Eton Mess-- An English dessert of Meringue, Cream and Strawberries

MAKE MERINGUES

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 275

In a large bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks, slowly add sugar, and salt and beat until stiff, add vanilla and beat in. Place 4 mounda of meringue on parchment paper. Smooth out into 1/4 inch rounds leaving a bit of space between them. Bake 1 hour, turn off oven keep door closed and leave until oven is cold, at least 2 hours. Remove from oven, cut between parchment keeping parchment attached and store in air tight containers. (keeping the parchment attached will keep the meringues from breaking until needed). This can be done up to 4 days in advance.

MAKE BERRIES

Place 3/4 of the strawberries in a blender and puree, strain out seeds, add 1/4 cup sugar to them, chill.

Combine remaing sliced strawberries and blueberries in a bowl, add remaing 1/4 cup sugar and let sit to extract juice than chill.

The berries can be prepared a day in advance

FOR WHIPPED CREAM

In a small heatproof bowl add 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water, add gelatin, soften 1 minute than place in a pan of simmering water just until dissolved and clear, remove to use while still liquid.

In a chilled bowl, whip cream to soft peaks add confectioners sugar, vanilla and liquid gelatin, beat until stiff.

Add about 1/4 cup of strawberrie puree and fold just to make a streaky look. Chill, because of the gelatin this whipped cream is stable abd should las a day or two.

TO ASSEMBLE ETON MESS

Right before serving, remive meringue from parchment, break into bite size pieces. Place in serving glass add some of the strawberrie blueberrie mix and some whipped cream and very gently fold, top with a bit more whipped cream, garnish with chocolate shavings and pieces of meringue.