Strawberry & Meringue

Preparation method:

For the meringue:

1. Separate about 5 eggs until you have 150g of egg whites;
2. Beat the egg whites with 90g of white sugar. After a couple of minutes add another 90g of white sugar. Finally add 90g of icing sugar and beat to stiff peaks;
3. Spoon the the beaten egg whites in a piping bag and pipe in little circles on a baking tray lined with baking paper;
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 100˚C for at least an hour (up to 75 minutes). Turn off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven to dry while the oven cools down. Do not open the oven during the baking process.

For the sweet & sour cherry gel, mix 100ml of cherry vinegar—I use vinegars from Oil & Vinegar—and 100ml sugar sirup(*). Set aside a little bit of the mixture, pour a the bulk of the mixture into a sauce pan over a high heat and bring it up to the boil. While waiting for the mixture to boil, dissolve 1.2g of agar agar it the mixture you set aside. As soon as the mixture in the sauce pan is boiling, add the agar agar mix to the pan and leave to boil for another 5 minutes stirring to make sure the agar agar is fully dissolved.

Leave it cool for a little while, then poor it in a squeeze bottle and set aside to completely cool. By the time is has completely cooled, the mixture should have turned into a translucent gel.

I make whipped cream in an espuma bottle and since this recipe has meringue, I don’t add sugar to my whipped cream. If you make your whipped cream by hand, add a little sugar, it helps to stiffen the cream.

Plate up the meringue, strawberries, whipped cream and the sweet & sour gel to make an attractive plate. Finish with a few sprigs of mint.

(*) sugar sirup is equal quantities of water and white sugar that you heat up until the sugar has fully dissolved.

Ingredients:

• 150g egg whites (about 5 eggs)
• 2 x 90g white sugar
• 90g icing sugar
• 100ml cherry vinegar
• 100ml sugar sirup
• 1.2g agar agar
• Whipped cream