My First Pav

The Pavlova is something of a rite of passage in the life of any self-respected Aussie baker, so it seems particularly ironic that I tried my first Pav in Canada courtesy of a North Vancouver bakery, and then spent one year in Australia sampling a variety of pavs, but did not make my first one till I went back to Vancouver for another vacation. 

The recipe I followed was what looked to be (and proved to be) a solid winner from Taste.com.au. This served 7 happy people. 

• 6 (59g) eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 cups (270g) caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 300ml thickened cream
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar mixture, sifted
• Finely shredded rind and juice of 2 limes
• 2 Lady finger bananas, thinly sliced diagonally
• 3 golden kiwifruit, peeled, thinly sliced
• 2 starfruit, thinly sliced
• Pulp of 2-3 passionfruit

1. reheat oven to 120°C. Line an oven tray with foil.
2. Brush with melted butter and dust with cornflour, shaking off excess. Mark a 24cm-diameter circle on foil.
3. Use an electric mixer to whisk egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form.
4. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until meringue is thick and glossy and sugar dissolved. Rub a little meringue between fingers. If still "gritty" with sugar, continue to whisk until sugar dissolves.
5. Add cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and whisk until just combined.
6. Spoon meringue onto the foil, using the marked circle as a guide. Smooth sides and top of pavlova. Use a small spatula to forms little peaks around edge of pavlova.
7. Bake in oven for 11/2 hours or until pavlova is dry to the touch. Turn off oven. Leave pavlova in oven with the door ajar to cool completely. 
8. Use an electric mixer to whisk the cream and icing sugar in a medium bowl until firm peaks form.
9. Spoon cream onto the top of pavlova.
10. Pour lime juice into a ceramic or glass bowl. Add banana slices and toss to coat with juice. Drain. Decorate pavlova with banana, kiwifruit, starfruit, passionfruit and lime rind.

Given that I didn't use the traditional topping of Banana, Kiwi and Passionfruit, I skipped all of the italicised directions above and subbed with a pint of strawberries (roughly quartered), one mango (cubed), and some blueberries. 

Chinese Scallion Crepes

My favourite breakfast growing up, and one of those things that I would cook for family but no one else, really. For starters, I believe that in this point in life, I have more friends who would not go near dried salted shrimp than would wholeheartedly embrace it - and this dish goes heavy on that. It applies to most Chinese food in part because I just don't trust my palette on it, my palette has no degree of objectivity to it when it comes to Chinese cooking because what tastes good to me is dictated from birth by what my mother and grandmother cooked. 

But I digress. 

Here is a recipe for Chinese scallion & dried shrimp crepes. We used to make them solely out of a packet mix, which means that when I craved for them a while back, I worked backwards with some YouTube searching (Thanks Mum!) and a lot of trial and error to come to a recipe that when I taste it, brings me back to the kitchen countertop at home in Hong Kong, happily digging into a crepe before school. 

Chinese Scallion Crepes (Makes 4 medium crepes)

70 grams All-Purpose Flour
20 grams Tapioca Flour
160 ML Cold Water

1 egg (beaten)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 tps salt
1/2 tbs chicken powder
1 cup chopped scallions
40g finely chopped soaked dried shrimp

Mix the flours and cold water and pass through a sieve (it's a pain but you really don't want lumps) (now go and soak that poor sieve), add all the other ingredients. Mix well and don't let it sit (if you do, mix again). Ladle it into a hot, well oiled small flat pan. Spread out the batter evenly and let it stay there until you can move around the crepe. Then flip and cook until it turns golden and the edges are all crackly. 

Serve hot, with sriracha. 

Blueberry Tart

It started with one photo. I cannot give any credit to anything else, except this one photo, which popped up on my newsfeed as a sponsored post and I took one look and thought - yes.

I have to say, rarely do I start a new baking project with an image in mind, but this one, yes I did it for the photo. The fact that it tastes really really good is a bonus unto itself, but I have to admit, I did it for the photo opp. 

So googling based on what I knew about the image (tart, blueberries, donna hay), I found this divine recipe. This in turn triggered a panicked runaround looking for a "33 x 9" loose-bottomed rectangular pan, which proved impossible on short notice on a Saturday afternoon, so I then used two 20cm round, loose-bottom tart pans instead. 

