Meringue and rhubarb-strawberry semifreddo torte

First there was the panna cotta phase, then there was the gelato phase. I fear I may now be entering my meringue phase. I love the way meringue mounds up and curls over.It really is a very sensual thing, all glossy and sweet and silky and creamy! I promise you'll have to stop yourself from eating this meringue raw  - it tastes just like the marshmallow fluff in a jar!

A few weeks ago, our office was participating in the annual Corporate Challenge event in our city. I was the team captain for the Scavenger Hunt and it seemed to me that 20% of the my office mates were doing about 90% of the work in collecting items for the hunt. In an effort to encourage more participation, I offered up, as a prize to the person who collected the most items, a dinner for four, pre-packaged, that they could serve in their own home and pass off as their own cooking should they choose to do so.

The dessert I made is based on the Rhubarb and Strawberry Vacherin Torte published on the Epicurious website. I followed the recipe fairly closely, which is unusual for me, so I won't reproduce it here, rather I will simply describe what I did differently.

Instead of making one large torte, I made several smaller ones, approximately 3 inches in diameter, crafting little substitutes for the spring-form pan out of aluminium foil. They took about the same amount of time to dry as the recipe gave for the larger ones, as they were fairly close together on the parchment.

I'm not particularly fond of piping meringue into perfect disks. That approach seems too contrived to me. I much prefer the more luscious, organic look you get when you drop a heap on the parchment and coax it into place with the back of a spoon, leaving little drooping peaks on each one.

A word to the wise - be careful about cooking meringues when it's humid. As soon as they are dry, package them up in a tightly sealed Tupperware or they will start to re-absorb the moisture from the air and will go all sticky again. It was pretty humid when I made this recipe, so I reduced the amount of sugar called for, as the more sugar is in the meringue, the more likely they are to sweat and go soft and sticky.

I seem incapable of making meringues in any colour other than pink. I have no idea why. It just seems the perfect complement to the fluffy, shiny meringue texture.

Comments

[J]

hi lyn
great picture! those look so dreamy and romantic...like pink clouds...

[Cathy]

That first photo is gorgeous! Looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting!

[Chocopie]

I'd like to dip in meringues very soft and sweety. It looks lovely and tasty.

[clare eats]

The meringues look much nicer pink!

So what do I have to do for you to cook me dinner? :):) lol

[Linda]

Wow, those look really amazing. I like the pink!

[mireille]

i have such fear of meringues ... and such desire to make a macaron before i die. it's just that is it SO humid in Seattle ...

[emily]

What a lovely idea. Our rhubarb plants are exploding and I was hoping to find something other than the strawberry-rhubarb pies and crisps. Your meringues look perfect.