Ok. Eton mess in Autumn doesn’t sound a seasonal appropriate dessert but .. we live in Queensland, Australia and it’s warm still.
British Eton mess is one of those luscious desserts which is so easy and is basically a messy pavlova all piled up in a bowl with whatever fruit you like, although traditionally, Summer strawberries are used. Along with the usual cool and thick cream and crispy yet chewy sweetness of the meringue, I added tart, syrupy kiwi fruit with little pomegranate jewels scattered throughout.
And meringues are surprisingly easy to make! They take a little while but are pretty much fool proof, who’d have thought it?! I always thought of them as being a bit complicated for some reason. Anyway, you get a lot of bang for your buck with this dessert, it’s low maintenance to put together but very whimsical and pretty and tastes wonderful.
And now on to serious business; removing the pomegranate seeds. Officially we’re supposed to tap the base of each pomegranate half over a board. I have to admit, despite watching Nigella do this effortlessly I find it difficult and it never works, for me at least.
I used to cut the pomegranate in half then in pieces and removed the seeds by turning the pieces of the pomegranate skin inside out and plucking the seeds out by hand. This still resulted in flinging a few of them across the kitchen by accident not to mention the juice going everywhere, looking like a scene in a horror movie and staining clothing.
Another option is to remove the seeds underwater which I’ve just started doing and this has worked really well – click for a good how-to link. And – wear an apron or some other protection!
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