PAVLOVA WITH CHANTILLY CREAM AND BUTTER TOASTED ALMONDS

                I will go on record and say that this is a great recipe for pavlova. The best.  It has a meringue with a delicate, crunchy crust and a soft marshmallow-like centre. The cream topping is a flavourful Chantilly cream that goes great with the fruit, especially the strawberries. The almonds? Well, they are buttered and then toasted. That gives them an incredible flavour. The dessert melted in our mouths. Literally. It was sweet, creamy, fruity, smooth, soft, heavenly. And it's a great dessert for holiday time! 


Ingredients:

4 large egg whites at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cornstarch

sliced fresh fruit of your choice for topping
some butter cut up in small pieces

whole blanched almonds for topping, notes on preparation bellow

Chantilly cream for topping, recipe below

Directions:

It's important to cook the pavlova at a low temperature for a long time. This and beating the egg whites extraordinarily well insures success.

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a pencil, draw an 8-inch diameter circle on the paper. Turn the paper over so that the pencil marking rests on the baking sheet side. The circle will still be visible.
• Add the granulated sugar into the bowl of a food processor.  Beat it until the granules become superfine and somewhat powder-like: this is superfine or caster sugar. If you can buy it ready-made, go ahead and get it, but this is an easy, convenient way to make your own. Caster sugar is best for meringues because its fine granules dissolve quickly.
• Preheat the oven to 225° F.
• Make sure that the bowl of your mixer is dry and very clean. Place the egg whites into it. They should be free of any presence of yolk.
• Begin beating on medium.  When the egg whites start to get frothy and form soft peaks, turn the speed up to high and add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. After all the sugar has been added, continue to beat until the egg whites are very stiff and shiny. If you think the meringue is done, beat it some more. I took a short, refreshing nap while the mixer was beating my egg whites. Recommended!  
• The meringue should be smooth, and the sugar should be fully dissolved so that the meringue doesn't feel gritty to the touch but is instead smooth and stiff; it should look shiny.
• At this point add the vanilla and beat to mix. 
• Remove the bowl from the mixer, add the lemon juice and fold well.  
• Sift the cornstarch over the meringue and fold that in as well. 
• Place the meringue on the prepared tray and smooth it into a round shape using the pencilled circle as a guide. An offset spatula will help with this job. 
• Form a small indentation in the middle for placing the cream into once the meringue finishes baking. 
• Place the meringue in the oven and bake it for one and a half to two hours, until the top of the meringue feels dry and somewhat hard.  
• Turn off the oven and let the pavlova shell stay in there until it has cooled. 
• Take out the shell. It will probably have one or two cracks, and that's fine.  The outside will feel firm, but looking through the cracks you will be able to see the marshmallow-like interior. 
• The shell can be stored on its parchment in a cool dry place until ready to use.  You can make the shell one day ahead of time.

To decorate:

Gently remove the parchment paper while sliding the shell onto a serving platter.  Place the Chantilly cream on top and gently spread it all over.  Top with the almonds and fruit, creating a decorative pattern.

TO PREPARE THE ALMONDS:

Spread whole blanched almonds on a baking sheet and top them with pieces of butter.  Stir them around with your hands so that the butter covers most of the surface of the almonds. Toast them in the oven until they begin to get golden.  Keep a close watch because once they start to get golden they are on their way to getting burned, so it's important that they are removed from the oven before that happens. Butter gives the almonds a wonderful and totally different flavour than plain toasted almonds. It also makes them appear shiny.

CHANTILLY CREAM:

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream, really cold

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon Grand Marnier

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

• The best-whipped cream is made with very cold ingredients.
• Refrigerate the bowl and the whisk attachment of your mixer until they are cold. Bring them out and reassemble the mixer.
• Add the cream and Grand Mariner. 
• Add the vanilla. Vanilla is the bacon of the baking world. It makes just about any baked good taste that much better. This is an analogy, no substituting bacon for vanilla ... unless ... If you've tried it, let me know of your experience, okay?  
• Beat on medium until frothy.
• Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat on medium-high until soft peaks form, about 3 to 4 minutes.  
• Do not overbeat; you will know when it is done because it will look nice and thick. If you continue beating, the mixture will start to get grainy, and you will start to develop butter. Or so I have been told, and I should really try it one of these days just in case it's true. 
• This cream is absolutely delicious and it will remain thick; chantilly cream doesn't tend to get watery like regular whipped cream because it contains sugar.

