Vacherin with seasonal fruit

This is my second recipe from 

Stéphane Reynaud’s 365 Good Reasons to Sit down to Eat book, as part of the 365 challenge. This was suppose

d to be made on the 15 July, but is rather belated (again) because I’ve been inundated with lots of work and haven’t been able to blog as much as I would have liked although I still am baking quite a bit.

Anyway, I 

first chose this recipe without knowing much of what it was. In fact, I had heard of a cheese by this name, 

but never knew th

at "vacherin with seasonal fruit" meant meringues with fruit. Of course, I have since rectified this by ordering vacherin desserts at some of the French establishments I visited here and there, so I now have 

quite a good idea of what a vacherin tastes like, and the different ways you can plate it. 

A vacherin (pronounced as vash-ran) is basically a dess

ert consisting of meringue shells, layered with whip

ped cream, ice cream, fruit, etc. It's a classic French dessert and this vacherin is no different. Reynaud called for a vacherin with all of the above actually, but since I didn't have a fruit sorbet complimenting the fruit in the vacherin, I decided against it and had crushed meringues with fruit and whipped cream instead :]

As for seasonal fruit, well berries are in season now, but since most of them are expensive, I decided to go with strawberries as well as a local fruit, the mango. Mangoes are in season now, together with durians, rambutans and mangosteens, but I decided to get myself a Malaysian mango. It's slightly greener than its Thai or Indian counterparts, and tastes slightly different from them too. A little astringent is what I would describe it. I thought the mango was sufficiently sweet, as I often find Indian mangoes a tad too sweet. 

***

Note: This is the exact recipe from the book. I found it rather vague, so please read comments below for some of my modifications. 

Vacherin with seasonal fruit 
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves 6 

800g fresh fruit
Juice of 1 lime
Fruit liquer (use the same as the fresh fruit)
3 store-bought meringues
300ml whipping cream
100g sugar
Fruit sorbet 

Method: 

1. Cut all the fresh fruit into cubes, puree half of it with the lime juice and the liquer. 
2. Crush the merigues, whip the cream into a chantilly with the sugar. 
3. In glasses, arrange layers of fruit, coulis, meringue, chantilly and finish with a scoop of sorbet.

Janine's jots: 

• General comments: As store-bought meringues are not easily available here (I doubt they even are), I made my own meringues by using a recipe from Donna Hay. Please see below for recipe. Also, to make the chantilly, whip the cream using a mixer and gradually add in the sugar, whipping until soft peaks are achieved.  
• Taste: I found the dessert a tad too sweet and I'll definitely be reducing the amount of sugar used in the chantilly. 
• Texture: I liked how the crispness of the meringues contrasted with the sweetness of the chantilly and the tartness of the fruits. The different textures melded really well. I can imagine how wonderful the vacherin will taste with an additional scoop of sorbet on top! Ps, apple sorbet with diced poached apples work really well (I had that in a French bistro!) :]
• Serving size: As you can see in the pictures, 1 meringue disc, 1 strawberry and some mangoes actually formed 3 layers in my tiny vacherin. I poured the whipped cream in between these layers, alternating with the pureed fruit and repeated the layers. Do halve the recipe as this recipe will produce a lot of vacherins!
• Storage: The meringues store pretty well at room temperature - be sure to store them in an air-tight container and they should last for a week before turning soft. Once you have assembled the vacherin, do consume it immediately as it does not keep well - the meringues will soften because of the liquid in the dessert. 

Part of the components of the vacherin.

Half a vacherin serving, sans the sorbet.

*Note: The Aussies and Kiwis call this a pavlova, but it's basically the same thing, meringues with whipped cream (or chantilly if you must) and fruit. This recipe produces 10 fist-sized meringue discs, which is perfect for 2-3 servings of vacherin above. 

Pavlova

Adapted from Evan who adapted it from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2

2 egg whites

80g caster sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp white vinegar

Red food coloring 

Method: 

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in the vanilla extract and fold in the cornstarch and vinegar. Whip until you get soft shiny peaks. 
2. Using a spatula, dollop the meringue onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. To create colored swirls, dip a toothpick into red coloring and swirl it into the meringue. 
3. Bake the meringues in a preheated oven of 120C for 50-60 minutes and leave the meringue in the oven to cool. 

I really enjoyed making this, as it meant stepping out of what I was comfortable with and exploring new foods. The meringue recipe is a keeper as it does produce meringues which are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside - in essence, the perfect meringue. I can imagine all the other things I could do with this meringue recipe - Eton's Mess is something else that comes to mind that is really very similar to a vacherin. Anyway, if you're interested in what other dishes the other cooks are whipping up in their kitchen, do head down to Murdoch Books’ 365 Challenge Blog to have a look!