Tropical Eton Mess

We have now been home nearly two weeks, after travelling for 7 weeks overseas in Spain and England, and sleeping patterns are just returning to normal. Now that I am emerging from the fog of jetlag, it is time to start cooking again and trying out some of the fantastic dishes we enjoyed overseas.

Our friends Paul and Jenny came over for dinner last night, a farewell before they travel to the U.S. for a well earned holiday. This was a perfect opportunity to have some fun in the kitchen. The food all disappeared so quickly, however I managed to take some photos of dessert.

This dish is so popular in the United Kingdom, and yet I have never prepared or tasted Eton Mess. Whilst on holidays, we spent a weekend in Devon with our friends Joe and Jane Byrne, who assembled an amazing Eton Mess for dessert one evening, which of course  included their seasonal berries. Jane assured me that I could use our tropical fruits in the Mess. Thanks Joe and Jane for the inspiration to prepare this iconic and very easy British dessert.

This is my Australian Tropical version of Eton Mess, including strawberries and blueberries, but without the fresh raspberries.

Ingredients:

1 container (300ml) Double cream
6-9 meringue nests (It is much easier just to buy them from the supermarket unless you feel you must make them from scratch)
Fruits of your choice. I used 1 punnet blueberries, 1  punnet sliced strawberries, 2 sliced kiwi fruit, and pomegranate seeds for presentation. Mangoes when available at Christmas time would also work well. Neil is also keen to try mandarin segments.

Preparation:

Set aside the equivalent of 1/2 a meringue nest for each person you are serving, chop roughly and place in the base of the dish in which you serving the Eton Mess. This ensures you can enjoy some crunchy pieces of meringue.

Smash up the rest of the meringue nests and place in the base of a large bowl.

Whip or whisk the cream until firm.

Chop up the fruit.

Place the fruit over the meringue nests.

Mix the cream through the meringue and the fruit and it is ready for serving.

Serve in dishes or nice glasses over the meringue base. You can be as decorative or as "messy" as you like with this dessert and it will still taste fantastic. However, the quality of the cream is important, and only the best double cream will do.

I decorated the dishes with pomegranate seeds and a sliced strawberry, but that is optional.

I would love to hear if you have tried Eton Mess, and have an interesting story to tell about where and when you ate it.