Raspberries

I have two raspberry canes in a large tub in the garden.  I did have three, but one just withered away, despite my best efforts.  They are an autumn fruiting variety called Joan J and the remaining two are very reliable.  I chose autumn fruiting because they are easier to prune -  just cut down all the canes to the ground in February and they fruit on the new canes grown each year.  I have watered and fed them and watched the flowers being pollinated by the bees and the fruits forming.  However, as I only have two canes, sadly I don't get enough fruit to make jam.  So, I have eaten them straight off the canes when they are sun warmed, but as the days are getting cooler, I was wondering what else I could do with the small handfuls.  I have made pavlovas in the past, but they are strictly for a treat.  I think I may have found the perfect solution.

 We use the Easi-Yo yogurt system, where you add a sachet of mix to water and then put it in the yogurt maker (filled with just boiled water) overnight.  We like the low fat Greek style mix as it is versatile to use in cooking as well as eaten as a yogurt, usually with honey added in.  In a flash of inspiration, I decided to make a raspberry sauce for the yogurt.  I put the raspberries into a saucepan with some cold water and five (ish) teaspoons of icing sugar (depending how sweet a tooth you have) and then boiled it up, stirring it well.  I boiled it for about five minutes or so and let it cool slightly, before putting it through a sieve to remove the seeds.

As you can see, it has a beautiful colour and I can vouch for the fact that it tasted delicious!  It makes a really nice change from honey and it is a good way of using up the raspberries too.  Perfect!

"By George, I think she's got it!"

My third meringue - ever!  Fresh eggs, whisking until the egg whites are able to withstand being upside down over your head, baking parchment, really low heat (Gas mark half), baking for an hour and then turning off the oven and leaving it in overnight.  Following these guidelines, I managed to create a second successful pavlova as a 'welcome to the team' celebration for a colleague at work.

The meringue was crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle and again, I added a spoon of natural yogurt to the double cream (which made the cream so much healthier - well, I think it did!).  The raspberries were from a supermarket as mine hadn't produced enough, although the four I picked that morning were added to the top (slightly bigger and a bit darker in colour, if you'd like to play the fascinating game of 'hunt the home-grown raspberries').  The pavlova was very well received , so yes, in the words of Professor Higgins, "by George, I think she's got it!"

Addition:

Here's the recipe I used:
Serves 6
Ingredients:
3 large fresh egg whites
6 oz/175g caster sugar
Topping:
Small pot whipping or double cream (the recipe says 10 fl oz/275ml), whipped
Fruits of your choice
a little icing sugar to dust the top

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 2/300 degrees F, 150 degrees C.
Lightly oil a baking sheet and line with baking parchment (silicone paper)
1. Place the egg whites in a large clean bowl and have the sugar measured out ready.  Whisk the egg whites until they form peaks and you can turn the bowl upside down without them sliding out. (This is the secret to success I think!) However, it is important not to over whisk the egg whites as they may start to collapse.
2.  Whisk in the sugar, a tablespoon at a time.  The meringue should look shiny at this stage.  Spoon the meringue using a metal tablespoon onto the baking sheet, forming an 8 inch/20 cm diameter circle.  (This is where I added some piping around the edge, just to raise the edge up). You can spoon extra blobs around the edge or make the centre slightly lower than the edge.  Turn down the oven to Gas 1/275 degrees F/140 degrees C and leave to cook for one hour.  (I had to turn my oven down to gas mark a half - my oven is old and has no fan assisting or anything! I also needed to put the meringue on the bottom shelf.)
3.  Turn the heat right off but leave the pavlova inside the oven until completely cold.  It can be left in the turned off oven overnight so that it dries out completely.
4.  To serve, lift the meringue from the baking sheet and place it on a serving dish.  Just before serving, spread the cream on the top and arrange the fruit on top of the cream.  Sprinkle some icing sugar on the top if required.  Enjoy!

If it doesn't work quite as you hope the first time, I can recommend Eton Mess (crumbled up meringue, cream and fruit).  That's what I did with my first attempt!