Meringue tumble with rhubarb

Instructions

1. Step 1

   To make the meringue, heat the oven to 180°C, line two oven trays with baking paper

2. Step 2

   Weigh the 10 egg whites and weigh out double the amount of sugar (e.g. if you have 50g of egg whites, weigh out 100g of sugar). Whisk the whites until stiff in a scrupulously clean bowl and beat in half the sugar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, then fold in the second half of the sugar

3. Step 3

   Using a large tablespoon, spoon large dollops of the mix onto your prepared baking sheets, with plenty of room in between

4. Step 4

   Put into the oven, turn down to 120°C, and bake for 1 hour. The result is a delicately shelled meringue with a soft mallow interior. Don’t worry about any cracks – they will be concealed when the meringues are dressed

5. Step 5

   To make the lemon curd, put all the lemon curd ingredients in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Turn the heat up gently. Stir all the while as the butter melts and everything combines. Stir gently and frequently for 20-25 minutes, or until thick. Should the curd be on the thin side after this time, cook for a further 10 minutes or so. Set aside to cool

6. Step 6

   Preheat the oven to 180°C

7. Step 7

   Next, make the gooseberry compote. In the widest dish possible, or several if needs must, arrange the gooseberries in one layer. Spoon the sugar evenly over the fruit, cover the dish(es) tightly and bake for 35–40 minutes, checking from time to time they are not catching at the edges

8. Step 8

   Let the gooseberry compote cool, pass through a sieve and refrigerate. This keeps well for a fair few days

9. Step 9

   Next, make the rhubarb compote. Trim the rhubarb and slice into 6cm lengths, or thereabouts. Lay these side by side, but not touching, in a layer in a wide baking dish

10. Step 10

    Carefully grate the zest of the oranges, removing any excess pith. Peel and grate, or thinly slice, the ginger. Lay the zest and grated ginger onand around the rhubarb, with the vanilla pod

11. Step 11

    Juice the oranges and mix the juice with the sugar and the seeds scraped from the vanilla pod. Pour this over the rhubarb

12. Step 12

    Cover the dish tightly with foil and cook in the oven for 12–15 minutes, until tender. Once cooked, let cool undisturbed. Remove the vanilla pod before serving

13. Step 13

    Next, make the vanilla custard. Place the vanilla pod and seeds in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with the milk (if using vanilla extract, add this to the milk instead). Place over a gentle heat while the milk infuses, stirring from time to time

14. Step 14

    In a bowl mix the egg yolks and sugar together. Just as the milk comes to the boil, pour half on to the egg mix, stirring all the while. Pour this back into the remaining milk in the saucepan, and return to a gentle heat, stirring until the custard thickens

15. Step 15

    Remove from the heat and pour in the cold cream. Pour the custard through a sieve into a waiting bowl and stir for a few minutes until the steam disperses. Cool and refrigerate until needed

16. Step 16

    To assemble the pudding, carefully loosen the cooled meringues from the baking paper, and set aside. If serving individually, put a tablespoonful of custard, followed by a dollop of whipped cream on each plate. Put one of the cooled meringues in the middle, then top with further whipped cream, Jersey cream, liberal amounts of lemon curd, rhubarb and gooseberry compotes, a sprinkle of chopped pistachios and a dusting of icing sugar. Alternatively, you could create a glorious meringue tumble tower by stacking them on top of each other, interspersed with compotes, curd and cream