Pavlova

 Pavlova

Created as a masterpiece to honour the great ballerina Anna Pavlova, this scrumptious dessert is served on a perfect meringue which has a crunchy shell yet a sticky gooey center filled with lavish spoonful of sherry custard cream topped with fresh fruits. Generally served in the summer time there is much discussion on the bragging rights.

Anna Pavlova was born in Russia and died in the Netherlands at the young age of 50. She is the first ballerina to start her own ballet troop that toured the world. Legend has it that the pavlova was created during her tour of New Zealand in the 1920's. It is now an equally popular dish in Russia, New Zealand and Australia and often served on festive occasions.

Nectarine strawberry and blueberry make a delicious combination. - making small 

individual meringues like snow balls and cracking them from the top to fill it up is delicate and fun.

                          Pavlova family style is easier to prepare. You can pipe the top of the meringue or                                                              simply make a dip using the back of the spoon.

Step 1 is the Meringue Shell

Step 2 is filling the shell with Crème pâtissière 

The final product topped with fresh fruit of  your choice.

The Meringue Shell
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup fine sugar

Preheat the oven to 275 F/ . Beat the egg whites and  cream of tartar until it is frothy and comes together and then start adding the sugar very slowly 1 tbsp at a time until soft peaks are formed  and it turns glossy.
Spread out on a 9 inch/23 cm buttered paper placed on a tray or in a buttered oven proof pie dish. Using the back of the spoon smooth it out making a dip in the center as in the picture below. Be very gentle. If you wish to make the edges fancy, place  one third of the meringue in a large piping bag and finish it with edges. Bake for 1 hour until a light pinkish hue appears. Turn the oven off and allow it to cool inside the oven. This is the ''drying'' process of the meringue.


Creme Patisserie
2 cups cream
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp sherry
In a pan mix the sugar flour salt and cream. Whisk to cook over a low flame. Bring to a boil for a minute or two.
In another bowl mix 2 egg yolks vanilla and sherry, mix it well. Now add 1 tbsp of the hot mixture to the egg and beat it well. This will temper the eggs so they don't curdle. Now through a sieve push the egg mix into the cream mix and keep mixing. Bring it back to the stove for a minute to allow the eggs to cook through. Keep stirring to keep it smooth. Put a piece of cling film over the custard so it does not form a skin over it.

Fruits
you will need two cups of prepared fruit for this recipe.
Choose firm fleshed fruits that do not disintegrate quickly. Prepare them by peeling and dicing. Toss in a bowl. Cover tightly and keep refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Add a touch of lime or lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a dash of sugar to bring out all the flavours. 

Tips

An electric hand beater is perfect for this. 
The pie dish is what you will serve it in. It cannot be removed  on a platter once baked.
The egg whites must be at room temperature.
3/4 tsp of lemon juice is a good substitute for cream of tartar.
Do not over beat and dry out the egg whites, the test to see the soft peaks is to remove the beater from the bowl and if the little peak of meringue on the edge of your beater is glossy and stays pointed it is done.
You can make small individual ones if you prefer, reduce the baking time to 45 minutes. This quantity will make 12 small meringue shells.

A mango Pavlova is also delicious with a few blueberries tossed in it for colour. Peaches are delightful too. Adding a teaspoon of Sherry or Limoncello is also an option to consider specially if you think your fruits are not as delicious as they look.

Your meringue will depend a lot on your weather. If it is damp and rainy it is very hard to get a crisp dry meringue. 

To read about an ancient cuisine you can purchase my cookbooks called The World of Parsi Cooking; Food Across Borders and The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.  .

Click Creme Patisserie  for other optional recipes on Niloufer's Kitchen using this custard.

For more delicious recipes download 
Niloufer's Kitchen: French Bistro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2KMB4C

Read more about Niloufer's Kitchen in the Huffington Post Bloggers Club. The French In My Food.

Readers Comments

April 01, 2018 Zubeida Mirza Tried the pavlova on Easter weekend Niloufer Mavalvala!! 
Was a huge success!!

                                             Practical application of french cooking class

Croquembouche/ Profiteroles

Croquembouche/Profiteroles

A literal crunch in the mouth or the croque-en-bouche is a delicious dessert traditionally served as a wedding cake in France and Italy. It is made up of creatively piled profiteroles which make a cone like structure simply glued to each other by fresh hot caramel and decorated by spun caramel; thin golden threads and generally referred to as a Croquembouche. Elegant and simply delectable.

The French who take their food creations very seriously honour the patron saint of chefs, Saint Honore by creating the Gateau St Honore, another combination of  profiteroles served as a cake.

Try this as a centrepiece to your dining table. A definite show stopper!!

This quantity will make 36 large or 50 small profiteroles


Choux Pastry 

In a pan heat on a low flame,
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup water
now add
1 cup flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Mix well, it should make a roux. Cook for a minute or two.
Cool for 5 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a food processor and with the machine running add 4 eggs one at a time allowing it to process and give a sheen to the mixture.
Pipe the eclairs with a piping bag on a greased baking tray or lay out a sheet of parchment paper instead.
Bake in a preheated oven of 375F/190C degrees for 20 minutes and then on 350/175C for another 20 minutes until well baked through.
Fill  each of them generously with creme patisserie or fresh whipped cream with a large nozzle on your icing bag from the bottom of the profiterole.

