Devious Pavlova

01/06 DEVIOUS PAVLOVA

"...indeed grow in grace & beauty. 

But as the sun sets..."

We return to the backwards land of the Pavlova. Where everything makes sense in no way at all. Soft cream enveloping dark meringue canyons, contrasting textures clashing in suspended animation. By the time desert is served it is almost too late to face anymore food, what an awkward situation. Conjuring the mischievous balance between dark decadence in flavour and ethereal lightness is key. A pavlova is physically light as cloud, yet unmoderated can become sickly sweet.

The chocolate here subverts the ethereal desert and it transforms into a brooding storm cloud. Cocoa and chocolate give body to the meringue making it deviously rich. The battered raspberries have been swirled up in the cream and sharply cut through the sugary sweetness. Together the clash of these two flavours make a beautifully rich yet graceful desert. Moderation by flavour, beauty in constraint. Qualities I love and honour here for Maleficent, my Mistress of all evil.

Ingredients (not-so-approximate) - 

6 Egg Whites
300g Castor Sugar
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Cocoa
50g Dark Chocolate
300ml Cream
1 Tbls Nutella
200g Raspberries


What I did - Oven preheated to 180degrees

Egg whites, sugar and cream are the foundation of all Pavlova - however all forms of chocolate are liberally added here to create something decadently deviant. The chocolate makes the meringue chewy like a macaroon, less eggy than a plain meringue - both mutations suit me just fine.

The oven needs to be preheated, and the meringue started - and I implore you to find a stand mixer to use (or someone who can stand and mix while you keep calm). Whip the egg whites and vanilla into a stiff, frothy cloud. Then on a high speed trickle the sugar in in a slow stream, the whites quickly become enameled and glossy. Once the sugar is combined, add the vinegar and cocoa - the cocoa acts like corn-flour and helps the whites cook without seeping. In as few turns as you can manage, fold in the grated dark chocolate so that the glossy is flecked with chocolate shavings.

Line a baking tray and flatten the stormy cloud of meringue into an even disc - not neat, but even thickness. Slide it into the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 150degrees, baking for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 120degrees for a further 45 minutes. The sign that the bake is working is if there is no change in shape. The gloss should turn into a chalky bone and (don't panic it should happen) the chocolate will crack deep ravines around the edges. Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar until completely cooled.

Turn the hollow disc out onto a wide serving plate, peel the baking paper off. The dome will collapse opening deep cracks around the edges. Start whipping the cream, add the raspberries halfway. Their ruby beads will jewel the cream as the whip decimates them. When firm fold the Nutella through roughly, not so that its combined but instead dark veins run through white. Crown the meringue in cream, and then dust chocolate shavings to finish.

Rest in the fridge for at least an hour so that all the layers settle and fuse together. When you cut into it to serve the chocolate will have penetrated every layer of this Pavlova with the same intensity as a wild storm that soaks you to your core - just more desirable.

JG

Rice Balls from Outer Space

26/05 RICE BALLS FROM OUTER SPACE

Often things go completely awry, planets don't align and you end up catatonic move in bed for two days. I find it best to accept fate and take things as they come, usually for the greater good. In this case the strange alien form that manifested in my bowl was a big slop of gelatinous sticky rice - result of an absent rice cooker. I had intentions of making a rice salad again, however now what to do with my intergalactic apparition? Rice balls from Outer Space!

In a miracle worthy of the master of disaster himself Edward D. Wood Jr. the failed rice is reborn as stuffed rice balls, or Martian-Italian arancini. Making virtue of necessity the filling is an alien mix of nuts, cheese, dried fruit and herbs. No matter how dire the beginning the final encounter is a matter of taste. They came from sticky rice to save mankind from hunger, tasting in believing.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

2 Cups White Rice
5 Cups Water
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 cup Parmesan

1 Lemon (large and juicy)
100g Goats Cheese
1 Large Mushrooms
1 Cup Walnuts
1/2 Cup Raisins
Vinegar
Dill/Fennell Fronds
Salt
1 tsp Olive Oil

2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Breadcrumbs (fine)

What I did - Oven 180degrees (30-40 minutes)

I do understand that making these is a heavily directed process, which requires a commitment. Not lots of time or effort, but you don't want to be rushed when when dealing with bowls of stickiness. Start by making the rice, itself a no fuss step because you want to slightly overcook it so that the grains swell and stick together. Slick the rice in some oil, and cover with the water. Bring to rolling boil then let simmer until the starch has escaped the grains and sticks the rice together. Strain and let cool enough to handle with your hands - then fold through the parmesan.

