Franglais: Black Bruised Berry Meringue Mash

Black Bruised Berry Merginue Mash

There are times for frilly, doily-edged tarts.  For desserts that come after a meal and before you stop eating.  That is not what I want right now.

Now, I feel like something so naughty, I will grin about it and blush afterwards.  I want to throw caution to the wind, exchanging an extra pound for ten minutes of sweet, conscientiously and deliciously deliberate sweet tooth pleasure.  I don’t want to sit down with a fork and a tiny prim plate.  I want to stand in front of the fridge, not with a spoon, but with a ladle, and INDULGE.  Not because it’s after dinner.  Not because I’m hungry.  But because it’s too damn good to put down.

So I start with Eton Mess, than English dessert made from strawberries, cream, and crusted meringue.  And then I knock it around a little, turning it from strawberries and cream to the blue-purple-black of a bruise.  Blackberries and blueberries, instead of strawberries.  Crumbled meringues (for the requisite sweetness, crunch, and body).  And then whipped cream punched up with crème de cassis, black currant liqueur.  The juices of the berries start to run.  There is that little bite from the liquor.  The cream is fluffy and the meringues are fluffy.  You can make just this amount, and eat the whole thing, or quadruple it, and smash it into a trifle bowl.  The result is mayhem.  Whipped cream on your nose.  Berry juice on your clothes.  Bacchanalian diet disaster.

It’s so good.

This recipe and excerpt is from my weekly column Franglais at The Huffington Post.  Click here to get the whole story.