PAVLOVA

Good Morning to you,

I've had a busy week this week.... sitting, yes that's right, sitting. Well, it is not as bad as it sounds, as  I have been sewing little Polly's welcoming quilt, which is coming along quite nicely. I have also been watching and enjoying the tennis being played at Wimbledon.
  

The  tennis  has  been played  between the  sunshine and the  showers and there have been some  exciting developments. Some of the big seeds, such as Roger Federa  and  Rafael Nadal  have been beaten, which was quite a shock, as they  are  tremendous  players. A number of tennis players have  had  to  withdraw, due to injury,  but  I  am  pleased  to  tell  you,  that Andy  Murray,   from  Scotland,  is  playing  some marvellous tennis and  is through to the next round.

Apart from tennis, what is the first thing which comes to mind, when you think of Wimbledon. Would it be, strawberries and cream with a glass of champagne.

I cannot offer you champagne, but I can offer you strawberries and cream, presented in a slightly different way,

..... a Pavlova, which is a delicious mixture of  meringue, which is soft and gooey on the inside, and crisp on the outside, layered with double cream and strawberries, oh yes and a few blueberries and raspberries added for good measure. I think if you have a sweet tooth you will love this dessert.

This delicious meringue based dessert, some say was created in Australia in honour of the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova and some people say it was created in New Zealand.  Whoever created it, I give my thanks, as I love this dessert.

Today, there is no music, as I need to get a wiggle on, as I am looking forward to watching the tennis this afternoon.  I have even brought out the "big guns" ..... namely my Kitchen Aid, to allow me to do the job of mixing the egg whites a lot quicker, so my hand whisk is languishing in the drawer..... until it is needed to hand whisk the cream, so without further ado, let's put on our aprons and get started.

INGREDIENTS

FOR MERINGUE

4 medium sized egg whites

6 oz (175g) caster sugar

1 level tablespoon of cornflour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

 Using baking parchment,

cut an 8 inch (20cm) circle

1 circular baking pan

Pre-heat oven to 130 C 

Place the egg whites into a bowl

and whisk until the egg whites

form stiff peaks.

Continue whisking the egg whites and

add the caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at 

a time, until the meringue is

stiff and glossy.

Add the cornflour, vanilla extract

and white wine vinegar

and whisk until combined,

this will take about a minute.

Put a little meringue onto the 

baking pan to secure

the parchment paper.
Don't be scared, this does work.

Spoon the meringue onto the

parchment paper

following the circle, but do not

go over the circle as you will

not be able to remove the meringue

from the baking sheet. I left
about 1/2 inch all the way around.

Once you have created your circle

fill in the centre with meringue.

Make a slight dip in the centre.
(This is going to hold your fruit and cream)

Place in the pre-heated oven and

bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Until the meringue is firm

at the edge and slightly 

soft in the centre.

You will see a little crack has formed

on my baked meringue, don't worry

as this does happen.

Allow to cool and remove the baking 

parchment at the base of the meringue.

INGREDIENTS

FOR TOPPING

450 g (1 lb) strawberries

225 g  (8 oz)  blueberries

125 g (4 1/2 oz) raspberries 

(sorry I forgot to add the raspberries

to the photograph)

500 ml (16 fl oz)  double cream

Wash and dry fruit

Reserve 3 strawberries and

cut the rest of the strawberries into quarters

Whip the double cream until 

soft peaks form

Fold in two thirds of the strawberries

and blueberries

Keep the raspberries to decorate the top

of the dessert

Spoon the cream and fruit onto the meringue

Arrange the reserved fruit on top

Cut the Pavlova and place on a 

plate and decorate with

extra fruit

or 

spoon Pavlova into a martini glass

pick up your spoon,

and dive in!

There are a few things I would like to mention.  If you are making a Pavlova for a family occasion, which I often do, I double the ingredients, as you do not want to make a small one, as I promise you, people will want more.  Remember to increase the size of the parchment paper as well.

You can make the meringue the day before you need it. Store in a cool, dry place and then decorate the following day. 

.... and finally, please don't worry when the meringue cracks, as it is impossible to keep it from cracking as the meringue is not hard and crispy like the shop bought meringues, this is soft and chewy and gorgeous, trust me once you have made this Pavlova, you will never buy shop bought meringues again.

Have fun decorating the Pavlova with your favourite fruit as that is the fun of home baking, you can add just what you like.

My taster this week is Uncle Ted who is 82 years old. I rang and asked him if he could eat cream, I described the dessert and he said "Yes hinny, it sounds great".... hinny is a North East saying which is a term of endearment.  So we packed half the Pavlova in a Tupperware box (yes I still have Tupperware) and George popped it down to him. George said, when Uncle Ted opened the box his eyes lit up, so I think it is safe to say he was pleased with his gift.

Oh yes, before I forget, I used the three egg whites which I froze last week, plus one other which I had already frozen.  I defrosted them overnight in the fridge and brought them up to room temperature during the morning.... and they worked like a dream, so you see there is no need for wastage.

Take care and I will see you later in the week,

This week I will be joining,

Karen from Sew Many Ways

and

Anyonita at Anyonita Nibbles
and
Kathy at Creative Home Expressions
and
Kathryn at The Dedicated House
and
Kaz and Ang from Melting Moments
and
Jen at Girl in the Garage