meringues

Preheat your oven to 100°C fan/120°C/250°F/gas mark ½ and bring a pan of water to a simmer.
Put all the ingredients in a heatproof bowl and place it over the steaming water.
Whisk gently until the sugar has fully dissolved.
Check by rubbing some of the mixture between your thumb and index finger – if you can feel the sugar granules, continue whisking.
This process shouldn’t take very long, perhaps 2 minutes, but will result in beautiful, glossy meringues. Just the ticket.
Transfer the egg white mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and beat on high speed until you achieve stiff peaks.
Dollop spoonfuls of the meringue onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake until you can lift them cleanly off the tray – this should take approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.
Allow the meringues to cool on the tray, then box them up in an airtight container until you want to use them. They will keep like this for a long time.

poached rhubarb

Preheat your oven to 140°C fan/160°C/325°F/gas mark 3.
Mix half of the sugar with the rhubarb and allow it to macerate for at least 1 hour.
Put the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 2 minutes to bring it all together. Strain the syrup of the orange peel but
leave the vanilla pod.
Pour the syrup over the rhubarb and put a sheet of baking paper over the top.
Bake the rhubarb until tender, approximately 10–12 minutes, depending on your oven.
It’s visually lovely if the rhubarb holds its shape, but as we’re mixing it with
cream and meringue, if it has broken down, that’s also fine.

whipped cream

Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to soft peaks.
Adding milk and salt to the cream makes a Chantilly that’s a lot like Mr. Whippy ice cream.

serving

Break the meringues into generous chunks and put them in a mixing bowl.
Fold in the cream and three-quarters of the hot pink rhubarb, along with some of the juice.
Gently bring it all together, marbling the rhubarb through the cream just enough so that the flavours meld but the colours remain distinct.
Plate individually or on a platter for sharing.
Finish with any leftover meringue, top with the remaining rhubarb and drizzle with rhubarb juices. A big mess is definitely the way to go.