A lovely fresh and zesty dessert dish – ideal for those warm summer evenings.
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Moderate
Ingredients
For the meringues
- 4 egg whites
- 110g caster sugar
- 110g soft brown sugar
Lemon curd
- 3 large eggs
- 3 medium lemons (zest of 1)
- 100gm caster sugar
- 40gm unsalted butter, diced and cold
To finish
- 1 punnet of strawberries
- Baby basil leaves
Method
For the meringues
- Preheat the oven to 110˚c.
- Whisk the egg whites with both the sugars minus 2 tablespoons of caster sugar until it’s so thick that it won’t flow anymore. Fold in the remaining sugar.
- Spoon or pipe the mix into balls about golf ball size on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray.
- Bake for 1 ½ hours until dry right through or 45 minutes for a soft centre.
For the curd
- Mix the eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest and caster sugar. Whisk well.
- Transfer the mix to a heavy bottom cooking pan and start whisking gently on a moderate heat.
- After 5 to 8 minutes the mix will start becoming thick. Keep on mixing until a smooth, glossy paste is formed.
- Remove from the heat and gradually add the butter while whisking. Chill fully or pour into sterilised jars and fully chill, store in the fridge.
To finish, stick 2 balls of meringue together with the curd and serve with the strawberries and basil.
Alternatively, you can pipe meringue cases to fill with lemon curd and top with sliced strawberries and basil leaves.
