24 October 2010

Pavlova

One thing I've never mentioned on Flying Ducks is that I didn't take home economics class after the compulsory year in eighth grade (as I hated sewing!). Instead, I took a class called food studies for two years. This class attracted a lot of naughty kids, as they thought it would be a 'bludge' kind of subject. It wasn't. Food studies gave me some skills which I will keep for the rest of my life - basically, the fundamentals of how to cook pretty much anything. You know, the stuff your nanna used to teach you - how to make a white sauce, how to bake meringue and choux pastry, how to make a biscuit or cake batter to adapt for almost any purpose, and how to fix stuff that's gone horribly wrong!  I even won the award for being top of the subject for two years running.

This weekend, I've used those skills during some rather successful cooking sessions. Last night I made a free-range organic goat (yes, goat - sorry vegetarians) lasagne. John bought the goat mince from the organic butcher a month or two ago (I have know idea why), and it's been sitting in the freezer waiting for me to pluck up the courage to cook it. It has an extremely strong flavour, and was perhaps a tiny bit too strong for a lasagne. But it was tasty nevertheless, thanks to my excellent lump-fee bechamel sauce made from scratch.

Today, I made my first ever pavlova. I plan on making one of these for the excellent Shilo before she heads home to New York in a couple of weeks, and I decided to make a trial pavlova today just in case I needed to perfect anything. Before you ask: no, I did not buy one of those White Wings Pavlova Magic things. I made my meringue using good old-fashioned egg whites and caster sugar. And it was super easy! Add whipped cream and berries to the cooked meringue, and you get this...


 

I'm going to see if our lovely old neighbour Merv would like to share it with us.

The china flan dish is from Japan. I picked it up at Lifeline in Toowoomba last weekend for the princely sum of $4.00. It doesn't have any chips or scratches, so I think it was an excellent find.

4 comments:

  1. HOLY CRAP YUM.

    Also, those photographs are stunning. Good job lady.

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  2. Oh ... I would have SO taken you up on your offer to share that beauty! :)

    I love making pavlova ... that and lemon meringue pie are two of my most favourite things to make (even though I don't bake them often enough).

    Your pavlova looks absolutely divine!! You're a total professional!!! :D
    PS. That flan dish is pretty fabulous too ... my kitchen is woefully bereft of appropriate baking equipment.

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  3. That pav looks divine with the berries. I like it drizzled with passionfruit too.

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  4. $4 - what a win!

    If you are cooking goat, I can recommend roo as well. It also has a strong flavour, however I often make it into a slow-long-cooked Massaman curry, which compliments a gamy-tasting meat nicely.

    1. Cut gamy meat into cubes
    2. Fill the kettle and put it on
    3. Stir fry paste in oil until fragrant (about 1 min)
    4. Put in the meat (pretty high up) until browned
    5. Add boiled water
    6. Once the boil is going, add a tin of coconut milk
    7. Turn down to a simmer and leave on for about 2 hours - the longer the better

    The long cook softens the meat very well. However if you've got a particularly gamy low-fat meat, you can soak it in olive oil overnight to break down the fibres.

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