The recipe for the meringue is adapted from "The Joy of Baking.com" 

LOVE and a PINEAPPLE- ORANGE- COCONUT SMOOTHIE

In her novel “Love,” Toni Morrison explores the different facets of love, its proximity to hate, and its destructive effects on the psyche when it is missing from one’s life, especially the life of a child. She examines the different varieties of love: self-love, romantic love, parental love, platonic love, and love that is sadomasochistic or perverted; if it's sadomasochistic or perverted it's not actual love is it? But it can mistakenly be referred to as such.  

The novel, written with exceptional artistry both in style and content is a book one needs to read at least twice in order to fully understand its meaning.  

"Love" is set in the fictional town of Silk, located somewhere on the Southern East Coast. According to the plot, the town was once famous for Cosey’s Hotel and Resort, “the best and best-known vacation spot for coloured folk” on the Southern East Coast. The resort was built during the depression by the larger than life Bill Cosey, and it thrived because it offered prosperous black clients a place to vacation in style without fear of discrimination. Following integration, the resort began to lose business. Bill Cosey died, and eventually, the resort closed. 

What remains of the Coseys is the large house that Bill Cosey had built for his family. This family includes his daughter-in-law May, who dies deranged, his granddaughter Christine who was sent away and stayed away until she returned penniless, and his second wife Heed, whom Cossey married when she was eleven years old.  Looking over everyone is the spirit of L, the former cook of the Coseys, who provides the novel's commentary. L is the philosopher and moral centre of the novel. 

The action takes place in the 1990’s, but the characters reminisce of time spent in the presence of Bill Cosey, and we see how he influenced their lives and how he continues to be an influence even some 20 years after his death. We also see how close the distance between love and hate can be. Christine and Heed, who had been loving childhood friends, had a wedge driven between them by the adults around them when Bill Cosey decided to take Heed as his wife. Their relationship turns to one of hate, and it is not until a newcomer, a girl named Junior Viviane enters their lives, that events occur which melt their hate instantly, and they realize how strong the love each has for the other still is. This knowledge comes late, after their lives have been wasted from lack of nurturing and love.   

In contrast, Romen, a teenage character in the novel, has in his life the guidance and love of an intact family. The guidance he receives moulds his character in such a way that he acts heroically when a difficult opportunity presents itself.  

The character of Vida is Romen's grandmother. She likes pineapple and in her honour, I decided to make a pineapple smoothie. In this way, I am contributing to Novel Food, the literary/culinary event hosted by Simona from Briciole.  Read something, cook something inspired by the work, and then write a post about it. That’s Novel Food! HOW I MAKE A PINEAPPLE "LOVE" SMOOTHIE: Ingredients: 2 cups fresh pineapple cut into chunks 2 oranges, peeled, broken up into segments, seeds removed 1 banana, peeled, cut into chunks ½ cup Greek yoghurt 1 cup coconut milk 2 teaspoons shredded coconut Directions: Add all the ingredients except the shredded coconut into a blender.  Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and sprinkle the top with shredded coconut. IT'S REFRESHING!!!  And it's smooth as silk, which reminds me of Silk, the fictional town in which the novel "Love" is set.

TROPICAL FRUIT SALAD

This fruit salad which I served as dessert was a big hit at my house!  If you're looking for a quick dessert, this is it: fresh, healthy, sweet, delicious! Everyone had seconds.  There was only a small portion left, and it got polished off the next day for breakfast.  Here's how to make Tropical Fruit Salad:

Ingredients:

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into chunks
1 mango, peeled and sliced into chunks
1/4 cantaloupe, peeled and sliced into chunks
3 kiwis, peeled and sliced into rounds
1 pound of strawberries, hulled and cut in half if they are too large
2 bananas, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons honey, or use a vegan substitute
1/2 cup sweetened coconut,
1/2 cup dates, pitted and cut in pieces

Directions:

• In a large bowl combine all the pineapple, mango, and cantaloupe.  This is the base. 
• Mix the strawberries and kiwis and add on top of the base.  
• Cover and refrigerate the bowl if you want to make the fruit salad ahead of time for company.  
• Right before serving, slice the bananas and add. You want to add the bananas at the last minute, otherwise they will become mushy and start to get discolored.  
• Carefully fold in the dates, lemon juice, honey, and coconut.  
• Guess what?  That's it!  You're done!  Serve and enjoy! 

