Summer is here in Australia, we are blessed with long balmy days, sun kissed skin, holiday happiness and the most amazing seasonal fruit. We are spoilt for choices across the country, with a vast array of almost every fruit you can imagine.

Summer fruit

• Stone fruit – apricot, nectarines, plums, peaches
• Bananas
• Berries – blueberries & strawberries
• Grapes
• Cherries
• Mango
• Watermelon
• Rockmelon
• Oranges
• Passionfruit
• Pineapple

With Christmas literally just around the corner, everyone is in hustle mode: planning for the festive season, what to cook for Christmas eve, lunch and dinner. While we have dessert on the mind, and what better way to put our favourite fruits on the menu!

This super easy, thrown together English dessert is pretty much heaven in a bowl. It is a little naught, yet it is the perfect summer dessert, of crumbled meringue, softly whipped cream topped with marinated, in season berries.

The beauty of this delicate dessert is in its simplicity.

In our recipe, we’ve used raspberries and strawberries, yet this dessert is open to flavour variations, so be creative and use whatever fruit is in season at the time I also love to use mango, passionfruit or stone fruit, however, the choices are endless.

Whether your Eton mess is folded or layered, when all the elements are piled high in a beautiful glass serving bowl, this classic dessert makes the perfect sweet finish for summer entertaining.

Now some may be a little afraid of this dish, purely due to the meringues, but there are a few little tricks when it comes to making a meringue:

• The 1^st tip is patience
• I like to use room temp eggs
• When beating the eggs, be sure that you beat until mixture is glossy and that you have super firm, stiff peaks when you remove the beater from the mixer. Don’t be afraid to mix a little longer if it appears too soft.
• To ensure a perfect crisp crust, always leave them to cool in the oven after baking.

Meringues can be prepped in advance: they’ll keep for a few days stored in an airtight container.

Prep time 35 minutes

Cooking time 50 mins

Serves 10

Ingredients

110g (½ cup) caster sugar

200 ml thickened cream, lightly whisked

125g crème fraîche

55g (½ cup) pure icing sugar, sieved

Scraped seeds of ½ vanilla bean

125g raspberries

750g strawberries, quartered, plus extra to serve

Meringues

100g egg white (about 3 eggs)

100g caster sugar

100g pure icing sugar, sieved

15g cornflour

Method

1. For meringues, preheat oven to 120C. Whisk egg white and a pinch of salt in an electric mixer until firm peaks form (3-4 minutes). With motor running, gradually add caster sugar and whisk until thick and glossy (2-3 minutes). Sieve icing sugar and cornflour over, fold to combine, then spoon 8cm-diameter mounds onto oven trays lined with baking paper. Bake until meringues lift easily from trays and are crisp but not coloured (45-50 minutes), then turn off oven and cool completely in oven.

2. Meanwhile, toss strawberries and caster sugar in a large bowl to combine, then set aside until juices begin to seep (20 minutes).

3. Whisk cream, crème fraîche, icing sugar and vanilla seeds together in a separate large bowl until soft peaks form. Scatter a quarter of the strawberries in the base of a 3-litre serving bowl, spread with a quarter of the cream mixture, and coarsely crumble a quarter of the meringue over the top. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients.

4.Scatter Eton mess with raspberries and extra strawberries and serve.

nutritional value

PROTEIN: 23G FAT: 129G CARBS: 433G

• Approx 2991kcal – Based off whole dish
• Approx 299 kcal – When divided between 10 serves

HIGH IN

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin A
• B2
• Manganese

Take aways

No matter what time of the year it is, when you choose to eat the food which is seasonally grown, you absolutely will not regret it! Seasonal produce is fresh, it last longer due to it being grown and picked in a timely manner, and your taste buds will ignite with every bite!

Food is more than just calories and nutrition, food creates memories, it brings you back to times spent with family, it brings you back to joy and festivities, what ever you cook this Christmas, it will be memorable for both you and your loved ones.

Have fun in the process and don’t take it too seriously.

We at Kin, love to immerse ourselves in the seasons and purchase our produce from our local farmers market, but if you don’t have a market close by, your grocery store will have a beautiful array of seasonal produce available for you and your family.

Happy festive season

Much love, your KIN family x