Recent Posts
-
Admin
Apr
24
A greeting from Melbourne
April 24, 2007 | 14 Comments
in our latest postcard.
Our Postcards Series is about extending a handshake across cyberspace. Read about it here.
Please accord a warm welcome to our guest contributors. They will try to respond to comments and questions.
It’s autumn Down Under. For those of us in the Northern Hemishphere who find it hard to wrap our heads around summers in December and winters in June, here’s some information on the weather and seasons in Australia.
While her cricket team is trashing everyone that comes in its path at the Cricket World Cup, Ellie, the Kitchen Wench brings us some sweet tidings and a postcard that evokes her beautiful and diverse land. This gal has a dangerously addictive blog. Her creations are scrumptious, and she’s got a fun, really laidback style that makes her one of our favourite bloggers.
This postcard was written by Ellie for the Jugalbandi Postcard Series.
Picture by Kevin Connors from Morguefile.com
Come on over, we are firing up the barbie…
Though I am fiercely proud of my Korean heritage, I have always maintained that my home is Australia, and that I cannot envisage living anywhere else in the world. Tucked away in our own little corner of the world, this country is about as extreme as you could get – wet leafy rainforests, tall alpine ranges, beautiful golden beaches and blistering red deserts. If you’re looking for contrasts then Australia has it in spades.
One thing that any tourist who has been to Australia will tell you is that we’re a friendly bunch. Despite Sydneys reputation for being ever so slightly snobby, or Melbournians being misconceived as a surly bunch who wear nothing but black and drink coffee, we love to get together with neighbours, friends and family and kick back, possibly with a beer in hand and the barbie (Aussie slang for a barbeque) fired up with a couple of snags, chops, kebabs and steaks chucked on to feed the troops once all the socializing has fuelled their appetites.
Despite our immense love of food, there are few dishes I know of that are regarded as being absolutely Australian as the humble pavlova. Though there is ongoing debate as to whether it was actually created in Australia or New Zealand, it is a dessert that very few Australians would fail to recognize once in front of them and in summertime it will make repeated appearances on many kitchen tables across the country. Named after Russian prima ballerina, Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1881-1931), this meringue-based cake was given her name because of Anna’s own lightfootedness when dancing onstage.
The typical pavlova consists of a large meringue that is the base to this dish, lathered in freshly whipped cream which is then topped with a variety of fruits, usually sliced strawberries and kiwis, though you should feel free to use any variety of warmer climate fruits – I’ve seen pavs with mangoes, pink guava and passionfruit as well as berries, cherries and grapes. I’d steer clear of using hard fruits like apple though as the firmness of the flesh tends to detract from the experience of this soft, cloud-like dessert.
Though my pav has a brown crust, pavlova purists declare that a true pav should be white, making sure to remove it from the oven before it started to brown.
The recipe I used for this post is a slight step away from the traditional, by the famed Aussie chef Bill Granger from his cookbook ‘Every Day‘. The resulting dessert is light and airy, and the yoghurt cream is delightfully fluffy with just a slight tang as to help balance the sweetness of the meringue and berries. If you’re going to a barbeque and looking for a dessert to bring, I urge you to give this a try as I guarantee that it will be a hit with young and old 
Ah heck, even if you have no barbeque to go to, give it a try – I dare you to make it last longer than a day in your kitchen 
Pavlova with yoghurt cream and strawberries
(recipe from ‘Every Day‘ by Bill Granger)
Ingredients
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g caster sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp arrowroot
2 tsp white vinegar
To serve
250mL thickened cream, whipped
125mL natural yoghurt, lightly whipped with a fork
250g strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
1 tbsp pure icing sugar
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Draw a circle approx. 20cm in diameter on the baking paper and set it aside for now.
2. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla extract into a clean, dry bowl till stiff peaks form. Add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition, then continue to beat till the meringue is thick, glossy and fairly firm. Beat in the cornflour, arrowroot and vinegar.
3. Pile the meringue onto the baking paper inside the drawn circle, slightly smooth into shape then put it in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120 degrees C. Bake the pav for 1 hr and 20 mins, or till the outside is firm but not browned.
4. Once cooked, turn off the oven, prop open the door with a wooden spoon and leave till the pav has completely cooled.
5. Gently fold together the whipped cream and yoghurt, then spoon on top of the cooled pav. Toss the strawberries in the icing sugar and gently arrange on top and serve
A snooze after that great meal. Koala Bear. by Kevin Connors from Morguefile.com
Australia in pictures.
Australian cuisine.
The aboriginal boomerang.
Filed Under: australia, lifestyle, MUSINGS, pavlova, postcard, Postcards, Strawberry, TRAVEL, vegetarian recipes
|
14 Comments
Thanks for inviting me to contribute the postcard from Australia
It gave me a chance to do a bit of research into my food as well – I knew the pav was considered Australian, but now I know why 
thanks for your contribution, ellie – b.
I love that Boomerang and Pavlova is yummy!:))
Ooh! to both the pavlova and the boomerang. And the koala’s a cutie! Will we still be as graceful and lightfooted as Anna after we’ve sampled this? LOL!
bee, thanks for singing in bollywood ishtyle
girl u had me ROFL 
) i am in my office right now, so will come back and check the post later. hugs to u for making my day 
wow beautiful recipe, love the writeup. Koala bear looks so huggable
Lovely post, Ellie, Bee n’ Jai.
The trivia behind the name of this dessert was a fun read and those koalas…..so sweet!
pavlova looks YUMMY! look at those cuddly koala bears, too cute! I agree with bee, Ellie sure does have a cool blog.
thanks
Hey Ellie, nice to meet you
lovely postcard. The Pavlova looks great and easy to make without the drama of a cheese cake 
i came here to confirm if there are one or two koalas
that pavlova looks yummy. thanks ellie and B-J.
so is this the last in the postcard series?? world cup final on saturday ..no guesses as to who is going to win it .
there are some more. – b.
[...] …MORE [...]
[...] …MORE [...]
awwwww the koala is soo cute
yes it is cute………luv it….