A meringue tumble
that’s it, that’s all… for now.
It was Drew’s birthday last week, and as someone who loves an excuse to make something a lil ridiculous and whimsical, I decided a cake just wasn’t going to ‘cut it’. There’s a restaurant in London, Quo Vadis, that serves a dessert, which I think, is very romantically called a "Meringue Tumble"—a huge stack of pillowy meringues, custard, cream, fruit, nuts, and really anything your heart desires. Essentially, it’s a large format Eton mess. After a bit of Googling I found this recipe from Jeremy Lee, the chef and proprietor at Quo Vadis.
I was immediately intrigued by the method for the meringues.
It’s only two ingredients—egg white and sugar, no stabilisers, and the amount of sugar is based on the weight of the egg whites: whisk half of it in, then fold in the rest. If you’ve been making meringues like this for years, um why didn’t you tell me? It’s so much easier!
The recipe below is just for the meringues. From there, you can make the "tumble" as simple or elaborate as you like. Basically, you need something custardy, something creamy, something saucy, something fresh and fruity, and something crunchy to sprinkle.
Make each of the components yourself or buy some bits premade and just assemble. I made the meringues and raspberry curd (couldn’t bear to waste the egg yolks) but bought the custard (box custard is nostalgic). When it came time to serve, I just had to whip the cream and pile everything together.
What I made:
Box custard, whipped cream, raspberry curd, fresh/frozen raspberries, pistachios.
Other options:
Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, vanilla-poached pears, dark chocolate shavings, hazelnuts
Custard, whipped cream, strawberries macerated in Pimm's, strawberry jelly, mint
Orange custard, whipped cream, baked rhubarb, fresh raspberries, pistachios
Vanilla coconut yoghurt, whipped coconut cream, grilled pineapple, mango puree, toasted coconut - Dairy free
Whipped cream, lemon curd, vanilla ice cream, tinned plums, figs, almonds
Note: This would be super fun for Christmas—too soon? You can make the meringues in advance; just keep them in an airtight container.
Jeremy Lee’s method for meringues
Ingredients
6 egg whites
Caster sugar, equal to double the amount of the weight of the egg whites - I had 225g of egg white so 450g of caster sugar.
Heat the oven to 180°C fanbake, line two oven trays with baking paper.
Weigh the 6 egg whites and weigh out double the amount of sugar (e.g. I had 225g of egg whites so 450g of caster sugar).
Whisk the egg whites until stiff in a super clean, dry bowl. Continue whisking while adding half the sugar, a Tblsp at a time. Tip in the remaining half of the sugar and fold it in with a big spoon.
Using the big spoon, scoop large dollops of the meringue mix onto the baking paper lined oven trays. Make sure to leave a bit of a gap between them. I’m not fussy with what they look like as they’re going to get covered in cream, fruit and custard but feel free to shape and smooth them a little.
Place the trays in the oven and turn it down to 120°C. Leave them alone, no peaking, for 1 hour.
They should be crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. Don’t worry about cracks cause, again, you’ll be covering them in custard and cream.
Three tips for whisking egg whites.
Scrupulously clean – Jeremy Lee emphasizes that the mixing bowl must be scrupulously clean, but make sure your whisk and spoon are, too.
No yolk, at all – To avoid any yolk getting into the whites, separate the eggs one at a time into small bowls. Check for yolk before adding each white to the main bowl.
Fresh as – Use fresh, room-temperature eggs. The fresher, the better for holding their shape once whisked.
Coincidently, the other dessert Quo Vadis is famous for is its chocolate profiteroles, which I made for Drew’s birthday last year! Another fun project. You do have to make choux pastry, but you can fill them with store-bought vanilla ice cream, custard, and whipped cream, and pour warm chocolate sauce over the top.
I know butter is a hot commodity ($$$) at the moment, BUT, we got this cute butter container and it’s housing/hiding a block of Pam’s finest.
Hot chips are an art form and I’m not sure I’m qualified to say who does the best in Auckland but here are some good ones I’ve had recently/this year. The seaweed fries with toasted chilli goop from Forest (who just won the Metro restaurant of the year!!! So well deserved), the shoestring fries from Cave à Vin, the curly fries from Ralphs, and for a wild card, the potato scallops from Bonita.
Please send me your hot chip recommendations. I might make it my summer project to try them all.
If you want to revisit any previous newsletters or recipes, they’re all available here.
I’ve officially hit 38 weeks pregnant, and if you looked up "hefty" in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of me trying to get off the couch. A couple of people have asked what I’m craving for my post-labour/can-eat-everything-again meal. Right now, it’s a very, very cold (and very, very tiny) martini, beef tartare with French fries (the McDonald’s kind, bought when buying…), an M&M McFlurry with extra hot fudge sauce.
With my naturally short arms and growing belly, reaching the kitchen bench is a struggle. So, I’m calling it: this will be the last email for a bit. I’ve decided not to put any pressure on myself and will keep things super ambiguous—so…
That’s it, that’s all, see you soon.
Rosie