(Recipe from Donna Hay)

blueberry and lemon mascarpone tart

• 500g mascarpone
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
• ½ cup (80g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
• 375g blueberries
• icing (confectioner’s) sugar, for dusting

sweet shortcrust pastry

• 1½ cups (225g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
• 125g cold butter, chopped
• ½ cup (80g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon iced water

To make the pastry, place the flour, butter and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor (I used my KitchenAid, it was fine) and process in short bursts until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, add the egg yolk and vanilla. Add the iced water and process until the dough just comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and bring together to form a ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF) (and around 160 for fan-forced). Roll the pastry out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper to 3mm thick. Line a lightly greased 33cm x 9cm loose-bottomed rectangular tart tin (or two 20cm diameter loose-bottomed round tart tin) with the pastry. Trim the edges and prick (not drill a hole) the base with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper, fill with baking weights or rice and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and the weights (without punching in the loose bottom by sheer oven mitt hand clumsiness and destroying a tart) and bake for a further 10 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool. While the tart is baking, make the filling. Place the mascarpone, lemon and icing sugar in a bowl and mix well to combine. Spread onto the base of the cooled tart shell, top with the blueberries and dust with icing sugar to serve (I don't think it needs the extra sugar!). 

One more thing: Thanks to @MasterChefAu for regramming this as part of the #MyTop24Dish selections. Watch the premiere of Series 6 this Monday May 5 at 7:30 on Channel Ten!

Blue Cheese & Cracked Pepper Gougères

Pouffff.

The thing with Australian autumns is that instead of being cool and crisp, it rains. Mercilessly so. And there is something about this relentless rainy arvo that has prompted me to use the wedge of beautiful Hunter Valley blue cheese to make these beautiful blue cheese & cracked pepper gougères - which I proceeded to eat warm for a late lunch with a rocket salad. 

The recipe comes from The Smitten Kitchen cookbook and is something I've flagged since I first read the collection. No deviations were taken. 

Black Pepper & Blue Cheese Gougeres

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup white wine

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for sprinkling

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for sprinkling

• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese

• 4 large eggs

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a medium saucepan bring the butter, water and wine to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add flour, pepper and salt, and stir until blended and smooth. Reheat pan over medium heat and stir the mixture vigorously until it forms a ball.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer and cool slightly. Add the blue cheese and beat on low until combined. Add the first egg and beat until fully incorporated. Scrap down the sides of the bowl then repeat the process with the rest of the eggs. Then scoop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Sprinkle each with sea salt and pepper and bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve warm or at room temperate.

Spicy Tomato Sauce Chicken

For Lil, who wanted the recipe. Nothing fancy here, just a good, hardy winter dish best served with a thick-cut char-grilled sourdough. 

For the tomato sauce

2 cans diced tomato
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
Handful of diced speck or other fatty Italian cured pork cut
1 small onion
1 red chilli + some red pepper flakes
Handful of Basil
Either 2 cloves garlic or use garlic EVOO
A good glug of EVOO
Dash of: Paprika, Pepper, Cinnamon, Fish Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
A large knob of salted, cultured butter

For the chicken

Either break down a whole chicken OR
4 thigh fillets, 4 wings, 2 drumsticks (or whatever will fit in your roasting pan)

Preheat the oven to around 200C.

Start with heating the oil in the pot, then throw in the garlic, fine chopped chili, basil, minced onion and diced speck. Throw in the sugar after the onion to caramelize it a little. Saute until it smells heavenly. Dump in the two cans of tomato, and half a can of water, let boil then turn the heat down to let it simmer. Season to taste - you can keep adjusting as you go. I then let it simmer for about 40 mins, using a potato masher to "mash" the sauce. While the sauce is cooking...

Make sure meat comes down to room temperature, dry, then rub with salt, let stand briefly. Brown meat on stovetop, then arrange it evenly on the roasting pan. 

When tomato sauce is ready, stir in the butter. Pour tomato sauce, now reduced. smooth and well-seasoned onto meat, covering it as well as you can. Cover the top with foil, I usually allow it space so it doesn't actually come into contact with the tomato sauce. Bake for 45 minutes. 

Serve with warm, grilled sourdough (more butter if you'd like), and if you're really feeling it, sprinkle feta on top and let melt while the dish is still hot.