my oven decided it would know longer be my minion and break on me, I felt a bit sad thinking oh no how am I going to bake, as I had a plan with these persimmon and pomegranate, I looked in the cupboard and found we had some left over meringues so I made these eton mess cups with them instead which ended up being lovely so I guess it shows that throwing stuff together at a moments notice is fine. the gas hob was still working (I have a built in oven and the hob is separate) so I was able to grill the persimmon with my griddle pan and make a syrup. I had made about 300 meringues two days before and sent them to my publisher to send out to the press with my book so I think that may be why the oven died, luckily its just a cheap one so it hasn’t cost much to replace and Its being delivered this week.

don’t you think persimmon and pomegranate are such beautiful fruit to look at?

makes 4

recipe

• approx. 6 meringues (I had meringue nests)
• 2 persimmon
• 1 pomegranate
• 200ml double cream
• 4 tbsp. black sesame seeds
• 4 tbsp. icing sugar
• 70g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp. water

First cut open the pomegranate I do this by making a cut in the top then tearing it open, remove the seeds and reserve some to sprinkle on the dessert and put the rest in a jelly bag, squeeze over a pan to remove the juice (careful it can get messy) then add the water and caster sugar and reduce until a syrup has formed and set aside to cool. then slice the persimmons and place in a lightly oiled (very hot) griddle pan and cook on both sides for 2 minutes each then cut up.

whip the cream with the icing sugar and black sesame seeds until thick, then crush the meringues and start building the eton mess, first add some meringue then add some cream, then some sliced persimmon and some pomegranate seeds then drizzle over some syrup and then start again adding some more of each item, to finish sprinkle on some more sesame seeds and pomegranate seeds and enjoy.