5 Ingredients, an Urban Family series where we sit down with a Shanghai-based chef and ask for a family-friendly meal using 5 Ingredients easily found in Shanghai; let us help you start the week with a simple five-step recipe!
This week Kim Melvin, Executive Pastry Chef at Commune Social, shares her Eton mess recipe. Born in South Africa, Kim took to hospitality at a young age and trained at Zevenwacht Chef School and the Christina Martin School of Food and Wine. Kim used her skills in restaurants around Cape Town before expanding her career to London. She worked at Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill before moving to Shanghai in 2010 to open and run the dessert bar at Commune Social.
What dish are you helping us prepare this week?
I’m going to teach you Eton mess. My husband Scott Melvin, Executive Chef at Commune Social, is from the UK and I was introduced to this dish when I worked in London many years ago. We have a young daughter who has a sweet tooth, just like her mom, so she enjoys this dessert very much. It’s a simple, quick, crowd-pleasing dessert that anyone can make.
What five ingredients do we need?
Sugar: 130 grams icing sugar, 100 grams castor sugar, 50 grams white sugar
100 grams egg whites
400 grams cream
100 grams raspberries
1 vanilla pod
What is the five-step recipe?
1. The crispy meringue can be made in advance. Using an electric mixer, whisk 100 grams egg whites until white and fluffy with a firm peak. Continue whisking, slowly adding 100 grams castor sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved and the mix has a shine, stop whisking and use a spatula to fold in 100 grams icing sugar.
2. Spread the mixture over baking paper and oven bake at 50 degrees Celsius for approximately 8 hours, or until the meringue has become crispy. A higher temperature can be used, however keeping the temperature low will ensure a very white meringue. To avoid the oven from overheating, a wooden spoon can be used to keep the door slightly ajar. Once the meringue is baked, allow to cool and then keep in an airtight container for up to one week. When ready to serve crush with your hands into big pieces.
3. The raspberry sauce is made by mixing together 100 grams raspberries, 50 grams white sugar and 50 grams water in a small sauce pan and cooking until the raspberries have softened. Use a hand blender to puree, or you can push through a fine sieve. I like to keep the raspberry seeds in mine to create texture.
4. Make the Chantilly cream with 400 grams cream, 30 grams icing sugar and the seeds from one vanilla pod. Whisk together with an electric mixer until you have a firm peak.
5. To assemble, layer all the ingredients. Have fun with it and get the kids involved. I like to keep a few halved raspberries aside, to place on the top for garnish.
What’s your advice on your dish of the week?
To save time, you can always buy pre-made meringue from the supermarket and use vanilla essence if you cannot find a vanilla pod.
Be sure to only assemble this dessert when you are ready to serve it, or you can place all the ingredients in the centre of the table to create a fun DIY dessert for the family.
You can experiment with different flavors such as strawberries, bananas and pineapples.
Tell us something that’s happening in your restaurant at the moment, that our Urban Family community can enjoy.
We have just launched our 6pm-7pm early dinner menu, RMB488 for a six-course sharing menu, with a great bottle of wine. Come and take advantage of this for a quick date night before heading home after work.
See listing for Commune Social.
For more 5 Ingredients recipes, click here.
