Passion fruit Eton mess

This week we have a tropical twist on a British classic: Eton Mess. Quintessentially British it normally contains strawberries and cream and it is topped off with crushed meringue. Legend tell us that this dessert was created by mistake when students at Eton – a very, very privileged school in England- dropped a Pavlova that was topped with strawberries and cream. Whoever tripped that kid is a genius because this is in my top 5 of favourite desserts over here. 

Favourite British desserts? Plural? I hear you ask…Well I think English food gets a really bad rep out there, people think it’s just fish and chips, bland cucumber sandwiches and tea. Well let me tell you it’s bloody amazing. The traditional and modern food around here should not be snubbed. The puddings (aka desserts) over here are amazing, and they are never just served on their own, oh no you have custard, you have ice cream, you have single cream, double cream, crème fraiche…They are anything but boring over here.

So yeah, don’t come and talk to me about how rubbish British food is because I am about to prove you wrong.

This is a twist on the classic mentioned above. The main ingredient here is double cream. I was introduced to double cream when I moved over here from Brazil and let me tell you, it never seizes to amaze me. You can whip it, you can pour it, cream it, ice cream it et al. However I find it a bit too heavy to eat it on its own in spoonfuls, so to lighten it up I added some greek yogurt. And rather than strawberries I swirled in some homemade passion fruit curd.

Why passion fruit? Because it was on offer and in this country when passion fruit is bogof you should just go for it. Plus it always reminds me of home when mum used to make passion fruit mousse using condensed milk.

Also boys and girls, I should tell you that my homemade meringue was a bit of a disaster. Good thing ”mess” is part of the dessert’s name. In short it was my first time trying to make meringue at home. Got a good, reliable Mary Berry recipe but, yes reader, I crowded the meringue. I put the mixture on a tin that was just too small and the crusty layer was very thin with the chewy bit being very, very thick. It basically looked like a sponge cake with a crispy thin layer which has its merits, but not for this recipe. This recipe needs the texture factor against all the creaminess that rules this dish. So when you follow this recipe remember: DO NOT CROWD THE MERINGUE! In fact I would advise you to make little ones, they will cook faster and have the perfect texture.

Eton Passion Fruit Mess (serves 6-8)

300ml double cream

200g Greek Yogurt

Icing sugar to taste

Blueberries

For the meringue:

4 egg whites

225g caster sugar

1 tsp of white wine vinegar

1 tsp cornflour

For Curd (makes around 2 cups):

4 egg yolks

100ml of passion fruit pulp (around 6 small fruits, pulp blended and sieved to get rid of seeds)

60g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

155g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Line a baking tray with baking paper

2. Put the egg whites into a bowl and whisk on the fastest speed with an electric hand-whisk or in a free-standing mixer until stiff. 

3. While still whisking add the sugar gradually until the whites start forming stiff peaks

4. With a spoon drop the mixture forming little circles on the prepared tray

5. Bake in the middle tray of your oven, once in turn the heat down to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and bake for 1-1½ hour or until it easily comes off the paper. You are looking for a hard outside of a pale creamy colour. When ready, turn off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven to become cold.

6. Meanwhile make the curd by mixing the passion fruit pulp with the cornflour, mixing until there are no lumps. 

7. Now place all ingredients on a pan and take it to medium heat stirring continuously for 4-5 minutes or until it starts to simmer and keep on medium heat for a further minute, always stirring. Leave it to one side to cool.

8. Once both curd and meringue have cooled down whisk the double cream until stiff then stir in the yogurt until you achieve an homogeneous mixture. Add icing sugar to taste. I added about 3 table spoons as I don’t like it too sweet.

9. Crush the meringues (leave just a few out) and add it to the cream, then fold in part of the blueberries and all of the curd, mixing it slowly so that the cream has yellow swirls in it.

10. Now all you need to do is spoon it into individual glasses and top it with the remaining crushed meringue and blueberries.

It will be interesting to hear from those that know the recipe, how do they feel about this twist.