If Pavlova is not the most delicious dessert of all time, I just don’t know what is. In general… I am a chocolate person. But I might have just found chocolate’s match in Pavlova. Pavlova is a New Zealand and/or Australian specialty, depending on your version of history, that involves a meringue based bottom and is usually topped with whipped cream and some delicious fruits — traditionally kiwis or passionfruit. The local Market Basket had no passionfruits in sight, so I went with some tasty kiwi for dessert tonight. I was not disappointed.
A note for all you eager chefs: MAKE THIS RECIPE THE NIGHT BEFORE. Because… I didn’t. I did that thing where I got really excited to make pavlova and then I bought all the ingredients and then I started making the recipe and THEN I read the directions. Upon which I found, as you will note, instructions like, “preheat oven 2 hours before you would like to begin” and, “leave in oven for at least 2 1/2 hours, or OVERNIGHT”. Clearly I started my pavlova like 43 minutes before our guests were supposed to arrive, so I fudged it a little bit. All said, it turned out DELICIOUS, and I strongly recommend trying, but it was a little underdone. Leaving it in the oven as long as they suggest lets the center cook slowly so it has a moist and chewy inside and light and crunchy exterior — just the heavenly combination pavlova is meant to have. Also, June Leeming, from whom this recipe originated, swears that preheating the oven in advance is essential to Pavlovian success. So do it.
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Pavlova, adapted from June Leeming via The Boston Globe Magazine
9 eggs, room temperature
1 pound superfine sugar
1 pint whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups fresh fruit, such as berries, kiwis or peaches
Set the oven at 300 degrees, with the rack positioned in the middle. Heat the oven for two hours. Just before you start to make the Pavlova, turn the oven up to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Separate the eggs and reserve the yolks for another purpose. In a bowl of a standing mixer with a whip attachment, beat the egg whites until the form stiff peaks and pull away from the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on high speed, add the sugar in a slow, steady stream and beat for 2 to 3 more minutes, until the peaks are glossy and smooth.
Spoon the meringue into a mounded circle, approximately 10 inches in diameter, on the baking sheet. With the back of the spoon, level off the top and sides to form a smooth disk. Set the meringue in the oven and turn it off. Leave the meringue there until it is crisp and cold, at least 2 1/2 hours (it is preferable to leave overnight). Don’t open the door while the Pavlova cooks.
Remove the meringue from the oven and let it sit in a cool, dry place before adding the toppings.
Whip the cream with the vanilla until soft peaks form. Spread whipped cream in an even layer over the Pavlova and place fresh on top.
**Note: Original recipe says this recipe feed TEN. We were five and nearly polished it off. Lessons: We are piglets and this recipe is delicious, so err on the side of plenty when making.
Enjoy! We did.
The Pavlova.
I have been on blogging hiatus as I just started a new job and have been busy at work. Now I begin anew, but unfortunately under sad circumstance.
December had me living for four weeks in a region in Haiti four hours southwest of the epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake — what was perhaps the deadliest in the country’s history. Before traveling to Haiti I was already well-versed in the country’s history of political and environmental instability. The poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti has been overwhelmed by disasters of all kinds, most recently the bombardment of four hurricanes that left the country bereft of tens of thousands of homes and 80% of its agricultural crop. Its infrastructure was already in a weakened spot when yesterday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit.
I have been working for an international community development non-profit called Haiti Projects, which aims to alleviate poverty in the rural Fond des Blancs region of the country. The organization has a number of different programs including a family planning clinic, community library, and Women’s Cooperative. I work primarily with the Cooperative, which provides much needed employment for over 80 women. The women work as a collective and make handcrafted knit and embroidered goods. The work of the organization has been incredibly successful in alleviating poverty in the region and was recently awarded an Allende Foundation Award alongside Partners in Health for its innovative work in community and economic development. Haiti Projects was also recognized in a front page feature of the Boston Globe. I have been incredibly excited about my new work and was thrilled to be able to travel to Haiti in December. I feel blessed that I was able to visit and see the beauty of the country and now deeply saddened and worried about the fates of the people whose lives touched me, however briefly, during my visit.
