I think I mentioned a few times how much I love lemon curd. It is definitely a staple in this house and it doesn’t take much for me to find a recipe that could benefit from a nice dollop of it. This memorial day weekend we were able to spend a lot of time at our families homes utilizing their pools. It was only polite that I bring a dish over on Memorial day since we were invading their homes to benefit from their lovely swimming pools.
Because it is summer, and I need a pool bod, I didn’t want to create anything too heavy. Summer is all about utilizing the flavors of the season and having the fresh berries really be the star. So, pavlovas came to mind as the meringue really is just a nice light base for the lemon curd and the berries.
I’m not going to lie.. making a meringue in Houston is not really the easiest thing to do. HUMIDITY IS THE DEVIL. Luckily, pavlova is sort of a mix between a marshmallow and a meringue so a little bit of a chewy center is perfect. I may have failed a little with this recipe as I ended up making it a little more “deconstructed” than planned. The original idea was to make individual pavlovas, but I had to adapt. Like I mentioned, humidity. My pavlovas turned out a little more marshmallowy in the middle than planned. Luckily, I made some little meringue sized ones as well for this exact reason.
I would recommend that you make the meringues the night before and just let them dry out over night, but I didn’t have the foresight at the time. Luckily, or perhaps not so lucky for me as I mentioned, I have insomnia. So, I was up at 3 am making these..which is practically like making them the night before.
Essentially, the key ingredients for a pavlova are the meringues, whipped cream, and a fruit. For my recipe, I had a bottom layer of meringues, a layer of lemon curd, strawberry sauce, whipped cream and some fresh berries. It was the perfect ending for Memorial day after a day of swimming, a day of family, and a day of remembering those who have served our Country.
Meringue
6 egg whites, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit
In a stand mixer, place your egg whites and begin whipping. Turn up the speed until they become nice and foamy. Slowly start adding your sugar. Once it is added, turn to your highest setting and whip for 10 minutes until the egg yolks have nice peaks and are glossy.
Gently fold in the lemon juice, vanilla and cornstarch. There are lots of ways to cook the meringues:
- Make one large meringue by spreading in a circle on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Put into a piping bag with a star tip and make little individual meringues
- Use your piping back and make individual size pavlovas (shape of a birds nest
Place these in your oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours. After this time, do not open your oven! Turn it off and let them sit for another 45 minutes. To let them dry out, crack your oven open and let them sit in the oven until you are ready to use, or you can store them after 2 hours.
Assemble:
For my particular version, I placed a few broken up meringues in the bottom of a dish. Next spread your lemon curd over along with the strawberry sauce. Next comes your whipped cream followed by your fresh fruit.
a goose and a gangster 