Basic meringue (from Cook with Jamie)

serves 6-8

 6 large free-range or organic egg whites
300g/10½oz caster sugar
a pinch of salt

 Preheat your oven to 150°C/300°F/gas 2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Put your egg whites into a bowl, making sure there are absolutely no little pieces of egg shell or egg yolk in them. Whisk on medium until the whites form firm peaks. You’ll know that it’s thick enough if you can hold the bowl upside down over your head – in 15 years of cooking it’s only fallen on my head once!

With your mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and the pinch of salt. Turn the mixer up to the highest setting and whisk for about 7 or 8 minutes until the meringue mixture is deliciously white and glossy. Dip your finger in the meringue and rub the mixture between your thumb and index finger. It should feel perfectly smooth. If it feels at all grainy, whisk for a little bit longer. Keep a close eye on the meringue, because if you whisk it for too long, it will collapse.

It’s at this point that you can gently fold in one of the flavours from the list below if you fancy. Personally, I quite like to eat a meringue that has a secret extra flavour added to it, especially when it’s so subtle that you end up kicking yourself trying to work out what it is! Choose one of the following:

• a good pinch of saffron
• zest of 2 oranges
• a handful of pistachio nuts, bashed
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• zest of 3 lemons
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
• 2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly toasted and crushed

Spoon your plain or flavoured meringue mixture on to the prepared baking tray, either in one big blob or several smaller ones, leaving a bit of space between them. Dab them with the bottom of your spoon so you get wispy bits coming up from the surface of the meringue. Pop the baking tray into the oven for around an hour, until the meringues are crisp on the outside and chewy and a little gooey in the middle.

“Jamie’s recipes are taken from the following books by Jamie Oliver and published by Michael Joseph; Jamie’s Italy. Copyright © Jamie Oliver 2005; Photographs copyright © David Loftus 2005; Cook with Jamie. Copyright © Jamie Oliver 2006; Photographs copyright © David Loftus 2006; and Jamie At Home. Copyright © Jamie Oliver 2007; Photographs copyright © David Loftus 2007