Suspiro de Limeña (Sigh from a Limean Woman)

The 28th of July is just around the corner and the only way to celebrate that honours our culture is to cook up something delicious. And what better than a suspiro de limeña? This dish was invented by Amparo Ayarza, the wife of the poet Jose Galvez, who named it like this for being sweet and airy like the sigh of a woman from Lima. So there you go, a bit of culture. It’s so so good that it’s imposible not to have at least one teaspoon.

Portions: 6 martini cups

Ingredients:

For the base
– 2 cans evaporated milk (400g)
– 2 cans condensed milk (400g)
– 2 egg yolks

For the meringue
– 4 egg whites
– the equivalent of 2 times the weight of the egg whites, around 240g
– 50ml Port wine (optional, don’t use if kids will eat it)
– Powdered cinnamon to taste

Procedure:

1. PATIENCE. Mix the evaporated and condensed milks in a thick pot until you can draw a line on the spatula or spoon with your finger and it doesn’t get erased by the liquid. The process is quicker the bigger the pot. You can even use a large deep pan.

2. YOLK. Separate the yolks from the whites (the whites go to the meringue) and whisk the yolks just to break their membrane.

3. QUICK! Put a bit of the hot mix onto the yolks and whisk really fast as the yolks are cooking with the liquid. Then this goes into the rest of the mix, and whisk again, this time there’s no hurry.

4. SIFT. Pass the mix through a sieve to remove any unwanted egg bits. Then we put it where we’re serving the suspiro, If it’s glass that’s not meant to hold hot liquids (like the martini glasses I used), wait for it to come to room temperature first. Then it goes into the fridge for 4-6 hours.

5. MERINGUE. We’re going to make a swiss meringue, which is my favourite because it’s super light in texture and it’s also pretty stable (it doesn’t sweat or melt). We put the egg whites with double their weight in sugar in the bowl where we will be beating them and it goes on a mediun heat bain marie until the sugar is completely dissolved. Make sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the hot water. Mix every so often so the whites don’t turn to scrambled eggs at the base.

6. WHISK. Once the sugar has dissolved completely (you can check by rubbing a bit of the mix between your fingers), we take it immediately to whip up at full speed until the temperature lowers to room temperature. Then we add the Port if you like.

7. PIPE. Use a piping bag to make a heap of meringue on top of the base. Then, with the back of the spoon make peaks by sticking it to it and pulling up.

8. ENJOY! Choose your spoon and say yummmm.

Make this dessert to celebrate that we’re free and we’ll always be. Because life is sweet and the suspiro too! You know that if you want to check out more recipes you can do so in my blog Cravings Journal.