Pavlova

If you have never had Pavlova, you have been missing out big time!!! It is probably my favourite dessert, although creme brulee gives it a good run for its money. The big differences between the two are that after a big meal, Pavlova is so light, I can always eat seconds, it's like it doesn't take up any room in your stomach. It is sooooooo good. Creme brulee is so rich, it is definitely more enjoyable after a lighter meal. The other big difference is that Pavlova is very easy to make, while I have never been able to make a good creme brulee, although I will rededicate myself to that effort now that I'm writing more about food!!

Pavlova is known as New Zealand's national dessert, but it is famous in Australia as well (check out Wikipedia if you want to know more). It was named after a Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, while she was on tour there. Inexplicably, the name is pronounced differently when it is dessert. I don't get this, since it is named after her, but whatever. Who cares. Let's get to the dessert.

My sister-in-law Janet hosted Easter dinner this year, at her lovely home in Midland Bay Woods area. She is the hostess with the mostest, and here is the proof: she looked up Easter themed cocktails to serve us, so the afternoon got going with a Blue Cottontail Martini (made with vodka, triple sec, and blue curacao). How cute is this?  I loved it. I had two. :) You can find the recipe and more here: Spring Cocktails. Janet is very friendly and going, and always so much fun to hang out with, I lucked out in the in-law department, I must say, and her sister Karen is amazing in the kitchen too, and lots of fun as well. We all have fun with food. They had spent Easter up at their cottage, so we didn't get to see them today, which means there is LEFTOVER pavlova.  (Too bad for them, yay for us)!





 About five years ago, Jeff renovated their kitchen, and it is now a dream kitchen, He has done so much renovation at their house over the years, it is truly beautiful and very stylish, and also warm and welcoming, with lots of windows to let in natural light.
At the time, I was playing with mosaic making, so they asked me to make a countertop for them based on the colours in their kitchen, and these dragonflies were inspired by a pottery place near the family cottage in Parry Sound, called Clayworks Pottery, owned by an amazing artist and potter, Jodie Hames (she doesn't seem to have a website, but her address is listed here: Clayworks Pottery). Her work is AMAZING, and while I have not been there for a few years, I am always stunned by how beautiful and orginal her pottery artwork is. My mother-in-law owns many pieces, so I'll have to snap some photos this summer!

detail

 However, the colours in my mosaic were inspired by the dragonflies that everyone in the extended family owns. This is the countertop I created, on a screen, and Jeff installed and grouted it afterward. I incorcorpated a bit of design into the white background so that it wouldn't just be boring rows of tesserae, and added some curve and flow (I think)! And now, back to dessert, which we enjoyed after a wonderful turkey dinner.



Pavlova is a meringue, baked for a long time at a low oven heat. It is usually crunchy-esh (I can't think of any other way to say it) on the outside and soft and marshmallowy on the inside, if it's done right.  While some people might try to achieve a white meringue, it generally becomes a light golden brown. In fact, if it isn't golden, I worry that it might not be done properly, and well, yes, underdone pavlova will definitely underwhelm you. It will probably crack, and it doesn't matter how it looks, it gets covered with whipped cream and fruit, so no one will notice, and even if they did they'd be in a state of rapture from the delicousness of it all. Sometimes you will be asked to let it cool down overnight in the oven (my mother used to do this), but I find I am rarely organized enough to bake the night before, and more importantly, I've never found it to make much difference. The point is to let it cool down slowly, which requires turning the oven off and letting it sit there until you are ready to eat it later. It usually also calls for you to use parchment paper, which again, I almost never use. I line my baking sheets with tin foil, since I hardly ever have parchment paper around, and it peels right off the meringue. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

 I used this recipe, the Best Pavlova, from allrecipes.com. It says the best, so I am hoping so. I've made it a few different ways, so this looks good. I doubled the batch and split it up. Pavlova can be kind of dry and crumble when cutting, and I found this to be the case with this recipe, but it was still delicious.

The Best Pavlova

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 pint fresh strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Draw a 9 inch circle on the parchment. An easy way to do this is to draw around the outside of a 9 inch pan with a pencil.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar gradually, while continuing to whip. Make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cornstarch; lightly fold into meringue with lemon juice.
3. Spread a layer of meringue to fit circle on parchment, approximately 1/4 inch thick. With remainder of mixture, pipe or spoon swirls around the edges to form a shallow bowl shape.
4. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour. Turn off oven, but leave meringue in oven for an additional 30 minutes. When cool, the meringue should be hard on the outside, and slightly moist on the inside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the cream and half a cup of confectioners sugar, and whip until thickened. Decorate with fruit of your choice; strawberries are excellent

It is so good, I worry about only make two for our large family Easter gathering, at my sister-in-law's house, but I think I'll just bring along some emergency dessert. You can serve any type of fruit you like, but I love berries the most, so that is what I use. If  I get a piece of kiwi or something on mine, I just think, ugh, where's the strawberry?? This is a waste of Pavlova space. (Kiwifruit does look pretty if you want to take the time to make a nice presentation, I like just piling it all on there, the more the merrier. Usually a pretty arrangement means there is less fruit.) My mom will often serve pavlova with separate dishes of cut-up fruit so you can choose, which is another great option. Depends on the effect you want. Sorry family, today I am assembling it so I can have blog photos :). There won't be any complaints, I can guarantee.

Meringue with stiff peaks (I LOVE my KitchenAid mixer,
but a handheld beater is all you  need.

However, obviously if you really love kiwi, you can have an only kiwi pavlova. The wikipedia article shows pomegranate arils on its pavlova picture, and the only good part about that is that I learned a new word....(yes, it is aril). Pretty word (even though the definition from wiki is: any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus, which sounds extremely unpleasant, you know some kind of contagious disease). I love pomegranates, but I find it a strange match for Pavlova. ANYWAY. Here are my before and after shots:

I just smoothed it into a nest-like shape, rather than separately form a ring around
a base, as the recipe suggest. You can make individual meringues too if you like,
especially if you decide to make a serve-yourself fruit selection. I also never
pre-draw a circle, I just wing it. Go for it if you are a perfectionist, I like
it looking less perfect.

Okay, they did stay a little whiter than usual, but they were done! In fact, an hour after I turned the often off, the pans were still too hot to touch without an ovet mitt. The thing about meringues, and what makes them great to cook with,are that they don't change their shape. It puffed up and cracked, but if you wanted to make a bunch of littlemeringues, you could bake them at an even lower temperature, like the colourful meringues you can get in bakeries.... meringues for another post, l guess!



The finished Pavlova. Mmmmm.