pavlova

“Meet the Aussie”.

/ wordynerdbird / 1 Comment

This afternoon a bunch of people came to Sean and Jenn’s for the “Meet the Aussie” pot luck supper.

It was a really great time. Everyone just chilled and chatted and ate – holy Toledo, did we eat. There was so much good food, and a number of things I hadn’t tried before. 

Pumpkin tarts. Oh. My. Goodness.  

 
Those are amazing. I only had one, mainly because I was minding my manners. I could have eaten ten without any trouble. 

Butter tarts: these would be more aptly named ‘Caramelised buttery fruity deliciousness tarts’. 

  
These are really good, but the pumpkin tarts were better. 

In return, I made two classic Australian desserts: a pavlova and a chocolate ripple cake. 

 
Both were a huge hit. I think I scored a million brownie points with the pavlova.  It was pretty darned spectacular, even if I do say so myself. 

And, in a ‘karma smiling on me’ kind of way, we had an extra guest visiting in the yard with us.  This little guy sat on the fence for some time, and kindly did not run away when I wanted to take his picture. 

 
 All the Canadians thought it was funny that I was so excited about a squirrel, until Sean explained that we don’t have them in Australia. 
The following conversation was all about Australian wildlife and all the dangerous critters we have. That’s more  fun than telling ghost stories around a camp fire because it’s all true. 

As the sun went down and the temperature dropped, people went home and we finished the day very well fed and very tired. 

The Challenges of Aussie Cookery in Canada. 

/ wordynerdbird / 1 Comment

Today Sean and Jenn are hosting a pot luck supper for their family and friends to “meet the Aussie”.  I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone. 

My contribution will be two classic Australian desserts: I’m making a pavlova and a chocolate ripple cake. 

Yesterday we went shopping for ingredients. 

Challenge #1: There are no chocolate ripple biscuits in Canadian stores.
Solution: I have substituted chocolate chip brownie cookies instead. They are a bit softer, but given the premise that the nature of the dessert is that tje biscuits soften in the cream, that should not be an issue.

Challenge #2: There are no Peppermint Crisp bars in Canadian stores. I always top my choc ripple cakes with a smashed up Peppermint Crisp.
Solution: Grated Aero Peppermint bar. It’s chocolate and mint. It works. All good.

  

Challenge #3: My pavlova recipe calls for cornstarch. I am corn sensitive, in a nasty coeliac/volcanic/cramping/wanting to die kind of way. At home, we use a wheaten cornstarch whicj solves that problem. BUT
Challenge #4: We have a gluten intolerant person also coming today.  Same coeliac/volcanic issues. 
Solution:  I found potato starch in the store, which has the same fine, silky texture as corn starch.
I was very relieved when beating the meringue mixture that it looked exactly like my pavlova meringue batter usually does with the wheaten or corn starch. The meringue stiffened up beautifully. So far, so good.

Once in the oven, it did exactly what it was meant to. It rose, it spread and it got all nice and crisp. 

  

How good does that look? It’s just about cooked. Almost there… 

  

Alright! It looks perfect. 

Challenge #4: You have no idea how hard it was to find passionfruit here. Seriously.
When I did find some, the checkout chick didnt know what they were and had to call for a code.
Somewhat incredulous, I smiled and waited patiently. At least the folks who are here today will get to try something iconically Australian, the way it’s meant to be.

Wins all round. Yay!