is a dish traditionally served at the annual cricket match between Eton and Winchester, but up until a few years ago only those who actually came up through the ranks of the highest public schools in England knew about it. All of a sudden, Eton Mess was everywhere. I had never been particularly impressed by the mixing up of whipped cream, meringue, and strawberries, and hadn't bothered making it.

But faced with pies last weekend, or the rather easier Eton Mess, I opted for Eton Mess, and I have to tell you, the combination of the three, with some added sugar and Pomegranate juice, was almost ridiculously sublime. I'd like to say everyone loved it just as much as me, but they hardly got a look in. I went back for seconds, thirds, and then I stopped counting. Also, do continuous giant heaped spoonfuls count as thirds? Or eighths? Shall I go on?

I also cheated, because I didn't have time, nor the nerves, to make the meringue. I ran up to Trader Joe's and bought a carton of their vanilla meringues, and bashed them up with a meat mallet, which I highly recommend if you're in a bad mood.

And so, it was the easiest dish I have ever made. Here I give you a recipe, some of which has been artfully pinched from Nigella Lawson, only because she rather innovatively adds the pomegranate juice which I think is genius, and I have added the recipe for the actual meringue should you be tempted to try the whole thing from scratch.

As an aside, a purist would not use Pomegranate Juice but would puree half the strawberries and drizzle that in. I suspect it would be even better...

Ingredients
• 4 cups strawberries
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons pomegranate juice, or (purist version) separate 2 cups strawberries from above and puree them in a blender to a juice.
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 packet individual meringue nests

Method

Hull and chop the strawberries quite roughly, place in bowl and add sugar and pomegranate or strawberry juice, leaving to macerate.

Whip the cream in a large bowl until thick peaks form. DO NOT OVERDO OR YOU'LL HAVE BUTTER. Roughly crumble in 8 of the meringues nests, large chunks and small.

Fold together with strawberry mixture, reserving some juice and a handful of chopped strawberries to decorate individual servings in small bowls.

If you are tempted to make the meringue from scratch:

3 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
Pre-heat oven to 300

Whisk the egg whites in a cold, clean bowl until you have soft peaks. Add the sugar, VERY SLOWLY SO AS NOT TO ATTRACT MOISTURE, tablespoon at a time, and whisk until all the sugar has been mixed in properly.

Drop dessertspoons of meringue on a baking sheet, place in oven on center shelf, turn the heat down to 275 and leave for 1 hour.

Then turn the oven off, leave the meringues in the oven to dry out overnight, or at the very least, until the oven is completely cold.