Thursday, May 08, 2008

Coconut meringue with pomegrante, mascarpone & mint

Coconut meringues layered with pomegranate arils and mascarpone, drizzled with mint syrup

Not because at one Christmas party I brought over some coconut meringues, I wouldn't realize that our families (from New Jersey and New Hamsphire in the States) hadn't ever tasted home-made meringue, and coconut.

Egg white foam is baked under low heat for hours (depending the size), it turns out to be dry and feather-light meringue. Included spoonfuls of desiccated coconut in egg foam gives the meringue a good crunch, also makes people curious about the unexpected new taste; who would go for one more piece (and then more) in order to trace out its hidden aroma.

At the party all the meringues were practically devoured in minutes. To my delight, the ones who ate the most were kids and weight-watchers, who are usually hard to please in my experience. By the way, I must send a basket of coconut meringues to my landlady from time to time, oh well, she hadn't raised our rent for 5 years :) :)

Pour the candy to pomegranate arils. Some arils will fall after meeting the heat they shrink.

I learn pairing meringue with fruit and mint from a local food magazine, micocina - postres. I also follow its idea and make my meringue as thin as a disk. These "disks" actually melt in your mouth instantly! They keep well in air-tight container for a few days. If prepared ahead, such an elaborated presentation as the photos shown can be done in a minute.

Egg white foam at its soft-peak enable me to spread it thin. Since the following recipe yields many meringue "disks" and the oven couldn't bake them all at once; I whisked them to its hard-peak first. The first batch of "disks" were thick, but the second batch (after sitting for an hour the foam deflated a little bit) came out thin. Either way, they tasted good.

Recipe of coconut meringue with pomegranate, mascarpone & mint

You will need:

  1. pomegranate, please check Ann's video for how to take out the arils
  2. mascarpone
  3. mint syrup, I used store-bought
  4. coconut meringue, and its recipe as follows:

To make coconut meringue (yields about 5-cm disks, 50 - 60 pcs)

  • 2 egg whites
  • 90 g sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • a pinch of cream of tartar
  • 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut, unsweetened

how-to:

  • Pre-heat the oven to a low temperature, around 110C/225F (mine is a convection oven). Line two large baking trays with silicon baking paper
  • In a big dry, clean and grease-free mixing bowl, beat the egg whites for a minute, add salt and cream of tartar. Continue to whisk until it's close to soft-peak form, start to add sugar, little by little, and beat quickly. When it's almost to hard-peak foam, add coconut, combine well.
  • Spoon the meringue with a teaspoon on the baking paper, spread it to about 5 cm-diameter circle. No need to leave much space between circles as they don't spread during baking. Cover and send the left-over egg foam to the fridge.
  • Bake the meringue "disks" for about an hour or depending the power of your oven, rotate the trays once in the middle of baking. Take they out before they start turning brown. Repeat the same procedure to the left-over egg-foam.
  • To assemble the dessert : Right before you serve, layer the meringue "disks" with mascarpone and pomegranate arils, drizzle mint syrup to finish.

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24 comments:

Ginny said...

Gorgeous! What a fabulous and delicious presentation!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

What a delicious and refined dessert! Beautiful! A great choice of contrasting colors...

Cheers,

Rosa

indosungod said...

Looks like a work of art. Can only imagine how delicious that must taste.

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

As always, your photos look like beautiful sculpture.

Suganya said...

WOW!.... That was a wonderful post... Looks amazing..... Gorgeous dessert....Love it...

Mishmash ! said...

jewels on candy :)

Piccola said...

gorgeous~

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

That is amazing! So pretty but then red is my color!!

Revathi said...

Gattina, Every time you make an art out of food, I say all the superlatives that come to my mind, but yet every time I am just awed at your creations..

The pomegranate arils in the sugar syrup look soooooo glamarous !!

The preparation looks simple yet totally a different pedestal !!!

Cynthia said...

It is a pity we are so far apart, I would have hired you to do all the food styling for my book. Seriously.

Lore said...

It's good to see you're back and wow these photos made me realize why we missed you so much :). I love pomegranates and wish they were available all year long!

sher said...

Those pictures are exquisite! What a delight it must have been to have your visit and fix fabulous food like that. I love the colors and the textures in that dish.

Katie Zeller said...

Wow!!!
Is that ever gorgeous!
It's so damp here, I've never attempted meringue...
Mon mari would love having coconut in it...If I ever make them again..

Brilynn said...

Those are beautiful! And the feather light meringues sound amazing!

My Sweet & Saucy said...

This is amazing looking! I love the pomegrante sugar garnish!

Anonymous said...

what a incredible pastry! you're so creative and talented Gattina, i really applaud you.

Anonymous said...

What a stunning presentation!

Callipygia said...

I will definitely try this because I will be haunted by this ingenious combo if I don't! Candied pomegranates?! Amazing-

Anonymous said...

gattina, the pomegranate-clear sugar disks look AMAZING! so beautiful!!!

as per usual, of course.... ;)

Gattina Cheung said...

Ginny, oh thank you so much for your sweet words!

Rosa, we can't go wrong with pomegrante, can we :)

Indosungod, oh thanks... :D

Lydia, thanks for the compliement again :D

Sukanya, thank you very much!

Snh, the fruit does look like jewel, you are so right!

piccola, thank you!

Tanna, me too... we have our dinning room in red color :D

Revathi, thank you very much for the encouragement!

Cythnia, oh I am totally flattered, thank you!

Lore, oh you so sweet! I think we can freeze this fruit, may you like to check out Ann's (as the hightlight) to see how :D Yes, I miss you too!

Sher, thank you for the encouragement :D Not sure how you feel when you see more sweet stuff again after the 40 cupcakes, hehee.

Katie, come to think of it, I am very lucky in our latest relocations... both New Jersey and Barcelone have very low humidity most of the time.

Brilynn, thank you!

Sweet & Saucy, so lovely to have your visit!

Eliza, oh sweetie!!! You compliment means a whole world to me. Thank you :)

Ann, thank you very much!

Calli, to me each food in the combo relies on each other... creamy mascarpone "kills" the tartness of the fruit, the meringue sweetens up the creamy cheese, the mint adds sophistication... just wish I could draw pomegrante like you :)

Zoe, thank you very much!

cakewardrobe said...

I LOVEE your food art! It's too beautiful to be eaten!

Hetal said...

nice presentation,loved it...Visiting ur blog for the first time...nice recipes.Would love to see u on my blog.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely gorgeous! You don't create food - you create edible art!

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I like this recipe,it looks delicious. Nice presentation. Like it. Thanks for posting....