The President of the organization, Sarah Hackett, with whom I stayed when I was there in December, remains in Fond des Blancs. Emails to us back home have confirmed that she is alright but information on the damage to the region of Fond des Blancs and the well-being of our co-workers and their families and friends remains limited. I will try to update when I can on news from Fond des Blancs.
If you are interested in supporting Haiti Projects you can do so on our website. Additionally, if you are interested in supporting the earthquake relief effort in Haiti, donate to the American Red Cross International Relief Fund. Your support is incredibly appreciated in this time of immense need.
I have posted some photos below of my time in Haiti, which I was hoping to post with stories in a more light-hearted time. For now, I hope they shed some light on the beauty of the Haitian culture and its people and allow you to feel a little more connected to this tragedy that feels both so far away and so close to home.
For Sesame Street’s 40th Anniversary First Lady Obama was a guest of honor, and what did she talk about? That’s right, food. Because Michelle Obama is totally awesome when it comes to promoting healthy, sustainable eating, from planting a garden at the White House to supporting local farmers markets.
I found this particularly awesome because it seems like just one more thing predicted by West Wing (the show — not the White House Wing) that has come true. Anyway, go plant your vegetables. First Lady Obama says so.
I am getting back into the swing of real life after a cross-country road trip, in which I moved my dog and all my worldly possessions (mostly boxes of cookbooks and cooking appliances) to San Francisco. Thus, the lack of posting recently.
One of my most favorite stops on our road trip was to Steamboat Springs, where an old family friend of my mom’s lives on a horse ranch. I know, I almost stopped right there. This was one of the best stops for a number of reasons (the golden aspen trees, awesome horses, amazing family… I could go on), but perhaps my favorite was breakfast. I am not generally a breakfast person — more of a coffee and go kind of morning person. But if breakfast were this good all the time I’d have it for every meal.
It started in the morning when we went down to the chicken coop to collect eggs. I have always wanted to do this — I harbor dreams of pastoral nostalgia constantly, despite the fact that I grew up in a suburb of Boston with only squirrels as wildlife and little connection to the agricultural roots of my Carnation Instant Breakfast mornings.
Collecting eggs is MAGICAL. I am telling you, there’s nothing like seeing an egg actually come OUT of a chicken to realize the magic of it all. Chickens MAKE eggs!
Anyway, I could go on, but I’ll just go on to the next best thing, which was eating the homemade sausage patties that came from their summer feeder pig.
Homegrown sausage and eggs I collected that morning. There is no way to describe to you the deliciousness that I experienced that morning. I have tried to make sausage and eggs since I’ve been back, and I’m disappointed every time. Even with local farmers market sausage, even with organic cage free gold gilded eggs. It’s just not the same.
First outdoor square footage I get I’m converting to a chicken coop, this decided it.
As promised, here is the creamy buttermilk dressing recipe I had over the salad I served with my tomato pie recipe from the other day. The recipe is another one from smittenkitchen’s delicious collection and I’m telling you, you will not be disappointed. I am obsessed with this blog. Soon all of my daily meals are going to come directly from Deb’s inspired kitchen. It will be like Julie and Julia except very Web 2.0 as I blog about cooking through another woman’s blog.
I digress. This dressing is amazing. I didn’t serve it on the napa cabbage as smittenkitchen suggested, but went with some red mesclun lettuce, local tomatoes, avocado and red onion, since that what was in the kitchen. It was delicious. In addition to my favorite poppy seed dressing, this would be an awesome dressing to make in big batches and have on hand in the fridge.
Creamy Buttermilk Dressing (adapted directly from smittenkitchen)
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1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbs. mayonnaise
2 tbs. cider vinegar
2 tbs. minced shallot
1 tbs. sugar
3 tbs. finely chopped chives
salt and pepper
Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved, then whisk in chives. Serve over salad of your choice.
