Brown sugar meringues with roasted rhubarb

It's been rough. Real rough.

I'm working my way out of a haze of (excuse the French) snot and sleep. Normally a cold, for me, goes something like this: sore throat for 24 hours, runny nose 48 hours and generally light crapiness for another 24. That's four days of illness, two days off work at the most. I've had six straight days now of intense Crapfest-3000 cold.

I've done it all: water, soup, chillies, ginger, garlic. I made chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, for god's sake. It didn't make a dent in my snot supply. Gross. Sorry. I'm just fed up.


I've neglected this space too. Any time I raised my head from the pillow, it was to make a meal. Then it was straight back to the bed/couch for more sleep/rom com action. Blogging was the last thing on my mind, much less baking.

So I decided to rouse my lazy ass and get back into recipe writing mode. This one's been hang around in the file for about a week now. (Hehehe, file!? Makes me sound organised. To clarify, I found it on my camera, not in a manilla folder somewhere on my non-existent desk) It's simple too: whisk some eggs and sugar, bake the fruit. Done.

There's not much in this world better than a meringue. Unless you count a brown sugar meringue. They're a little deeper in flavour, more caramelly, more intense. Rhubarb is tart and sweet all at once (like me on a Saturday night) and are a cracking match for this meringue. The orange rind just gives it all a nice twist at the end.

So, my friends, there's light at the end of the tunnel. I even ventured out of the house today. Without tissues as well! I'll get out of this funk in a jiffy and be back running laps of the streets in no time. Besides, those cakes won't bake themselves.

Ingredients

3/4 cup brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
pinch salt
1 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp allspice

300g rhubarb
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 orange

1 cup cream, whipped

Preheat oven to 150ºC. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Whisk the egg whites in a electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the brown sugar one tablespoon at a time. Add the caster sugar slowly and whisk for at least two minutes after the sugar has been incorporated.

Fold through the remaining ingredients carefully until no lumps remain. Spoon large heaps of the mix onto the baking paper. Bake for around 2 hours, or until the shell is firm to the touch. Remove and cool on the baking tray.

Increase oven to 200ºC. To prepare the rhubarb, remove all leaves. Trim the ends and slice into 10cm chunks. Place in a small baking dish and scatter over sugar. Grate the orange rind over the top. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until a sweet pink liquid forms around the stalks.

To serve, top the meringue with rhubarb and a giant dollop of cream.