While the rice is cooking blitz the filling together in a food processor - essential machinery. Plump the raisins in the vinegar with a splash of hot water, squeeze before adding to the processor. Toss the walnuts, mushroom, goats cheese, herbs and lemon (zest and juice) in and let them contemplate their imminent fate while you drizzle the olive oil in. Blitz until the walnuts have been pulverized (but not a white lumpy paste) with the other ingredients shattered through.

Now for the assembly. Line up the bowl of rice, bowl of nutty filling, a bowl for the breadcrumbs and a bowl for the eggs (briskly whisked). I find it best to star with all the rice and filling first, then the egg and crumb otherwise your hands turn into clag sticks. So flatten a handful of rice into a circle in your hand, about a finger thick. Then place one large spoon of the filling in the center and slowly work the rice around into a cup. add some more rice to cover the filling and smooth into a ball in your hands. Place on a lined baking tray and repeat until the mix is finished. Now roll each ball on the egg and then in breadcrumbs. Repeat until you have two trays of golden spheres.

Bake in a 180degree oven for 30-40 minutes until the oil in the filling has cooked worked its way out, heating the balls from the inside out. They should become burnished golden planets hovering on your oven trays. Leave on warm until ready to come crashing down to your plate.

JG

The Right Rice

16/05 THE RIGHT RICE

"...when in doubt, always follow your nose."

 

When your eyes are fixed on the future and your heart is set far from you its easy to get lost. I'm finding that the more I try to focus the harder it is to see, and easier the distractions. When in doubt, always follow your nose. Trust your instincts. Those primal fridge foraging instincts that turn measly leftovers into a considered meal. This recipe is a return to form, or lack thereof.

The distractions of trying to please everyone and make culinary perfection  is consuming and often hindering. Stop showing off precious. There is a mix of flavors here that I trust and like, and have been combined without any flair. And in the end made something I didn't expect and honestly would set out to make again. Don't fuss or panic, all you have to do is decide what to do with the ingredients given to you. All of a sudden "Oh, it's that way!" and there's the road again... going on and on.

 

Ingredients (all approximate) - To be honest the quantities are up to you

2 Cups Rice (cooked, cold)
2 Lemons
50g Goats Cheese
2 tsp Nigella Seeds
2 Large Mushrooms
1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/2 White Onion
1 Cup Raisins
Vinegar
Salt + Pepper
Olive Oil

 

What I did - 

There is less method here, and more improvisation. Just the way kitchen adventures should be, the trick is to find combinations that work and can be thrown together when there is nothing else alive in the fridge.

First start by boiling the kettle - make yourself a strong tea - and soak the raisins to re-plump (with a splash of vinegar to kick their sweetness back). In a large mixing bowl break up the rice so that there are no cold clumps. Slice the mushrooms into feathery thin slices. The onion into similar fragments. Bash the walnuts into fork-able chunks. and toss through the rice. Sprinkle the nigella seeds and crumble the goats cheese before mixing through again.

Zest the lemon into fluorescent strands over the bowl then squeeze out the juice pips and all (unless you are pedantic about this, or generously making for company). Douse in a slick of olive oil and rain down a dust storm of pepper. Finally strain the raisins and squeeze out the excess water, then add to the bowl before the penultimate tumble. Mix it all together and only if you feel there isn't enough from the goats cheese - add some salt.

Transfer to a nicer bowl and eat directly. With company just give them another fork and share the bowl. Sometimes laziness is agreeable - but this should give you some energy to get back on the horse.

JG

 

Crack'd Pavlova

09/05 CRACK'D PAVLOVA

"...then forget about falling from grace"

Nobody's perfect, what do you expect. I try my best, but feel that falling from grace carries a fragile elegance. There's nothing wrong with embracing a free fall, it can bring you back to reality, and its ugly to fight it. All well and good, but this is a cake. A cake which flourishes in the fall. Like its poised namesake, the meringue leaped and fell, landing in a broken heap. Violated by the visceral blood of the berries. Such dramatic description is in honour of the theatrical muse it was invented for.

The collision of the shattered egg-white and the soft cream carries the lightest flavor -  submissive only to the strength of the dark berries. Without pain there is no beauty and always relishing the flamboyance of the dark side - Maleficent, Darth Maul, Grace Jones - this subversive taste is hugely attractive. Let yourself fall, living is a beautiful mess.

