Pavlova



I received a molecular gastronomy kit for Christmas and thought I'd try it out by making some passionfruit pearls to go on top of one of my favourite trusty desserts- the pavlova!

The kit I used was the Cuisine R- Evolution kit which you can purchase at http://www.molecularfoods.com.au/shop/category/kits/ and I followed the gelification technique using passionfruit juice and agar agar (which basically just turns the liquid to a jelly). Basically to make the pearls, you use a dropper to drop the passionfruit/agar agar liquid into cold oil, which then sets the liquid into small balls and ta-dah! Passionfruit pearls!

You can leave the pearls out and just make the pavlova if you wish- that's the greatest thing about pavlova, it can be topped with whatever you like!

You will need...
For the meringue...
4 egg whites
1 cup of caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp of salt

For the topping...
vanilla pod
500ml thickened cream
1/2 cup icing (confectioners) sugar
2 mangoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup of lychees, peeled, halved and pitted (or use tinned if you like)
1 punnet blueberries, washed, hulled and sliced
300gr punnet cherries, washed, halved and de-stoned
1 punnet strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
1/4 cup of passionfruit pearls

Method...
1. Cover a baking tray with baking paper, and preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius.
2. To make the pavlova, beat the egg whites using an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Continuously whipping, gradually pour in the caster sugar until glossy and all the sugar is dissolved in the mix*. Mix the cornflour and vinegar together and pour into the meringue mix, whip briefly until all combined.

3. Pile the meringue mix onto the covered baking tray, and mould into a round shape (my trick is to keep it a bit lumpy looking, and give it little peaks- this makes awesome crispy bits and little divots to hold cream and fruit!) Place in to oven and turn the oven temperature down to 130 degrees celsius immediately. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until crisp on the outside. Turn off oven, leave door ajar and allow meringue to cool COMPLETELY in the oven.
4. Remove and place on a serving plate. To serve, whip the thickened cream, icing sugar and vanilla together until medium-stiff peaks then spoon onto the meringue then scatter the fruit over the top of the cream. Finally add the passionfruit pearls if you are using them.
5. Eat immediately!! YUMMMY!
Not my prettiest Pavlova I have to admit, I had to transport the ingredients and the cream lost a bit of its love so it turned into a bit of a landslide! It was still delicious though!
*To test that the sugar granules are dissolved, I use clean hands to take a small pinch of the mix and rub between my thumb and finger, if you can still feel the sugar then continue beating for a few more minutes.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vegetable Mornay

Image
This is a classic dish that can dress up the most boring vegetables. I personally think cheese or bacon (or sometimes both) can make any meal better! You will need... 1/2 a large head of cauliflower 1 head of broccoli 1 large carrot 2 washed potatoes (I used red delight) 1 cup of peas (fresh or frozen) For the sauce 75gr buttter 1/3 cup plain flour 3 cups whole milk salt & pepper & freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 cup cheddar cheese For the topping 1 cup cheddar cheese 1/4 cup breadcrumbs 2 tbs roughly chopped flat leaf parsley Method... 1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius, grease a large 3-4Lt capacity ceramic baking dish. 2. Peel the carrot and potato and dice into 1 inch pieces then transfer to a microwave safe bowl with a little water, cover with glad wrap and microwave for 1 minute on high to begin the cooking process. Drain and set aside. Wash the cauliflower and broccoli and trim into neat florets.  3. Melt the butter in
Read more

George Calombaris' Pasticcio (AKA Greek Lasagna)

Image
Ohhh pasticcio... This recipe gives me so many warm and fuzzies. My mum always used to make it for me when I was younger for special occasions like my birthday and Easter so I associate it with fun times and getting presents and all that good stuff. The one my mum made came from the old faithful Margaret Fulton Cookbook circa late sixties/early seventies... I'm not sure what my Italian mum was doing making Greek recipes written by an Australian cookbook guru but anyway... it must have been en-vogue when the book was written and I'm not complaining because it's delicious. Mum's pasticcio was put together 'lasagna-style' with layers of curly-edge lasagna sheets that would get all crispy and brown on the edges. She would layer the pasta sheets with the tomato and beef sauce and béchamel and then bake it, and it would usually take her a while to prepare. My New Favourite Cookbook! I like this recipe by George Calombaris because it still has all that wo
Read more

Anna-Maria's Zucchini Slice

Image
This is Anna-Maria’s Zucchini Slice from Stephanie Alexander’s Cooks Companion …   I’ve tweaked it a little as I’m sure most people do, it’s one of those no-rules recipes where you can customise it as much or as little as you like. I love zucchini because it is such a versatile vegetable (although technically it’s an immature fruit- wiki will tell you it’s a swollen ovary of a zucchini flower… sounds appetising), you can put them in almost anything because they don’t have a very strong flavour, which is great when it comes to hiding veggies from your kids! I’ve even eaten a chocolate cake that had grated zucchini in it and it was one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever had- so moist (haha MOIST!) You will need… ¼ cup of olive oil (the recipe says half a cup but you really don’t need that much) 500g zucchini, grated 1 small carrot, grated 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, crushed 200gr smoked bacon, finely chopped 100g freshly grated p
Read more