Soft meringues on berry coulis recipe

The sweet and sugary soft meringues are the perfect contrast to the sharp and fruit sauce. 

This is one of our favourite puddings to make, especially when strawberries are in season and they taste their best. The meringues are soft and fluffy - much easier to make that traditional baked meringues which cook in the oven for a long time at a very low temperature. You'll probably find your guests haven't tried soft meringues before, but we find they always go down a treat. Outside of strawberry season, you can use frozen ones to make the recipe - they taste just as good, and usually better than fresh, imported strawberries, which can be a little flavourless. It's a great option for a romantic dinner in. 

Ingredients

• 300g strawberries
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• Juice of 1 lime, to taste
• 2 med egg whites
• 125g caster sugar
• 300ml milk
• 90g granulated sugar

Method

1. To make the coulis: put about 250g of the strawberries, the icing sugar and lime juice in a blender and whizz until mixed. Push the mixture through a sieve to make a smooth sauce. Finely chop the rest of the strawberries and set aside in a small bowl.
2. To make the meringues: Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl to soft peaks, then gradually whisk in the sugar until soft, shiny and fairly stiff.
3. Pour the milk into a shallow pan and bring to a simmer. Put dessertspoonfuls of meringue mix into the milk and gently poach for 2 mins. Flip them over and poach for 1-2 mins, until spongy. Do this in 2 or 3 batches. Put them on a flat plate, while you cook the rest.
4. To make the sauce: Put the sugar in a pan over a high heat, shaking it occasionally, so the sugar melts to a deep amber. Take off the heat, add 2 tbsp cold water to stop it cooking, then put back on a low heat to let the caramel dissolve again.
5. Pour the coulis into 4 shallow plates. Place 3 meringues on each plate, add chopped berries, then drizzle with caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Top tip for making soft meringues on berry coulis

These meringues are easy to make, so don't worry about making them from scratch. Still, if you want to save time, you could use small, shop bought ones: the ones about the size of a golf ball. Mini meringues and classic meringue nests will not work as well.

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