Nigella's Perfect Pav

So, as you know, I heart Nigella Lawson, she is so beautiful and lovely to watch on TV, very soothing and her show is very beautifully produced. A calming show. Anyways - one dish I'd seen her make, I believe on Nigella Bites, for her family, was a pavlova - a dish with a meringue base, topped with whipped cream and fruit of some sort. I'd wanted to make it, but it always fell back in my brain as a possible dessert option. But at the end of last week I FINALLY remembered I'd wanted to make it, so yesterday, I took a stab, following a recipe from Nigella's Forever Summer. cookbook.

First, heat the oven to 350 degrees while you make a meringue - whip egg whites, add sugar, a touch of cornstarch, a touch of vinegar. Mound on a parchment lined baking sheet.






Next, load the baking sheet into the oven and immediately drop the temp to 300 degrees. This shocks the meringue. Bake for 60-75 minutes until the sides and top are quite crisp, but the center feels like it will be squishy. (A paraphrase of her technical description). Leave the pav to cool in the oven with the door open.

Whip up 1 c of whipping cream (I added sugar, more on that later, unsweetened whipped cream grosses me out) and once the pav is cool, invert the meringue onto a flat serving dish, and mound the whipped cream on top. Then, top with berries or other fruit of your choice (Nigella recommends the more sour fruits - passionfruit in particular, I opted for strawberries and blueberries, am v. dull) and serve!

Notes - I definitely over-sugared at each step. The base and cream were WAY too sweet for my taste, although R loved it and probably would have run around the house like a screaming 3 year old if I'd let him eat more. Luckily, my strawberries were quite tart, or else I'd have barely been able to eat the dish. That said, I did enjoy it. I would definitely make again, and who knows, I may opt for more exotic fruit! As you can see in the picture, in the base, you get the crispy outer edge of the meringue, but the middle is squishy, almost like a marshmallow, but much nicer tasting. V. lovely, a much lighter dessert option for summer!