Nigella's Eton Mess

I happened to turn on the Cooking Channel the other night and caught the beginning of Nigella Express, one of the few shows on the Food Network that I don't follow.  I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to this episode (I was working on a quilting project) if I hadn't heard Nigella say that she was about to prepare Eton Mess, not an appetizing name for the dessert she was touting as the perfect end to a lovely dinner she had prepared for friends.  Eton Mess, named after the British School for Boys and the mashed together state of strawberries, meringues and cream, is the traditional dessert, or pudding, served at Eton College's annual prize-giving celebration in early summer.

Eton Mess is a simple dessert and as I watched Nigella assemble the ingredients I knew I would love it.  There's not much to it, just sweetened strawberries, crushed meringues and whipped cream, but the ingredients work perfectly together, and I know this is something I will make often during strawberry season.

Eton Mess...a recipe by Nigella Lawson

4 cups strawberries

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons pomegranate juice

2 cups whipping cream

1 package individual meringue shells*

Hull and chop the strawberries and put into a bowl.  Add sugar and pomegranate juice and leave to macerate while you whip the cream.  Instead of pomegranate juice I added Cointreau.

Whip the cream in a large bowl until thick.  Roughly crumble 4 meringues - you will need chunks for texture    as well as a little fine dust.

Reserve about a half a cupful of chopped strawberries.  Fold the meringue cream and the rest of the berries together.

Arrange in 4-6 bowls or glasses and top each serving with some of the remaining macerated strawberries and a sprinkle of meringue crumbs.

If you like the crunchy texture of crisp meringues assemble the ingredients just before serving.  The meringue will soften in the whipped cream.  

I hope you will try this simple dessert.  It is so pretty served in a wine glass and it is just plain delicious.

*I couldn't find prepared meringues in my grocery store so prepared my own using Ina Garten's recipe for Meringues Chantilly.  Her recipe makes 8 meringues.  I used 4 in this recipe and had 4 left for another time.  They keep well in a tightly sealed container.

I'm sending this post over to Designs by Gollum for this week's

Foodie Friday celebration.