Strawberries, Noodles and Sparkles!

21 Eton Mess
I made my first ever Eton this Summer, and it was quickly followed by another. When my Mum saw Nigella’s variation in TV, she requested it, so here it is. Nigella’s slight spin on the original is to mix the strawberries with sugar and pomegranate juice, I upped the pomegranate a bit (a splosh more) to make the strawberries more juicy, and the juice made it a more perfumed pudding. This is the first time I’ve bought pomegranate juice, and it’s lovely, it tastes to me how I want a watermelon to taste, but never does. A new juice for the fridge!

22 Sesame Peanut Noodles
This is meant to be an on-the-run from-a-box kind of packed lunch. Noodles, raw mangetout, pepper, and spring onions, beansprouts, coriander and sesame seeds bound with a gorgeous dressing of sesame oil, garlic oil, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice and peanut butter. I made it for lunch at home one day, and we liked it. I was a little spooked by the cold noodles, (just a little, not enough no to eat it though!) and I’d try this again but with hot noodles for immediate hot eating. The dressing was so good on it’s own, and for anyone who has Nigella’s book Feast, it would be better than the bang bang dressing in the bang bang turkey recipe in there, in my chilli shy opinion that is =). This one is not nearly so fiery, just a bit of chilli taste, and a lot of Asian inspired savoury goodness. Or just use it anywhere a satay type sauce is needed, it was really good with the raw mangetout just dipped into it.

23 Marshmallow Crispy Squares
I have a regular crispy square that I make, and in reality it still hold a lot of appeal for me as an adult. My one has some toffees in it as well as marshmallows. This one is straight marshmallows with butter and rice crispies. These are from the Holiday Snaps chapter of Nigella Express, and Nigella dresses them up with some edible glitter. It make them so beautiful, now you might think I’m exageratting – crispie squares beautiful? Try it and see, both children and adults couldn’t resist the shiny edible glitter, this I will definitely be making an appearance at my little ones birthday party. You can see the glitter in the pictures, but in real life they are even glitzier and you can see millions of sparkles, well a lot anyway =)

Eton Mess from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson.
500g strawberries
2 teaspoons caster or vanilla sugar
2 teaspoons pomegranate juice
500ml whipping cream
4 x meringue nests from a packet, broken up

Chop the berries and place in a bowl with the sugar and juice. (I used extra juice)
Whip the cream to thick but still soft, fold in the meringues. Reserve a ladle full of the berries and juice, then fold the rest into the meringue cream. Spoon into serving glasses / bowls and top each with some of the reserved strawberries and juice. Serves 4. (I'd say 4 - 6)