While My Meringue Gently Weeps!

Chris came to lunch. I made lavender crème brulee for dessert. I copied Jamie’s idea [here]and infused lavender buds – but used another BBC recipe for the actual cream [as it used the quantities I had to hand] That’s here

The photo above is of Jamie’s pudding. I wasn’t sure my dishes would cope under the grill, so poured over some of Delia’s Caramel. Sadly –despite following her instructions, it came out frightfully chewy and a severe risk to our dental fillings. I think Chris is still speaking to me [she was unable to do so whilst eating it!!

But all the recipes leave you with egg whites leftover. So I decided to make some meringues. [love food, hate waste etc] I checked, and St Delia’s oven matched that of the brulees. Good! I thought, use up the egg whites and save in fuel by cooking both dishes together.

 BUT be warned, friends. You cannot make a crispy dry meringue in an oven alongside something cooking in a bain marie [I should have known that] The meringues steam gently into chewy pillows, oozing a sweet amber stickiness.

Tonight I sandwiched them with the remaining cream [into which I had chopped the last kiwi fruit in the fridge] Bob declared them to be possessed of ‘an interesting texture’!!

I’ll know next time