Saturday, 19 January 2013

An iconic dessert - the Pavlova

Finally last night I made and served the Pineapple Pavlova, I had friends over for dinner. It was delicious of course. 

I made a three egg white/ ¾ cup sugar pavlova shell the evening before, left it in the oven to cool slowly overnight and in the morning quickly boxed it up before I turned on the evaporative coolers, which would have made it very soggy.  (We have had very warm weather, over 40 degrees yesterday). I made the pineapple filling according to Ruby’s recipe.  However, it was too bland and too pale so I added some lemon juice and some yellow colouring.  The filling stored OK in the fridge under cling wrap for a couple of hours, I was fearful it would be gluggy but it was fine.  Served with some whipped cream on top, I could have been more generous with the cream but I was conscious of our post-Christmas diets, Ann.

Pineapple Pavlova.

440g can Golden Circle Crushed Pineapple, 2 tblspns cornflour or arrowroot, and your favourite recipe for a 3 or 4 egg Pavlova.

Spoon Pavlova on baking tray in shape of pie shell. Bake until firm in slow oven. Cool. Empty pineapple into saucepan and heat to boiling. Thicken with cornflour or arrowroot. Cool, then spoon into meringue shell. Serve with cream or ice cream.


A controversy!

Apparently, both New Zealand and Australia claim to have invented the delicious dessert, the Pavlova. Researchers ultimately decided that it was first created in New Zealand.

A national dish in both countries it was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova in Wellington, New Zealand in 1926 and in Perth, Western Australia in 1935. Here is Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) in her signature ballet, The Dying Swan, choreographed by Mikhail Fokine in 1905.



The World's Largest Pavlova.

In August 2010, chef Aaron Campbell displayed a 50 square metre rugby-themed pavlova, with the Bledisloe Cup in the centre, in the ChristChurch Cathedral in Christchurch, to raise money for the official charity of the All Blacks.”

Apparently the All Blacks Pavlova was made from 10,000 eggs and 600 kg sugar! Anne.

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