So its day two of ‘Mad Meringue Week’, I hope you enjoyed yesterdays chocolate meringue whoppers and tip about keeping your bowl completely clean and grease free. Today I bring you some more tips on meringue making, I must admit that I have not yet tried this, it seems a bit fiddly to me, but it is a tip from The Meringue Girls who make their living by baking stunning meringues and so they must know their stuff. I have recently pre-ordered their new book and can not wait for it to arrive. If it is as good as I think it will be I will add it to my book shop.
So if you fancy tying on of their tips, they suggest that when you start this stunning pistachio and rosewater pavlova you preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, gas 6), line a deep roasting tray with baking paper, pour in the caster sugar and heat in the oven for about 5 minutes until the edges are just beginning to melt.
Meanwhile, you put the egg whites into your mixing bowl,whisk them until they form stiff peaks,at this point, the sugar should be ready to take out of the oven, you turn your oven down to 100°C ( 80°C fan, gas ¼), leaving the door slightly ajar to speed up the cooling process. Then while you whisk at full speed, slowly add the hot sugar to the meringue mixture, a spoonful at a time. Once you’ve added all the sugar, continue to whisk on full speed for about 5-7 minutes. As I said rather fiddly and as long as you whisk well after each addition of sugar to the egg white it is not really necessary, but who knows, I may be missing a trick here and if anyone tries this and it works wonders, please let me know.
Another great tip and if you are not warming the sugar as above, is to rub a little of the mixture between your fingers, if you can still feel the gritty sugar, keep whisking at full speed until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth, stiff and glossy, see, now isn’t that a lot easier than heating the sugar 🙂
So anyway, no more tips for today, back to the recipe, pistachio and rosewater is a match made in heaven, adding it to meringue just adds that little something special to the already fabulous meringue mixture, it is a perfect flavour for the summer and would delight any guest or taken as a gift to a dinner party or BBQ could not fail to impress, make it large, make it bold and you will be onto a winner.
As promised, I am bringing you lots of meringue recipes this week and again bring you two for the price of one, first using the recipe below you can create a stunning pavlova or if you fancy something a little more simple and maybe want to wow a friend and fancy something a little whacky to serve with coffee, why not use the meringue mixture and dollop huge piles, about 4 to 6, depending on how big you want them onto greaseproof paper and bake. I added a little swirl of red gel food colouring just for added affect. Simply stunning!
So gorgeous pistachio and rosewater meringue, a little something exotic and fragrant.
Buon appetito
For the meringue:
300g caster sugar
5 large egg whites
100g pistachios (Finely grind 50g of the pistachios in a food processor, or use a pestle and mortar)
1 tbsp rosewater (I only used 2 teaspoons as I find rosewater a little overpowering)
For the topping:
8 figs (as you can see I used cherries, they were in season, grown locally & were delicious)
300g Greek yogurt, I used Total, its so rich and creamy
4 tbsp clear honey, I usually use Wildflower, but used a delicious Orange Blossom today.
fresh rose petals, to decorate
Preheat the oven to 100°C, fan 80°C, gas 1/4.
Put the egg whites into a freestanding mixer bowl or non-plastic bowl, remember my tip from yesterday, make sure your bowl and whisk are free from grease.
Whisk the egg whites slowly at first, allowing small bubbles to form, then increase the speed until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
While you whisk at full speed, slowly add the sugar to the meringue mixture, a spoonful at a time. Once you’ve added all the sugar, continue to whisk on full speed for about 5-7 minutes.
Add half of the finely ground pistachios to your meringue mixture, along with the rosewater. Fold very gently to incorporate all the ingredients, taking care not to knock out any of the volume.
Working quickly, spoon the meringue mixture on to the centre of the baking sheet and mould into the shape of a large nest. Use the back of the spoon to make a dip in the centre of the meringue to form a well.
Sprinkle with the rest of the finely ground pistachios and bake for about 2 hours. When cooked, the meringue should have a firm base and easily come away from the baking paper. Set aside to cool.
Slice the figs into quarters and roughly chop the remaining 50g of pistachios.
Place the cooled pavlova in the centre of a large serving plate or cake stand. Spoon the Greek yogurt into the middle of the meringue nest, allowing it to spill over the sides.
Place most of the figs on top of the yogurt and a scatter a few around the plate. Drizzle with honey, scatter over the roughly chopped pistachios and top with fresh rose petals.
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