A Morning off Work - Part 2

I had two kitchen jobs this morning, firstly to use up some egg whites that were left over from Alastair's ice-cream making (he makes brilliant ice-cream, which deserves a post of its very own) and secondly to make some soup with the leeks Dad had given me from his garden.

There's really only one thing to do with egg whites (apart from Hungarian Tea Bread of course), and that's meringues!  Again, not my own recipe (I usually follow other people's), it was a Delia Smith one.  There is no-one but Delia when it comes to meringues.... 

Making meringues is easy (unless you don't have a food processor, in which case, not so much), fun and they always impress people, so very good for when you are entertaining.  Here's how I did it, courtesy of Delia.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and grease.  I use sunflower oil, spread with my rather brilliant silicone pastry-brush (thanks Mum!).

Chuck the egg whites into your faithful food processor, remembering to measure out the sugar first..

Whisk until they form little peaks if you stick your finger in and then lift it out. 

Another way to test the stiffness factor of your egg whites is to hold the bowl upside down.  If the egg whites don't fall out, they are stiff enough.  This is fun, but only if you tilt the bowl first - if the egg white mixture starts to slide, don't try and turn the bowl upside down.  It will be messy!

Add the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time, whisking after each addition. 

Plop about half of your mixture onto your lined and greased baking tray and smooth it out into a circular shape.  It should not reach to the each side of the baking tray.  Then take a tablespoon full of mixture and drop it onto the outside edge of your circle in a little whirl, and repeat until you have made an edging of little whirls all around your circle.

Your finished product will look better if you manage to get the result circular unlike mine!  I also think - although my egg-whites stayed in the bowl when I turned it upside down - that my mixture wasn't stiff enough.  You ideally want it a bit stiffer than this, so that the little whirls stay whirly rather than slumping.

Chuck it in the oven and bake for an hour, then turn the oven off but leave the meringue in the oven to dry out.

I had loads of egg-white mixture, so made another smaller meringue and one circle-base before I ran out.

My Chief Taster (Alastair) said that my meringues were perfect - you can tell he liked them, this is what the big one looked like about 5 minutes after he got home!

It was very kind of him to say this, but I wasn't pleased with them.  It's not easy to see - for some reason all photos taken in my kitchen at night are tinted orange - but they are a beautiful cream colour with highlights of the most delicate golden-brown.

However, I wasn't happy with them.  They weren't cooked enough, and were foamy inside, more like the meringue on top of a lemon meringue pie than a pavlova.  You might be able to see in this picture.

They taste nice mind!  And that's why - apart from the fact that for some reason it gives me immense pleasure to keep this on-line diary - I have posted about my meringues.  With cooking it doesn't have to be perfect, and it doesn't have to be right every time - in fact any good cook knows it's not going to be.  It's just fun and all about the pleasure it gives you while you're doing it.  If it's served up to loved ones and they appreciate it that's wonderful, but rest assured that every so-called failure or not-quite-right dish will make you a better cook.  And, to prove my point, I'm off to have a bite of meringue served up with tinned peaches and creme fraiche!