Welcome

Reaching the final of Masterchef 2007 was a rollercoaster of emotion, with huge highs and lows, but I loved every minute and learnt a huge amount. I owe a great deal to John and Gregg who had faith in my ability when I did not believe in myself. Since competing on the programme my life has changed considerably. I now write cookery columns for two magazines, give cookery demonstrations and am just working on my 13th cook book - unlucky number for some but not for me!!! I love all forms of country cooking, using seasonal and locally sourced produce. This blog is to enable me to share with you a few of my recipes and baking ideas. Enjoy Hannah xxxx

Friday 11 December 2009

If you can forgive the rather bright colours (I would definitely tone down the food colouring a little the next time I make this! American food colour paste are very strong!!!!) this is a rather refreshing dessert I made for Supper with Kathy Brown last week - affectionately dubbed the "Meringarita" by Kathy's son Jonathan of Aroundbritainwithapaunch. A crisp meringue shell filled with lime and tequila mousse and topped with lemon curd cream. We really enjoyed this!

Meringarita
Serves 8 - 10

4 large eggs whites
½ tsp cream of tartar
250g/9oz caster sugar
1tbsp powdered gelatine
750 double cream
200g/7oz cream cheese
Juice and zest of 5 limes
Juice of 1 small orange
3 tbsp tequila
3 tbsp good quality lemon curd
a few drop of green and yellow food colouring (not too much!)
white chocolate curls

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/160°C/325°F and grease an 8in round spring form tin with a little butter. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks then add the cream of tartar, whisking again. Add the caster sugar a little at a time whisking to form a glossy meringue. Pour the meringue into the cake tin, making a well in the center and the sides higher so that it will contain your lemon filling when cooked. Bake for 1 – 1 ½ hours until the meringue is crisp. Allow to cool in the tin. When the meringue has cooled, place 400ml of double cream, the cream cheese lime juice and zest, orange juice, a few drops of green food colouring and the tequila in a blender and blitz until smooth. Quarter fill a small saucepan with water and heat gently. When the water is simmering, mix the gelatine and 2 tablespoons of cold water together in a mug and place the mug into the sauce pan to gently heat the gelatine. Stir the gelatine until it dissolves but do not overheat otherwise it will loose its setting quality. Whisk into the lime mousse mixture and then pour into the meringue shell. Whisk the remaining 350ml of cream to stiff peaks and then fold in the lemon curd and a few drop of yellow food colouring if you wish. Pipe into small stars on top of the lime mousse and leave in the fridge to set for 2 – 3 hours. Dust with edible glitter and white chocolate curls for a sparkly dessert!

3 comments:

Tracy Golightly-Garcia said...

Hannah

I love the bright colors! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Best
Tracy :)

Marie Rayner said...

Fabulous Hannah! So pretty and colourful and those flavours have me wanting a slice right now!

Joanna said...

Love that slip of the hand on the bottle ... good for hallowe'en? Fab recipe too

xJoanna