Eton Tidy

Words by Lucy Studeley | Images by Betty Paton

At chef Ben Tunnicliffe’s maritime inn next to Newlyn Harbour, the chalkboard menu evolves subtly every day, following the ebb and flow of ingredients brought in by the tides and seasons.

You can of course just make meringue (or buy them) and mix with whipped cream and strawberries to make the classic Eton Mess. However, if you fancy a bit of fun and have the time, then make this Eton Tidy as described below. You’ll need to plan ahead, preparing your jelly and meringues the day before.  

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the Strawberry Jelly :

1kg strawberries

400g caster sugar

For the meringues:

100g egg whites

200g caster sugar

For the cream:

100g pastry cream (crème pâtissière)

100g mascarpone

200ml double cream (whipped) 

For the strawberry coulis:

A couple of punnets of local strawberries

Approx. 1 tbsp icing sugar

A few drops Cointreau (optional) 

Zest and juice of ½ an orange

Method

For the strawberry Jelly: 

Remove the green tops from the strawberries and toss them in the caster sugar in a stainless-steel bowl, then cover with cling film and set over a pan of gently simmering water. After a couple of hours, you’ll have what looks like tinned strawberries in a beautiful strawberry liquor.

Strain gently and cool the liquid.

In a saucepan, add 0.6 of a gram of Agar Agar to the cold liquid and whisk, bring slowly to the boil and simmer gently for a few minutes. Pour into a suitably sized tub/tray that is at least 2cm deep and lined with three layers of cling film. Leave to set and then cut into cubes.

For the meringues:

Preheat the oven to 70˚C. Put the egg whites into a clean mixing bowl with a small pinch of salt and whisk, until soft peaks form – you could do this by hand or with a machine. Add the sugar a bit at a time whilst whisking until all the sugar has been used and the meringue is thick and glossy. At this stage we pipe them into little log shapes (little finger-sized) and oven dry at 70˚C for about three hours. Once cooled they can be stored in an airtight container for a few days comfortably. 

For the cream: 

Beat the pastry cream with a whisk until smooth, then beat in the mascarpone with a whisk. Gently fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mix. Put into a piping bag and pop in the fridge until needed.

For the strawberry coulis:

To make the strawberry coulis, puree about half your strawberries (reserving the rest for plating) with the Cointreau, orange zest and juice and icing sugar. Chop the remaining strawberries into halves or quarters depending on size, and toss in the coulis just before serving. 

To combine…

Pipe or spoon 4 or 5 piles of cream mixture onto a plate, lean meringues up against each dollop of cream, and arrange some of the strawberries in the coulis mixture randomly around the plate, interspersed with cubes of strawberry jelly.