Egg Whites

One of hubby's favourite meals to make (and eat) is Pasta Carbonara. If you've never made this before, it involves a lot of egg yolks, and we are left with a mess load of egg whites that I never remember to use for anything. Last Sunday we had "cheesy pasta with peas and bacon" (as my oldest calls it) again and I was determined to use the egg whites in something other than an omelet. I went to eatingwell.com for some inspiration, and found some really yummy recipes to try.

The first was a Red Onion and Goat Cheese Pancake. As the recipe header says, it's like a savoury German pancake (or as we called it growing up, a Popeye pancake). It was really good, especially with the balsamic honey syrup. You could probably substitute the eggs whites for one large egg instead.

We watch a lot of cooking shows here in the UK, and the professionals are always making souffles. Of course they make everything look easy, but the souffles really did look doable. I found some small ramekins and thought I'd give a souffle a try. I made the Broccoli and Goat Cheese Souffle, but instead of having 10 ounce ramekins, mine were only about 3 oz. So, I did my best to 1/4 the recipe adjusting the sauce (pre-egg white) to taste. They were actually really easy to make, and turned out great. I was surprised at how light they were (first time eating a souffle as well). I will definitely have to try another souffle soon (maybe a sweet one next time). I would recommend using larger ramekins though, as you don't get much out of a 3 oz one.

I still had some egg whites left, so I tried my hand at making meringues. I didn't use a recipe, I just whipped the egg whites until soft peaks formed, added some sugar, and then a little cream of tartar, and whipped until the egg whites were glossy and stiff peaks formed. I was being lazy, and just spread the meringue out on baking paper on a baking sheet, and baked in a warm oven until cooked through. I then turned to oven off and let them rest in the residual heat for at least an hour or overnight until they were crisp. The next day I broke up the meringue into pieces and used it in an Eton Mess. An Eton Mess is an English pudding that is traditionally served with Strawberries. I used Mango instead.

Mango Eton Mess

1 Mango, diced

Whipped Cream

Meringue pieces

Mix all the ingredients together, or layer them as you wish in a nice dish. It couldn't be simpler.