Christmas Eton Mess

I know it’s nearly Christmas time but I seem to have a real block writing about Christmas. I feel that, as a writer of a blog where 50% of each post is food, it seems almost sacrilegious not to be festive and talking about family awesomeness and the like. I’ve injected a few Christmas hints in my photos, but when a friend asked me whether I was going to write about Christmas, I realised that the thought hadn’t even occurred to me.

We’re still at the stage of our lives that we go to our parents for Christmas. I’m not too sure when the tables will turn and we will become the Christmas providers, but for now the most I do is sous-chef (yes, I peel potatoes and carrots, but I like the sound of sous-chef better) and bake the occasional dessert as a guilt-avoidance tactic.

Also, I live in the Southern Hemisphere these days, but I grew up in the Northern Hemisphere and there is something weird and awkward about reindeer and mistletoe when it’s 45˚C outside and we’re all in shorts. The Australians’ classically do Christmas on the beach or standing around a barbecue, eating fresh prawns the size a child’s head and enjoying fresh fruit for dessert.

I miss snow, log fires and ugly jumpers. Although my Christmas-reality growing up in central London looked nothing like that at all. One year we took a walk on Christmas afternoon in a park sprinkled in snow and that has become my perennial memory of all Christmas’ ever. It only happened once, but in my warped memory it’s all that ever happened.

And, on a slightly self-pitying note, I really miss my sister, mum and dad at Christmas. We Skype, which is wonderful, but I do tend to get a little teary being so far away at this time of the year.

Now I have a child I really am trying to get into the Christmas spirit. We got a Christmas tree this year for the first time in about ten years. We’ve put up twinkling lights outside the house. I’m singing Christmas carols to my son as we drive to daycare in the mornings, the words I remember anyway. He has absolutely no idea what’s going on, but is excited by proxy, so I’m taking that as a win.

Eton mess is a classic English dessert. Rumours abound as to how it was invented, but most stories agree that it was at Eton school and involved some sort of kitchen fail. For me, it makes me feel less homesick for England and is also similar to the classic Australian celebratory dessert, pavlova. I feel that I’m bridging the gap between the country of my birth and the country of my heart.

I’m a purist about my Eton Mess and only use the classic, simple ingredients. Feel free to ignore me and play around to your heart’s content. I’ve also included a meringue recipe from Delia Smith (which I use) if you feel like making your own. Otherwise 100g of the store bought meringue nests are fine. The only absolute suggestion I have is that the fruit is fresh, not tinned or frozen.

• 175 g golden caster sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 400ml cream
• 1 tbl sp caster sugar
• 500g strawberries

Preheat the oven to 140˚C / 275˚F

Place the egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks that slightly tip over when you lift the whisk

Add the caster sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, and continue to whisk until each tablespoon of sugar has been thoroughly whisked in
Take heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture and place them in rows on a lined baking tray

Place the baking tray in the oven on the centre shelf, and leave the meringues there for 1 hour
Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven to dry out overnight, or until the oven is completely cold

Whip the cream and sugar together until soft peaks form

Cut the strawberries into quarters

Crush the meringues into bite-sized pieces

Very gently, stir the strawberries, meringue and cream together and spoon into four glasses

Keep in the fridge until ready to serve wearing a cork hat, carrying a boomerang and singing the British national anthem…

Gently Home / Apple & Strawberry Crumble

We’re home from a great holiday. It’s wonderful to be home and I’m exhausted. Holidays with a toddler don’t seem to mean the same thing as they did before he came into our lives. I think I’m more physically tired than I was before I left, but my heart has been refilled and I’m looking forward to the world again.

That’s not to say I have much in the way of writing tonight. I’m tired enough that my eyes ache and my body feels disconnected from the chair I’m sitting on. It’s an uncomfortable feeling and one that I’ve learned to listen to. In previous lives of teenager and twentie-ager I’ve ignored my physical and mental self-care in preference for a pandemic of living, and I’ve definitely paid several heavy prices for my arrogance. I try to see the mind and body that can’t today as an asset rather than a frustration. A promise to live a good life, rather than a fast one. It pays off in all kinds of ways and so I need to honour my vows the rest of the time.

When I feel like this, wooly headed and wobbly, I look for food that’s going to help me slide back into my home the fastest. It has to be comforting and it has to be simple, an exact replica of how I want my home to feel. In this case we had lots of apples left over from a bircher muesli obsession I’ve been going through and so I found this wonderful apple crumble recipe hiding on a small piece of paper in my collection. It’s a favourite year round in any household I’ve lived in – the only change here is a seasonal filling of strawberries. A satisfied culinary sigh, if ever there was one.

• 750g granny smith apples – peeled, cored and chopped
• 500g strawberries – hulled and halved
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 200g brown sugar
• 200g self-raising flour
• 200g cold butter
• 100g sultanas or raisins
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder

Preheat the oven to 180˚C / 360˚F

Heat a saucepan over a medium heat and add the apples, half the sugar and lemon juice

Cook for about 10 minutes, or until soft

Mix in the strawberries, raisins and 1 tsp cinnamon powder

Transfer to an ovenproof dish

In a separate bowl rub together the flour, cinnamon, ginger and butter, you want a firm consistency, almost crumbly in texture

Sprinkle over the apples

Cover with the remaining sugar and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the crumble is golden brown

Serve with ice-cream, cream, custard, big appetites and rapidly loosening belts.