ORANGES FILLED WITH SORBET, FOR HALLOWEEN OR FOR ANY TIME

On the menu at a favourite restaurant is an item I usually can't resist: a frozen lemon filled with lemon sorbet. Delicious! A refreshing dessert for sharing! I think it's also a nice idea to fill oranges with sorbet.

If  Halloween is close by, why not cut out jack-o'-lantern faces on the oranges before filling them up?  Big and little kids will love them, and little kids will find carving an orange is lots easier than carving a pumpkin!  The oranges will be my Halloween offering to my nephew Alex, who I am sure will be very happy to receive them.  

Ingredients:

1. 4 navel oranges
2. 2 pints softened mango or strawberry sorbet (or use another flavour you like)  
3. some mint leaves

Directions:

• Slice off the top quarter of each orange and reserve to use as a lid. Using a spoon or small knife, carefully scoop out the interior of the oranges. Reserve the flesh for another purpose.
• If you will serve the oranges for Halloween, draw a jack-o'-lantern face on each orange.  Cut out the features with a small, sharp knife.
• Pack each orange with sorbet, and top it with its "lid." 
• Transfer the oranges to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place them in the freezer until they are firm.  This should take at least 30 minutes.
• Before serving, top each orange with some mint leaves.  These can be secured with toothpicks.

FRUIT WITH HONEY AND MINT FLAVORED GREEK YOGHURT

Here's something very simple, quick and really delicious to make: fruit with Greek yoghurt, mint and honey.  

I used honeydew, peaches and strawberries.

I love this way of serving fruit. On warm summer evenings, it makes a very nice late supper. The mint and fruit cool down the palette, and the honey sweetens it up. 

This was something my father often requested as his night-time snack.  Eating it reminded him of his boyhood in Greece when his mother offered similar fare for supper. Dad always finished off his meal with a cup of tea. It didn't matter how hot it was outside; his habit was to eat the cold fruit and yoghurt and then sip a warm cup of tea flavoured with lemon and honey.  During all of his 87 years, he definitely had a sweet tooth. 

Lemon, honey, yoghurt, mint and sweet summer fruit: some of the flavourful gifts the Mediterranean soil offers for our enjoyment.  The earth gives but it also takes. Father died a while ago, a sudden passing. May he rest in peace. Εἰρήνη πᾶσι. Peace be with all.

A ladybug visited while I was picking mint 

Ingredients:

• nice summer fruit such as cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches, mango, strawberries or blackberries.
• 2 cups Greek yoghurt 
• 1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped. Leave some whole for decoration 
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of honey
• optional: some chopped walnuts or sliced almonds 

Directions:

Clean and cut up the fruit into serving pieces. Arrange it on a platter.
Place the yoghurt in a serving bowl, drizzle honey over it and sprinkle the mint on top. Also, offer some nuts on the side: Chopped walnuts and sliced almonds would be nice. 
Bring the yoghurt, the nuts if using, and the fruit to the table and serve it to your friends and family.

P.S. Instead of honey, maple syrup can be used.

Apple Streusel Cake

Ingredients for the batter:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
rind from one large lemon
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Ingredients for the fruit:

3 or 4 baking apples (enough to completely cover the batter)
Juice of one lemon

Ingredients for the streusel:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Directions:

Have the ingredients at room temperature before beginning to make the cake. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease a square pan or a round cake pan.

Make the streusel topping:

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, almonds and ground cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

Prepare the fruit topping:

Peel the apples and cut them in quarters. Slice each quarter lengthwise into four pieces. Place the apples in a bowl, pour the lemon juice over them and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. The lemon juice will give a wonderful flavour to the apples and it will also prevent them from browning while the batter is being made.