This weekend I ventured to a new (opened this year) bookstore in Noe Valley, San Francisco called Omnivore Books. It is a bookstore entirely and beautifully dedicated to all things culinary — from Julia Child cookbooks to contemporary reflections on permaculture to rare antique books on “domestic science”. Basically, it is my dream. I’m only sad someone else created it before me.
Possibly even better than the fact that this store exists, Omnivore is an old butcher shop. The owners left much of the shop’s character, including the freezer and enormous meat scales, intact, and I appreciated the architectural (and philosophical) detail.
In case you need to go visit immediately, here are the details:
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Omnivore Books
3885a Cesar Chavez @ Church, San Francisco
M-Sat 11-6, Sun 12-5
Go. Read. Be happy.
New farmers market opens today at the White House. President may be eating kale for dinner.
Photo by Win McNamee published on The New York Times website
Somehow, I have not heard of this site before. Maybe you haven’t either. If not, well, prepare for your life to be changed a little bit. Mine was.
I have recently gotten in to one of those cooking lulls where I’m not particularly inspired to experiment or even cook for that matter, and of course this tends to make me upset because I feel like I should ALWAYS be inspired in the kitchen. However, after a friend mentioned smittenkitchen my outlook quickly changed. Maybe it’s her beautiful photography, or maybe her description of everything as mouthwateringly delicious, or maybe some strange cosmic relation we share, but I was immediately inspired and started writing an ingredient list for the 12 things I wanted to make, that day.
I will take it slow here and start with the first one which I made the other night, tomato pie. TOMATO PIE! Who would have thought it existed? Not I. Even better, it is actually tomato and CORN pie. Two of my favorite things, combined with cheese, encased in a doughy delight. What is not to love?
For the full recipe follow link below.
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Martha’s Vineyard, where I had fantasies of coming across the Obamas, hanging out and talking health care policy while playing with Bo. It could have happened, right??
Apparently not.
The closest I managed to come was dining at a new restaurant designed by Michael Smith, interior designer for the Obama’s White House. But that was good enough for me. State Road opened last month in West Tisbury and I fell in love almost instantly upon biting in to one of their house donuts (limpopos). The restaurant has drawn an all-star crowd, including pastry chef Rose Sarja who hailed from Blue Hill at Stone Barns (possibly my favorite restaurant of all time) and who has created a mouth-watering assortment of baked goods that line the cafe bar leading up to the register. I didn’t really want to leave, ever. (See photographic evidence below. You wouldn’t have, either).
This is the third restaurant of Mary and Jackson Kenworth and they have created something decidedly wonderful. The restaurant is in the middle of rolling farmland and has its own garden out front. Idyllic, no? In the morning it is a sunny cafe where you can read the paper and eat limpopos and drink delicious coffee. At night the front room opens up into a larger dining area where you can feast on local seafood and other tasty fare. We went in the morning so I can’t speak to their dinner menu, but breakfast was amazing. I got the smoked salmon breakfast plate (because apparently I am incapable of resisting anything that contains smoked salmon). It was not a mistake.
Clearly I will have to go back for more, soon.
Health Care. In Michael Pollan’s latest editorial piece for the New York Times he discusses the role of the food industry in shaping our current health crisis, and the role changing the food industry must thus play in improving health care. Pollan articulates that a growing portion of the money we spend on health care — including $263 billion each year to treat obesity and diabetes — can be attributed to chronic diseases that are the result of our unhealthy Western diets. He writes, “Why the disconnect? Probably because reforming the food system is politically even more difficult than reforming the health care system… There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes.”
The good news in all of this? Pollan says that if health care reform is successful in getting insurance companies to cover everyone, including those with pre-existing chronic diseases who are often denied coverage today, then they will have a much bigger incentive to utilize preventive medicine and perhaps target the unhealthy food system currently causing so many of our health problems. “When health insurers can no longer evade much of the cost of treating the collateral damage of the American diet, the movement to reform the food system — everything from farm policy to food marketing and school lunches — will acquire a powerful and wealthy ally, something it hasn’t really ever had before.”
