Autumn Eton Mess
This Autumn Eton Mess drifts between warmth and light — creamy, crisp, spiced and bright — representing the golden afternoons and the first chill of the season.
Equipment
- Sous vide (optional)
- vacuum machine
- 1 plastic vacuum bag
- 2 ovens
- 1 sheet of baking paper
Ingredients
- 200 ml whipping cream
- Monin Pumpkin Spice syrup to taste
- 400 g muscat pumpkin peeled and diced
- 1 tbsp honey
- Ground cinnamon
- 5 cardamom pods
- 40 g butter
- 2 oranges
- 1 star anise
- A pinch of dried chilli flakes
- 2 egg whites
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 30 g icing sugar
- ½ vanilla pod
- 8 chocolate acorns
- 8 chocolate leaves
- Atsina cress
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat one oven to 90°C and another to 200°C.
Meringue
- Separate two eggs and place the egg whites in a clean, grease-free mixing bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. (Two egg whites will give you more meringue than you need, but it's easier to work with than one. If you don't mind though, you can halve the quantities for the meringue.)
- Add 50 g granulated sugar and the seeds from ½ a vanilla pod, then beat again until the sugar has fully dissolved.
- Sift in 30 g icing sugar, fold it in gently first (to avoid a sugar storm), then beat again until smooth and glossy.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper. Using a piping bag, pipe small mounds of meringue onto the tray.
- Bake for about 2 hours at 90°C, or until the meringues lift easily from the paper. Keep the temperature below 100°C to maintain their bright white colour.
Pumpkin
- Place the diced pumpkin in a large oven dish, without stacking. Drizzle with 1 tbsp honey, dot with 20 g butter, scatter over the crushed cardamom pods, and dust lightly with cinnamon.
- Roast uncovered at 200°C for 30–40 minutes, until tender and caramelised at the edges.
Orange
- Meanwhile, prepare the oranges. If you don’t have a sous-vide machine, you can use a small saucepan instead (in which case just put the ingredients in the pan and warm at very low heat).
- Heat the sous-vide bath to 65°C.
- Peel the oranges and carefully cut the segments free from the membranes. Place the orange segments into a sous-vide bag with 20 g butter, a pinch of ground chilli, and the broken pieces of 1 star anise. Vacuum-seal the bag and place in the sous-vide bath for 30 minutes.
Whipped Cream
- Whip the cream with 1 tbsp sugar and a splash of Pumpkin Spice syrup — adjust to taste.
To Serve
- Spoon two generous dollops of cream onto each plate. Press the back of the spoon into the centre of each dollop and sweep slightly to create a soft base.
- Scatter over meringues, roasted pumpkin (remove the cardamom pods), orange segments (without star anise), and garnish each plate with two chocolate acorns and two chocolate leaves.
- Finish with delicate sprigs of Atsina cress for a subtle anise note and a touch of forest-like beauty.