A recipe that began, as the best dishes do, with a trip to the market. “Strawberries, three punnets for a £1,” yelled the seller. End of the day, I filled my basket.

And walking home, ideas came thick and fast for my wealth of berries that needed eating up.

Resulting in this.

A good meringue has long eluded me. Always, they weep. Could this be the day? I’d recently seen a recipe that cut the caster sugar with powdered – this made sense to me as a good meringue is all about the timely absorption of sugar. Too often, I rush.

So once in the house, I dumped my basket and pulled out the mixer.

Here is the result. And the lemon curd? A thrifty use of egg yolks and ginger to double zing.

Source

4 large egg whites

115g caster sugar

115g icing sugar

Pinch of salt

*

Juice of two lemons

100g caster sugar

50g butter

4 large egg yolks

A thumb of fresh ginger, grated super fine

*

Double cream & a ton of strawberries to serve

Oven 100c fan, 1-2 lined baking trays.

Action

First, the meringue. Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with a small pinch of salt to help the proteins break down. Beat until standing in stiff peaks and then slowly – slowly – add the caster sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating a few turns in between to ensure absorbed in.

Add the icing sugar in thirds, through a sieve and gently fold in to combine.

Your mix will be looking thick, smooth and glossy. Drop scoop into portions on a lined tray and bake for up to 1 ½ hours, until crisp.

Whilst the meringues are baking and once you’ve had a cup of tea, make the curd.

Simply place the lemon juice, sugar and butter in a small pan over a low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the yolks and ginger and stir well to break the yolks.

Gently cook over a low to medium heat for up to ten minutes, (too hot - the eggs will scramble, too low – the curd won’t cook) and stir, stir, stir. Once the curd has thickened up, remove from the heat and pour into a clean jar.

When the meringues are cooled, serve with the curd, as many fresh strawberries as you can muster and softly whipped double cream.