Coconut, Strawberry & Lemon Pavlova

The trauma and drama around the Strawberry market in Australia has quiet down a bit. The season is officially over in Queensland and New South Wales. The police is yet to identify the culprit. The copycats have been scared off. This means that the Strawberry season in Victoria has kicked off on a positive note. But despite all the positive marketing, encouraging people to consume strawberries again, people are still scared.

“We cannot allow “food terrorists” to dictate what we consume or let them damage the livelihood of hardworking farmers across the country, particularly when the simple act of cutting the fruit would alleviate any concerns about contamination. It’s a sign of just how soft and coddled we have become as a nation when an entire industry is sent into chaos thanks to the actions of a few demented drongos inserting needles into strawberries.” These lines were those of a prominent columnist in the local newspaper. For the last few weeks I have been diligently slicing and dicing strawberries for my daughter. We’ve been consuming the fruit at every given opportunity. And most of my bakings for the last two weeks involved some elements of strawberry. In that spirit I’ve decided to make a pavlova with strawberries. 

 

Before getting on with the recipe I am glad that the HF20 upgrade is now done and dusted. It sure has caused some major disruption to things over here. After my last post on the strawberry dramas in Australia I wasn’t sure when best to post another recipe. I’ve waited and waited and waited. Eventually I thought I will give it a try, tonight. Hopefully everything works fine. This morning I went to the supermarkets and was glad to see punnet of strawberries on the shelves of the fresh food section. A punnet is a small box for the gathering and sale of fruit and vegetables, typically small berries. The terminology is very typical to countries within the Commonwealth. This sight warmed my heart knowing that the growers might eventually break even from an otherwise devastating season.

 

Upon my arrival at home, I first checked the state of my strawberries in the backyard. For the last couple of years I’ve been lucky to be able to pick strawberries on a regular basis. I’ve got three large pots where I cultivate them. After a rather cold winter, I was glad to find out that the buds were green and lively again. But at this stage I am unsure whether I should get some new plants or give the current plants another chance for the third year runnings. I just hope that I won’t have another fight with the resilient snails that have been competing with my daughter to have the first bite at the strawberries as they start to ripe. 

 

For this post I’ve selected a pavlova. It is not really the season however I had a fair amount of egg whites that I’ve froze over the last two weeks. I thought it would be good to do something with them. Did you know that both egg whites and yolks can be frozen successfully for up to a year? The key is to treat them right from the time you freeze them to the time you thaw them and use them. I was glad that once defrosted the egg white could be used and manipulated just as the fresh ones. The first time I attempted baking a pavlova I completed missed it and had to throw it away. But overtime I’ve mastered the technique. Now each time I bake it I’ve managed to get the crispy meringue shell on the outside surrounding a sweet marshmallow centre. Added with a rich cream filling and the strawberries, my pavlovas didn’t last long. Everything was eaten shortly after dinner.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Bon appétit!

 

INGREDIENTS

 

• 5 egg whites
• 280g caster sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 85g desiccated coconut
• Little flaked coconut
• 300ml double cream
• 50g icing sugar
• Zest and juice 2 lemons 
• 200g strawberries, defrosted if frozen

METHOD

1. Whisk whites to stiff. Gradually whisk in sugar to stiff again, then whisk in the cornflour and vinegar. 
   
2. Heat oven to 120C gas. Line baking sheets with baking parchment and draw 3 rectangles, roughly 25cm x 12cm. Fold in the desiccated coconut and pipe, or spread, the meringue mix into 3 even rectangles. 
     
3. Scatter flaked coconut over one of the meringues and bake for 1 hr, then turn off oven and leave in there with the door shut for 1 hr. Leave to cool.
   
4. Whisk cream, icing sugar and lemon zest and juice to a thick consistency. 
 
5. Spread half over one meringue base (not the one with flaked coconut on top – save that for the top), and scatter over half the strawberries. Sit second meringue base on top, spread with remaining cream and scatter with remaining strawberries.
     
6. Top with coconut-covered meringue and serve.