Eton Mess

This was one of the first things I made for my lovely girlfriend, Lizzie, and one of the first desserts I've ever made. She inspired me to create this blog, and helps me tremendously with advice and by being my personal taste guinea pig/photographer :D

She was the one who requested I make an Eton mess, and I duly met the challenge with aplomb! Having never made one before, she told me how to go about it, and so really and truthfully this is her meal, not mine.

Eton messes are very simple, very tasty desserts that require essentially no cooking whatsoever. (Unless you want to bake your own meringues, which I did not). They're very tasty, and provide a wonderfully refreshing treat on a summer's evening, perhaps after a barbeque!

Ingredients:

2 meringue cases

300ml double cream

Packet each of strawberries, black currents and raspberries

1 tsp of lemon juice

About 3 tbsp worth of sugar

Method:

1. The first thing you want to do, is whip the cream. So pour this into a bowl and start whisking briskly, until the cream is thick in consistency and has about doubled in size.

2. Simply break apart the meringue cases into large chunks, and fold them gently into the cream mixture, along with half of the fruit.

3. To create the berry coulis, halve the strawberries, and put them, the black currents, the raspberries, the lemon juice and the sugar in a blender until a vibrant and aromatic sauce is created.

4. Using a sieve, separate the juice from the left over seeds etc., and finally place the cream mixture in a bowl to serve, and drizzle the coulis over the top to finish.

For a more 'mature' version, a tasty addition is a small amount of port or even a berry flavoured liqueur such as Chambourd for added kick.

If you are interested in making your own meringues, then the BBC Food site has various recipes for you to peruse at leisure.

Hope you give this a go, and good luck! Let me know how it goes!

Thanks, Tom!

Pizza-tortillas

Right so this is my first recipe post on here, and I thought I'd start with something simple, which anyone can do and be creative with.

As the name suggests, this dish uses tortilla wraps as a perfect base for pizzas, made in a flash! All you need is two tortilla wraps, some tomatoes, some cheese, and a few herbs and you can make a simple but tasty snack that can be adapted according to your own tastes. All made in less time than it takes to call a pizza place and have it delivered!

Ingredients for the pizza:
2 tortilla wraps
2 tomatoes - chopped (preferably skinned as well)
1 tbsp tomato puree
Half a small onion - chopped
Handful of grated cheddar cheese, or a few slices of mozzarella
Garlic clove (crushed)
Basil (dried or fresh)

Toppings:
You don't need me to tell you what toppings to put on a pizza, but some ideas...
Ham, mushroom, bacon, chicken, sausage etc etc.

Method:
1. First things first, in order to skin the tomatoes, make a couple of cuts on the top to create an X, and put them in a bowl of boiling water. This will loosen the skin from the flesh, and you can then peel the skins off after about 20 seconds.
2. Heat a small amount (1 tbsp) of oil in a pan, and chop the onion, and fry this and the garlic off until softened.
3. Chop the tomatoes and add these to the pan along with the puree, and allow this to simmer on a medium heat.
4. To finish the sauce, chop some fresh basil and add this (or the dried variety) to the pan.

(At this point, I then put the sauce in a blender to produce a thinner sauce, however this is not necessary and is merely a personal preference).
5. With the sauce complete, place the two tortillas together and cover the top with the sauce, leaving about a centimetre around the edge. Add whatever toppings you like, and sprinkle the cheese over the pizza.
6. Finally, put the pizza-tortillas in a pre-heated oven (200C/392F/Gas Mark 6) for about 5-10 minutes, until the edges of the bread have become crispy.

This snack is great for kids and as a quick treat for anyone, and is much more healthy than the usual take out pizza! Why not experiment with a BBQ sauce base, or for those more adventurous, why not take a look at Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Sauce to jazz up this treat with a Caribbean-style twist.