Make the batter:

• Cream the butter. 
• Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the vanilla and lemon peel. 
• Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add the flour in three batches, alternating with the milk and ending with the flour. Do not over-beat, beat only until combined.
• In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
• Very gently, fold the egg whites into the batter in two additions. 
• Spread the batter onto the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
• Arrange the apples evenly on the batter. 
• Sprinkle the streusel topping over the apples.
• Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
•  Remove from the oven and let the cake cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

CRANBERRY SALAD GELATINE MOULD

Experiment with different shapes of moulds. You can also use a Bundt cake mould. 

I'm going retro with this recipe, but I am hoping that one day it will come back into style. When I first made cranberry salad mould, it was still au courant, but that was a while ago. Since then it has become an absolute staple at our Thanksgiving table. It's both sweet and tart, it's crunchy, and above all, it's really, really fruity. It reminds me of a Waldorf salad with cranberries. It's very retro! It's also very colourful, and it's very much requested by family come Thanksgiving. I discovered the recipe in a magazine many years ago, and I made it by following the recipe precisely. Well, as the years went by I changed a bit of this, I added a bit of that, and then I went ahead and lost the original recipe. So I guess the current version is half borrowed, half invented and half taken from someplace else. Yes, in my world of mathematics there can sometimes exist three halves to one whole. Anyway, everyone loves this cranberry mould, and every Thanksgiving folks make sure I'll be making it. Sometimes, someone asks for the recipe. My reply is usually a perplexed smile, not because I don't want to give away any archival recipe secrets, but because I don't have a specific cranberry mould recipe written down. So now that I have my very own blog, and now that Thanksgiving is upon us, and now that I am getting ready to make my cranberry mould for the big day, I've decided to get the ingredients together and to write down the recipe while I am making it. This is a really good idea. After all, I am getting older, and who knows, I might start forgetting things. What would happen to Thanksgiving if I couldn't remember how to make a decent cranberry mould? People would be sad. No one will love me during the holidays. The stress would be unbearable. Here's the recipe, written down and saved for posterity.

Ingredients:

2 (14 ounces each) cans of whole berry cranberry sauce
2 cups pure cranberry juice, no sugar 
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 (3 ounces each) packages of raspberry flavoured Jell-O
2 tablespoons of unflavoured gelatine
1/2 cup fresh pineapple cut up into small pieces 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1medium apple peeled, cored, and chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup of celery

Directions:

• Buy that nice, really tart organic cranberry juice that contains nothing but cranberries. That one is the best!  
• In a large saucepan combine the cranberry juice with the lemon juice and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the Jell-O and the gelatine, stirring with a whisk until they completely dissolve into the juice.
• To this add the cranberry sauce and keep stirring until it breaks up and mixes well with the warm liquid. Pour into a large glass container and place in the refrigerator. Keep an eye on it, and take it out of the refrigerator when it's almost set. 

• Now comes the time to mix with the rest of the ingredients. They must be mixed in when the sauce is almost set. This way they will adhere to the gelatine, and they will be evenly distributed. If you add them when the sauce is still in its liquid state, they will float to the top and stay there.
• Fold the pineapple into the cold cranberry sauce, gently mixing it well.  Add a little of the pineapple juice, not all of it.
• Add all the other ingredients one by one until they are well incorporated into that beautiful red mush.
• After everything is mixed well, pour it into a nice mould and place it back in the refrigerator.  Allow it to set completely.  It should be left in overnight.
• When you are ready to serve it, take the mould out of the refrigerator and let it rest in a warm bath for just a few minutes and only a few minutes. This will allow the gelatine to loosen easily from the mould. If it stays in the hot water a little too long, it will begin to liquefy.  
• Place a serving plate on top of the mould and carefully invert the salad onto the plate. It will look beautiful! You can decorate your serving plate with some greens or with additional fruit.  If you do not serve this right away, you can plate it a short while before dinner and then place it back in the refrigerator until it's time to bring it to the table. 
• The ingredients listed here fill my mould plus allow for a bit to be leftover. I cool that portion in a plain container and save it for later. What you see plated here tends to disappear quickly.

 I decorated with mums from my garden and with kumquats.  I used one of my favourite colours for mums, white with a blush of purple! Beautiful! The blush of purple didn't quite come through in the photo, but trust me, it looked wonderful; a beautiful variety of mum!