Ingredients (not-so-approximate) - 

5 Egg Whites
300g Castor Sugar
1 tsp White Vinegar
2 tsp Corn Flour
1 tsp Vanilla
300ml Cream
Mixed Berries/fruits (fresh)


What I did - Oven preheated to 180degrees

This recipe is coming from someone who as a child never warmed to Pavlova, and avoided ever since. However, I realized that I like all the elements separately and am persistent when challenged. Saying that this is an amalgamation of various one-and-only recipes, and worked crackingly. 

The base for any variant of Pavlova is egg whites, sugar and cream. The flavors and extras are all dependent on what you have at hand. So this version happens to be a gorgeously Eton-mess-esque vanilla berry version. There should be no rules when it comes to flavor and rarely ever repeat.

The oven needs to be preheated, and then the meringue can be started. Its not that hard, but having a stand mixer helps remove any stress of failure - the most unhelpful ingredient of any kitchen. Whip the egg whites and vanilla into a stiff, frothy cloud. Then on a high speed trickle the sugar in in a slow sandy stream, the whites will become enameled and glossy quickly. Once the sugar is combined, add the white vinegar and corn flour - this helps the whites to cook firmly without unwanted moisture.

Line a baking tray and flatten the glossy cloud of meringue into an even disc - not neat, but an even thickness. Slide it into the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 150degrees, baking for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 120degrees for a further 45 minutes. The sign that the bake is working is if there is no change in shape, but the white gloss should turn into a chalky bone. Turn the oven off and leave the door half open until the meringue is completely cooled.

Turn the meringue disc out onto whatever elven serving dish you can get your hands on. Let the chalky dome collapse and peel off the baking parchment. Now for the topping, whip the cream with a handful of berries in so that they are bashed into submission and pigment the cream with flecks of colour. Spatula onto the crushed cloud then crown with the ruby berries*.

Let it rest in the fridge for an hour or letting the layers fuse. There is no point trying to serve this gracefully, spoon into bowls. Your mouth will recognize the fragility.

*The berries are macerated a la italia, in a slug of equal parts dark balsamic vinegar and sugar. 

JG

American Dream Cookie

29/04 AMERICAN DREAM COOKIE

It's a mythical thing, the perfect American cookie. Recipes like enduring myths tend to change and take on the life of those making them. This recipe is no different, it is in part inspired by a close friends prefect cookie recipe, but has been altered to accommodate my raisin obsession. The raisins were implanted in my head during a long day in San Francisco Bay, where I had the cookie I had always imagined. A big oat filled country cookie flecked with dark raisin beads.

Here it is in all its Dolly Parton hometown glory, I'm not sure if that sentence makes sense even to me. American life. American Dream. Things are not always as they seem... Try some, buy some. 

Ingredients (not-so-approximate) - 

2 1/3 Cup Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 Cups Castor Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (Muscavado/Dark)
175g Butter
2 Large eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Oats
1 Cup Raisins

What I did - 

Its best to start with everything you need at hand, strewed across the kitchen counter like its posing for a Home & Garden centrefold. Just makes the wholesome cookie cooking experience more straightforward and as rhythmically calming as it should be. Also this recipe wont work without the right ingredients, and there is nothing more frustrating than some molten lumps in the oven.

With a good stand mixer (preferably red and named after Nigella) or a strong beating arm combine the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. There will be flecks from the dark sugar, but it is an essential part of the nutty sweetness. Add the vanilla and eggs (one at a time if doing by hand to make your work easier) until completely beaten through and slightly aerated - at the very least not a thick gloop. Now its time to stir in all the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda & salt. Stir gently first so there isn't a flour atom bomb suddenly enveloping the kitchen. Once its less airborne beat firmly until it becomes a dark golden cohered dough.

Here its time to add the 'bits' which for these rustic biscuits takes the form of a dense cup of rolled oats and another of plump raisins. You can substitute and add anything at this stage, other fruits, nuts, spices, chocolate. Just be mindful of not making the dough too dry. Use an ice-cream scoop to make perfect half spheres and arrange them on a lined baking tray*. Make sure they have enough space to grow in the oven, about 5cm between each one.

Bake for 15 minutes in a well heated oven (180degrees). They should be golden with a slightly darker bottom, give them a few more minutes to tan if they look too pale. Rest them on a cooling rack. Don't put them in a tin until they're completely cooled or they will perspire and no one likes a sweaty cookie.

Be proud of your home-grown (baked) family recipe (handed over at gunpoint) country (suburban) cookies.

*These can be frozen for about two weeks, just add an extra 5 minutes baking time for defrosting.

JG