Leisurely extravagance
A long Sunday is the perfect opportunity to recreate Mark Hix’s comforting pub dishes
One of my favourite desserts, you can change the topping from summer through to winter with seasonal or preserved fruits, and change the ice cream accordingly. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making the actual meringue, you can just buy good-quality meringues from a shop and join them together, and your partner or guests won’t guess. You can also make a chocolate sauce to pour over by melting equal quantities of dark chocolate and double cream over a bain-marie.
2 HOURS 15 MINUTES + COOLING | SERVES 4 | EASY | GF
MERINGUE
egg whites 4
caster sugar 140g
cornflour Ω tsp
white wine vinegar Ω tsp
TO SERVE black or morello cherries 400g tin cherry liqueur 2-3 tbsp
cornflour 1 tbsp
crème fraîche 6-8 tbsp
dark chocolate ice cream 6-8 scoops
dark chocolate shavings a handful (optional)
To make the meringue, heat the oven to 120C/fan 100C/gas 1. Clean a mixing bowl and whisk in just-boiled water, then dry with kitchen paper to remove any traces of grease, as this will affect the stiffness of the egg whites once whisked. Use electric beaters to whisk the egg whites until you get firm peaks. Add the sugar, a spoonful at a time, and continue whisking until the egg whites are really stiff and shiny. Add the cornflour and vinegar, and whisk again for 2-3 minutes or until well mixed and glossy.
Line a large, clean baking tray with silicone or baking paper, and use a large metal spoon to spoon the mixture into four individual slipper shapes.
Cook in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes-2 hours or until the meringue is crisp on the outside and soft in the very middle, but don’t let the outside colour – you want it white (you may need to cook it a little longer depending on your oven). Remove and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, open the tin of cherries and drain the juice into a pan. Add 100ml of water and the cherry liqueur. Bring to the boil, combine the cornflour with a little cold water, then stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the cherries, remove from the heat and leave to cool.
To serve, alternate the crème fraîche and ice cream on top of the meringue, making indentations to avoid the ice cream sliding off, then spoon over the cherries and sauce, and scatter over the chocolate shavings.
PER SERVING 515 kcals | fat 18.8G saturates 12.3G | carbs 74.1G | sugars 69.4G fibre 0.5G | protein 8G | salt 0.3G
you can change the topping from summer through to winter with seasonal of preserved fruits