Apple meringue pudding

Apple pie is part of Irish food tradition and over the years meringue in some shape or form has found it’s way to our table. Putting apple and meringue together is so perfect and this makes for a very quick but impressive dessert.

1 Heat the oven at 50 ºC (gas mark ½ ).

2 Peel, core and chop the apples.

3 Melt the butter in a large pan. Cover and simmer gently until there is about an inch of juice in the pan, then turn up the heat until the apples are cooked. They won't burn if the heat is low enough to start with: water is to be avoided.

4 Season with sugar and cinnamon or cloves. Give the mixture a good mash with a fork or potato masher.

5 Spread the purée into a shallow ovenproof serving dish and leave to cool.

6 To make the meringue, beat the egg whites until stiff. If you have a machine to do this, use it.

7 In the meantime, mix the sugar and cornflour together, give it a sieve if needed. Add it to the beaten egg white with the vinegar and give it all a good fold in.

8 Pile the meringue on top of the apple, keeping the meringue thin at the edges as it will spread a little while cooking. Stick the almonds all over the meringue. for 1- 1¼ hours. If the meringue could be browner at the end of this time, turn the heat up a little.

9 Remove from the oven, and serve warm or cold with cream.