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Showing posts from May, 2012

ANISEED MERINGUES

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Anise is one of those flavours that divides people, like Marmite, peanut butter, liquorice, and gin. As Niki Segnit says of anise in her excellent and fascinating book The Flavour Thesaurus , "It's a very combinable flavour, equally successful in sweet or savoury dishes, and gets on famously with seafood and sharp fruit". While planning a quick and easy pudding for supper on Saturday night (all of which had to be prepared in advance because I was playing in a piano salon at London's Steinway Hall on Saturday afternoon), I recalled a recipe for aniseed meringues. I've always liked the flavour of anise (less so liquorice, though Laduree's liquorice macaroons are divine), and I had a feeling it would go well with the sweet crunch of meringues and the sharpness of fresh strawberries.  Meringues are stupidly easy to make, yet they are veiled in mystique for many cooks. You need only two ingredients - sugar and egg whites - which you are likely to have in your