Mena Mess with rose water, pomogranate molasses & pistachio

Mena Mess

with rose water, pomegranate molasses & pistachio

Serves 8

3,5 hours

Oven 100 'C

Nice challenge

Derived from the Eton mess, this is the Middle Eastern – North African variant! So, first of all. Don’t be afraid of the time to make this dish, because most of the time you can just watch the meringue chilling in the oven. And mostly, it will be absolutely worth it! Not the right time of year for figs or plums? Just use any type of fruit you can get your hands on. All sorts of berries and stone-fruits go particularly well.

Ingredients

4 egg whites 

200 g white icing sugar or caster sugar

80 gr pistachios

250 ml fresh full fat cream, cooled

2 teaspoons rose water

2 to 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

6 fresh figs

3 fresh plums or apricots

Mena Mess with rose water, pomogranate molasses & pistachio

Method

Preheat the oven to 100 ‘C and cover a baking tray with some parchment paper. Make sure to have a clean bowl for whisking the egg whites. Use a electric mixer if you have one, otherwise see it as a nice exercise. Start by whisking the egg whites for a good minute on high speed until bubbles start to form. Then start to add the sugar gradually, spoon by spoon. Continue whisking until you have stiff peaks. In a dry pan, shortly toast the pistachios, then chop up. Add half of it to the meringue mix, together with a good pinch of salt. Yes, salt. Spread the meringue (2 to 3 cm thick) on the baking tray covered with parchment paper and garnish with the remaining pistachios. Place in the oven for 3 hours, and let it cool down afterwards. 

Before serving, whisk up the cream in a bowl. As soon as you have the right thickness of whipped cream, add the rose water and pomegranate molasses. Optionally, add a bit of icing sugar according to your taste. Mix everything gently with a spatula. 

Slice up the fresh fruit and serve up by spooning a bit of the cream on bottom of the plate. Break off some peaces of the meringue and stick it in the cream. Drizzle over a little bit more of pomegranate molasses and finish off with the fruit. Cheers!