aAs a root-to-fruit cook, I like to practice what I call complete consumption, and whenever possible I like to eat the whole ingredient, including roots, skins, stems, leaves, and everything in between. My ultimate goal is to use up all the ingredients in one dish without leaving any by-products. While it’s easy to simply chop the kale stalks into small pieces so you can steam them with the leaves, sometimes more complicated cooking is required. For example, if you use egg yolk or white, you’ll need to find a use for the other. Meringue can be stored in an airtight container for 2 to 3 weeks.
Brown sugar pavlova or meringue
I actually wanted to put meringue on the menu at my restaurant. poco in bristolBut I didn’t want to waste the yolk either. So I came up with rhubarb and hibiscus muscovado pavlova and used the yolks to make rhubarb curd (the recipeand Video created by River Cottage, both available online). But for this column, I wanted to create something new, so I ended up serving this pavlova with brown banana curd, flambéed bananas, toasted coconut, and date syrup. You can add all of these as you like. Share that recipe. Next week with cards.
This Italian meringue recipe is pretty foolproof when made with dark, flavorful light brown sugar or white sugar. Make sure the egg bowl is squeaky clean. It’s easiest to bring the sugar to a boil using a thermometer, but if you don’t have one, you can test whether the sugar is hot enough by dropping a little hot syrup into a glass of cold water. Once it has reached temperature, form a soft ball. Then lift the ball out of the water and it will flatten out after a few seconds.
make 1 small pavlova or 4-6 meringues
3 egg whites – Save the egg yolks for making curd.
1 drop of lemon juice (option)
140g light brown white sugar
In a very clean, ideally metal bowl, whisk the egg whites and lemon juice until soft peaks form (use an electric whisk if you have one).
In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and 55ml of water to 115°C (see Introduction). This involves gently boiling for 4-5 minutes. Be careful not to let it boil. Slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites and whisk until fully combined and the mixture is very stiff.
To make the pavlova, pour the meringue mixture onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and spread out into a circle about 20cm wide and about 3cm to 5cm high. If making individual meringues, spoon 4 to 6 large meringues onto a tray.
Bake in the oven at 160C (140C fan)/325F/Gas 3 for 2 hours, then turn off the heat and leave the meringue in the oven until cool. Serve with your favorite toppings such as fruit, cream, or chocolate.
