Pistachio Pavlova

Pistachio Pavlovas with Lemon Curd and Mulberries

Do you tweet? I'm an occasional tweeter, but do follow (stalk?) lots of users (not sure I like where this is going...) that 140 character limit produces real gems, witty, amusing and best of all, concise. A perfect example turned up in my feed a while ago, a retweet from a friend, an excellent tweeter herself. It was from Ryan Smith @hotforamish (not sure that I need to credit a tweet but in the interest of avoiding the social media minefield...) it went like this;

"Why can't I look a gift horse in the mouth? Is that where he keeps the gift? Is it a surprise? I'M SO EXCITED NOW!!!" 

It made me laugh but also scarily reflected my thought process.  Take this recipe, I was fruit and vegetable shopping and was totally distracted by the rows and rows of stacked berry punnets.  Please board my train of thought below;

"Wow mulberries, grabs 3 punnets, great colour, purple, purple goes with green... pistachios, pistachio meringues... left over yolks, hmm, lemon curd works perfectly with blackberries must work with mulberries too, pistachio pavlovas with lemon curd and mulberries. I'M SO EXCITED NOW!!!"

Not 140 characters and not at all concise but there are similarities! The mulberries were a little sour, but with the tangy lemon curd, whipped cream and super sweet meringue they were perfect. My intention was for cute, individual serves, but these are just too big, an excellent excuse to pick up 2 spoons and share.

Little wonder grocery shopping takes me ages :)

Pistachio Pavlova

85g shelled pistachios
1 tsp cornflour
1tsp white vinegar
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
300ml thickened cream, whipped
3 punnets of mulberries
lemon curd, recipe below

• preheat oven to 180ºC • line a tray with baking paper, tip pistachios onto the tray and toast in the oven for around 10 minutes, shake the tray after 5 minutes, keep an eye on them, if they burn it's all over! • leave to cool for 5 minutes then whiz them in a food processor until coarsely ground

• reduce oven temp to 120ºC, reduce oven temp to 120ºC, REDUCE OVEN TEMP TO 120ºC ( I may have, ahem, forgotten this step once or twice...)

• in a large bowl whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, gradually add the sugar and whisk until you have a compact, glossy meringue • fold in all but a couple of tablespoons of the pistachios • in a cup or tiny bowl mix together the cornflour and vinegar then fold through the meringue • line a couple of trays with baking paper and spoon 8 mounds of meringue onto the trays, flatten slightly with the back of a spoon, making slight indents in the centre to hold all that curd and cream (!) • sprinkle with the reserved pistachio rubble and bake for 45 minutes, turn the oven off and leave meringues inside to cool and dry

to assemble

• place a meringue on a serving plate 
• top with a dessert spoon of lemon curd, spread almost to the edge of the meringue
• top that with a heaped tablespoon of whipped cream, spread almost to the edge of the curd
• select 4 or 5 of the smaller mulberries and place them on the cream
• place another meringue on top and repeat, you can up the volume of curd, cream and mulberries on this layer, the taller the prettier
• dust with icing sugar, place 2 spoons on the plate (remember, sharing!) and serve

pavlova recipe adapted from BBC GoodFood


Lemon Curd

4 egg yolks, strained
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
80ml lemon juice
100g caster sugar
80g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (well any shape really :))

• in a small pan combine the yolks, lemon zest, juice and sugar, whisk together and stir over a low heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon

• take off the heat and add the butter a piece at a time, stir after each addition until smooth

• pour into a sterilised jar, press a small piece of plastic wrap or grease proof paper on the surface of the curd to stop it forming a skin (eewww) seal and store in the fridge

recipe adapted from marthstewart.com

Pavlova fit perfectly with the theme of this month's sweet adventures blog hop, meringue mania. Claire at Claire K Creations is hosting this month, click on the link to check out Claire's hazelnut meringue with strawberries.

As always it's great to hear from you, nice to know I'm not just talking to myself!  Link for comments below.