These festive pavlovas are dipped in white chocolate and topped with toasted hazelnuts, cream and berry sauce to make an impressive dessert.
‘I am a bit of a purist about pavlova. As it is one of Australia’s classic dishes, I feel it should be made with something exotic like passion fruit, but when Andrew Sullivan, the pastry chef at The Seafood Restaurant, made these I was very taken with them. I asked Andrew to send me the recipe, which was for about fifty portions of a lovely seasonal dish using cobnuts and damsons. I have cut it back to a more manageable eight servings and made it suitable for winter by using hazelnuts and frozen berries. Thanks, Andrew.’
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
Meringues
- 4 medium egg whites
- 220g caster sugar
- 2 tsp cornflour
- ½ tsp white wine vinegar
Berry sauce
- 500g frozen Black Forest berry mix, defrosted
- 2-3 tbsp icing sugar
To serve
- 75g blanched hazelnuts
- 150g white chocolate
- 500ml double cream
- Fresh raspberries or blueberries
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 120°C/Fan 100°C. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
- In a clean, grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually whisk in the caster sugar, cornflour and vinegar and continue to whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy and the beaters leave a thick ribbon trail in the mixture.
- Spoon the meringue mixture on to the sheets to form 8 round nests about 10cm in diameter. Place in the oven and cook for about 1½ hours or until the meringues are crisp and dried out. Leave them in the switched-off oven to cool completely.
- For the berry sauce, blitz the fruit and sugar in a food processor, then pass it through a sieve. Store in the fridge until ready to use. It will be fine for up to 2 days if you want to prepare ahead.
- Add the nuts to a hot dry pan and toast for a minute or so until they’ve taken on a little colour. Watch them carefully so they don’t burn. Chop the nuts and set them aside in a bowl. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
- When the meringues are completely cool, dip each one into the melted white chocolate and then into the bowl of chopped nuts. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
- Whip the cream until it holds its shape. Spoon a tablespoon of berry sauce on to each plate and top with a teaspoon of the cream, then place a meringue, nut side up, on top. Spoon some cream on to each meringue and use a clean measuring spoon to scoop a hollow in each dollop of cream. (Dip the spoon in water between each plate to get a clean scoop.) Spoon a little berry sauce into the hollow and top with a fresh berry and a few more nuts. Serve immediately.
‘I always think that canapés should box slightly above their weight – in other words, they need to be vividly flavoured to succeed. Here, the combination of crisp brioche, salty feta, pickled walnuts, figs, honey and thyme is just that. If you like, there’s a recipe for pickling your own green walnuts on page 275 of Rick Stein’s Christmas. You can also make this with slices of goat’s cheese from a log instead of the whipped feta.’
My reason for including this recipe in the book is that apart from the fact that it’s the first dish I ever ate at a Chinese restaurant – in Peterborough, in 1964 as it happens – it’s also a world classic but is so often ruined by tasteless crab and gloopy cornflour.
I’m inordinately fond of pot-roasting meat, particularly when it is a slightly less than tender cut, like brisket.
I wrote this recipe for a Greek-style filo pie after going to Mary Quicke’s farm and dairy near Exeter.
Liqueur-soaked slices of Madeira cake, custard and whipped cream are layered with fresh clementines in this simple, light trifle. Perfect for a show-stopping Christmas dessert.
A delicious and healthy stir-fry dish from Rick Stein at Home.
There is, I have to confess, no need to put the vodka in the blackberry compote that accompanies these, but it does add to the sense of occasion.
What appeals to me about this salad is the combination of lightly poached chicken, bean sprouts, spring onions and herbs with roasted chopped nuts and sesame seeds, and the slightly gloopy fish sauce, lime juice and chilli dressing.
Rick Stein's French fig and frangipane tarts feature a buttery shortcrust pastry case filled with sweet almond and verdant fig.
A crisp, toasted sourdough sandwich put together quickly with a little béchamel.
A case of shortcrust pastry with plenty of leeks sweated down in butter then bound with an egg and cream mixture and baked. Delicious.
