Eton 'Tidy' with elderflower jelly and stewed gooseberries recipe

Details

• Cuisine: English
• Recipe Type: Dessert
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation Time: 60 mins
• Cooking Time: 200 mins
• Serves: 6

Step-by-step

1. For the jelly: soak the gelatine in cold water. Warm up a little of the cordial in a small pan, then when very hot, take off the heat and add the soaked gelatine. Stir in to make sure it is well dissolved, then strain onto the rest of the cold cordial. Put in a piping bag and refrigerate until later.
2. For the meringues: whisk the whites with the tartar, and add the sugar slowly, continuing to whisk. When you've created 'stiff peaks', add the vinegar, cordial, and cornflour. Either pipe into cute turrets onto a lined baking tray, or scoop into lumps onto a lined baking tray (space well apart from each other). Try and make them tidy if you can. Bake low and long, lets say 120C/fan 100C/gas ½ for 3 hours. Until crisp outside, and fluffy within.
3. For the gooseberries: add the first three ingredients together and cook slowly until the berries become tender. Mix the cornflour with a little water (to make a slurry) and add it to the pot to thicken the sauce. Either keep the sauce chunky, or blend it to a smooth dip. We like it chunky at the Mall Tavern for Eton Mess/Tidy. Cool down and box.
4. For the crème chantilly (optional): whisk all the ingredients together. Or instead, just serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
5. Either arrange together according to the photo (pipe a layer of jelly on the bottom, then allow it to set in the fridge before topping with stewed gooseberries. Then balance a blob of ice cream or crème chantilly on the surface, and serve the meringues on the side); or crush everything together in a long glass.