You need
four egg whites
250 gr sugar
a pinch of salt
one tsp of cornflour
250 ml double cream
a punnet of strawberries
one tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1.5 tablespoons icing sugar
Beat the egg whites with the salt for a few minutes (with an electric mixer or by hand) until they form hard peaks. add the sugar - one spoonful at a time while you keep beating. Sprinkle the cornflour on top and fold them carefully over the egg whites. Draw a circle on a piece of baking paper and pile up the mixture on top of it. Bake it on a preheated over at 180 degrees. As soon as you put the egg whites in the oven turn it down to 150 degrees. After an hour more or less just open the door of the oven and let it cool down completely ( preferably overnight)
Invert the meringue pavlova over a plate. Whip the cream and pile it on top. marinate the strawberries for 20 minutes with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1.5 tablespoons of icing sugar. Put the strawberries on top of the cream. You can also do this with many other fruits; raspberries, nectarines, blueberries, etc.
Preparing this with the kids is fun. They love piling up the cream and the fruit and they could hardly keep their hands off the meringue. They really like seeing how the eggs change in colour and texture - I failed to be able to answer all their questions as to why they go from runny liquid to hard foam and then crunchy (yet marshmallowy) meringue but I promised them I will update my physics for the next time we try this.
