England was on its very best 'green and pleasant land' behaviour for our recent visit - all blue skies and sunshine. We spent Sunday morning visiting the ancient bones of Henry VIII’s ship, the Mary Rose, in Portsmouth (wow, by the
way – what a feat of marine archaeology!). However, there was a wailing and a gnashing
of teeth when himself missed out on a change of plan and had to forego his much anticipated, post-sightseeing ye-olde-traditional-English-country-pub-Sunday-roast-dinner-with-all-the-trimmings.
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He was like a dog with two tails when we got an unexpected invite to a delicious traditional-English-homecooked-Sunday-roast-dinner-with-all-the-trimmings…
on the following Tuesday… in the garden of a gorgeous 350 year-old cottage, (complete with ghost, or so it is rumoured).
Leaving with very contented stomachs, we were further delighted to receive a bag of organically
grown apples plucked from the two heavily-laden trees in the garden – one, deliciously zingy, rosy-cheeked eaters; the other, tart, green-skinned cookers. For some reason, Apple Snow sprang to mind
immediately. This is a dyschefull the Tudors - perhaps even the bold Henry himself - would have enjoyed in one form or
another. Maybe it was a favourite of the ghost
My version is
soft meringue mixed with apple purée – an apple mousse if you will. You can
serve it virtually fat-free as in this recipe, or fold in swirls of whipped
cream and yet more apple purée A drizzle of honey or maple syrup over the top
won’t hurt if the apples you use are a little on the tart side. Scoop it up
with shortbread fingers or langue de chat
biscuits.
Note: As the meringue is so lightly cooked, it should not be given to pregnant women, infants, or anyone with a compromised
immune system.
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| Drop the prepared apple slices into water with a generous squeeze of lemon juice to stop them going brown |
First, to make the apple purée you will need…
900g apples,
uncooked weight, sliced (this was 8 medium apples, after peeling and coring. I
dropped them into cold water with a generous squeeze of lemon juice to stop
them going brown until I was ready to use them.)
50g caster
sugar or honey
the zest (in
slices) and juice of a lemon (you should have about 4 tablespoons of juice)
the zest of an
orange
2 whole cloves
1 stick of
cinnamon
3 drops almond
extract
Place all the
ingredients in a large saucepan with a lid, over a medium heat. Cover the
saucepan and cook the apples until soft (about 10-15 minutes) checking
occasionally to make sure they haven’t boiled dry (if necessary, add a small amount of water, apple juice, or cider). When the apples are soft,
remove the lid and if there is a lot of juice, continue cooking until any
visible juice has evaporated.
Remove from the heat, cover, and leave
to cool. Taste and add a little more sugar or honey if necessary.
Next, for the
meringue you will need…
… a sugar
thermometer and an electric whisk or stand mixer (or good strong muscles in your arms)
2 egg whites
room at room temperature
60g caster
sugar
3 tablespoons
cold water
½ teaspoon
vanilla extract
Place the egg
whites in a bowl and whisk until fluffy and the mixture flops into soft peaks
when you remove the whisk.
Place the
caster sugar, water, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan and place over a
medium heat until the sugar crystals have dissolved. Turn up the heat and boil
the mixture until it reaches the ‘soft ball’ mark on your thermometer (or 118°C or 235°F).
Carefully
remove the saucepan from the heat and drizzle the hot syrup slowly into the
bowl of egg whites, whisking all the while. (Avoid drizzling the hot liquid
directly onto the whisk unless you want to enamel your kitchen with molten sugar and
quite possibly burn yourself into the bargain). Continue whisking until you
have incorporated all the syrup, the mixture is thick and smooth and white and glossy,
and a clean finger touched to the mixture tells you that the temperature has
dropped to about room temperature (3 - 5 minutes).
The assembly
job…
Next, remove
the strips of zest, cinnamon stick and cloves from the cool apple mixture and
pass it through a coarse sieve. Whisk the resulting apple purée into the meringue and chill until needed.
It will keep for about 48 hours, covered, in the fridge.
When ready to
serve, swirl into pretty glasses or bowls, and serve with shortbread biscuits
or langue de chat.