Creme Patisserie
2 cups cream
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp sherry
In a pan mix the sugar flour salt and cream. Whisk to cook over a low flame. Bring to a boil for a minute or two.
In another bowl mix 2 egg yolks vanilla and sherry, mix it well. Now add 1 tbsp of the hot mixture to the egg and beat it well. This will temper the eggs so they don't curdle. Now through a sieve push the egg mix into the cream mix and keep mixing. Bring it back to the stove for a minute to allow the eggs to cook through. Keep stirring to keep it smooth. Put a piece of cling film over the custard so it does not form a skin over it.

Caramel :
In a pan, it must be a pan with a handle you can hold on to while swirling and later to paint the golden threads on.
Heat 1 cup sugar + 1 tsp water
Allow to melt. Swirl the pan once or twice. 
Remove from the heat at a golden colour.

Set the already browned caramel over a hot water bath to keep it soft. While it is soft touch each profiterole on the bottom of it to the caramel and assemble the tower. This will act like your glue. Once that is done, hold the pan close to the tower of profiteroles and with a fork or a food brush swirl the caramel over. Using artists stroke it will magically leave a trail of thin golden threads which will harden instantly.
Alternately take a parchment paper and go round in circles over it to make a wreath like caramel spun structure that can be placed over.

Tips

Use a hand held balloon whisk to mix the roux. It is most efficient and leaves a smooth dough.

If you don't have an icing bag use a large ziploc bag, fill in the choux pastry mix, twist to make a cone, and snip of the edge of the bag! No washing and no cleaning. Although it is easier to make pipe out and fill larger profiteroles, the smaller ones are easier to handle to assemble the actual croquembouche.

The cream Patisserie is available ready to fill in delis across the UK and Europe. Just add a dash of sherry or rum if you prefer.

To spin the caramel into threads, place the prepared caramel on a hot water bath to keep it liquid. With a fork spin the threads on to a butter paper/parchment paper in a form of a large "ring" and place on the tower of your profiteroles. Work very quickly as caramel hardens within minutes and burns within seconds! Be careful not to scald yourself as it is extremely hot and can burn you easily.
For the caramel, remove from heat once it turns a light amber colour if assembling the croquembouche to use as your glue.  Alternately assemble the custard filled profiteroles and pour the hot caramel all over!! 


For more recipes from my French Collection click
Niloufer's Kitchen: French Bistro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2KMB4C

Comment:
Zainab Mahmood-Ahmad Croquembouche!? Outstanding!

Eclairs

E`clair

As a noun it is Lightning or then literally translated means in a flash of lightning. Flamboyance too defines the French word E`clair. (Elegantly named the pain`a la duchesse or petit duchesse until the 1860's).  Could we possibly have had a more appropriate name for these delicious morsels of exquisite pastry which can vanish in seconds; like lightning no doubt! 

The choux pastry is made easily and then piped in finger length for eclairs and in round balls for profiteroles.

Traditionally Creme Patissiere; a custard with or without sherry is filled in both, but alternately fresh cream or even ice cream is used. Chocolate or coffee glazes these eclairs  while caramel generally top up the profiteroles.

Chocolate eclairs and coffee eclairs filled with creme patisserie prepared by my friend Eric

Choux Pastry 

In a pan heat on a low flame,
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup water
now add
1 cup flour and mix well, it should make a roux. Cook for a minute or two.
Cool for 5 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a food processor and with the machine running add 4 eggs one at a time allowing it to process and give a sheen to the mixture.
Pipe the eclairs with a piping bag on a greased baking tray or lay out a sheet of parchment paper instead.
Bake in a preheated oven of 375F/190C degrees for 20 minutes and then on 350/175C for another 20 minutes until well baked through.
Slit and fill with creme patisserie or fresh whipped cream.
Will make 18 to 24 eclairs depending on the size you pipe out.

Creme Patisserie
2 cups cream
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp sherry
In a pan mix the sugar flour salt and cream. Whisk to cook over a low flame. Bring to a boil for a minute or two.
In another bowl mix 2 egg yolks vanilla and sherry, mix it well. Now add 1 tbsp of the hot mixture to the egg and beat it well. This will temper the eggs so they don't curdle. Now through a sieve push the egg mix into the cream mix and keep mixing. Bring it back to the stove for a minute to allow the eggs to cook through. Keep stirring to keep it smooth. Put a piece of cling film over the custard so it does not form a skin over it.

Chocolate Topping:
Heat 1/2 cup cream lightly, add 100gms/4ozs dark chocolate pieces with 1 tbsp corn syrup,. Cover, turn stove off and leave for 10 minutes. It will now be melted, mix gently until just combined. You can even swirl the pan and not use any spoon to mix! Cool till its perfect thickness.
Hold each prepared eclair between two fore fingers and dip the top part of the pastry into the thick melted chocolate. Turn it right side up immediately and allow to dry. It will harden and stick automatically.

Coffee topping:
In a bowl mix with a spoon
100gms butter
100gms icing sugar
2 tsp coffee granules melted in 2 tbsp  hot water



Tips
If you don't have an icing bag use a large ziploc bag, fill in the choux pastry mix, twist to make a cone, and snip of the edge of the bag! No washing and no cleaning.

If you cannot find corn syrup, substitute 2 tsp of sugar. Heat the sugar and cream first before adding the chocolate.
Use 55% to 70% dark chocolate. Any less is not dark enough, any more can leave a bitter after taste.
The cream Patisserie is available ready to fill in delis across the UK and Europe. Just add a dash of sherry or rum if you prefer.
Whipped cream with pieces of fresh strawberries or other berries tastes superb. 





For more delicious recipes click the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2KMB4C
Niloufer's Kitchen: French Bistro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GEH9PDQ
Niloufer's Kitchen: Soups