Mini Pavlova With Raw Cream and Seasonal Fruit - Gluten Free Cold Appetiser

Pavlova was created and named in honour of the Russian prima ballerina when she toured New Zealand and Australia in 1926 and again in 1929. There have been various claims as to the recipe having earlier origins in both Germany and the US.

Essentially when I look at a Pavlova I think 'tutu' and 'light-as-a-feather'. I also wanted something to remind me of a Swan Lake tiara, which incidentally I made from scratch for a costume. You can find the link if you are interested at the bottom of this page. In mini version these are a cross between a Pavlova and a meringue nest and there is something rather wonderfully decadent in being able to eat one in just a few bites!

Left is a Swan aka Dying Swan costume worn by Anna Pavlova in the four minute ballet choreographed by Mikhail Fokine and first performed in St Petersburg in 1905. It was captured on film in 1925 and is on YouTube! This solo was later influential in interpretations of Odette in Swan Lake.

A Foreword on Choosing Fresh Fruit and/or fruit compote or purée as garnish or fillings

For assembling the Pavlova, I used fresh seasonal fruit from our garden or fruit given by friends. Where the fruit is over-ripe I advise making, as I have here in the case of the raspberries, a compote or purée. This is because otherwise the fruit will be too juicy and therefore too soggy for the recipe. This is of particular importance of course, if you are making and assembling these in advance for a party. All I have done is to add a little sugar to the fruit and then reduce the water content by heating it to thicken it. In the case of purée, when the fruit is really juicy, I have mashed the fruit in situ and thus allowed for more water to be removed in the cooking.

Temperature

Preheat the oven to 150°C or 300°F

FOR THE MERINGUE;

Ingredients

(Makes 20)
3 egg whites
175g (6oz) blond cane sugar - ground finer in a coffee grinder or liquidiser
½ teaspoon of lemon juice

 

Method

Whisk the egg whites until very stiff and dry.

Whisk in half the sugar and continue until the mixture is stiff and shiny (see photo left).

Gently fold the rest of the sugar and the lemon juice into the meringue.

Place spoonfuls of meringue on baking paper, lightly brushed with coconut oil.

Using a teaspoon gently open up the centre of each meringue to create a nest shape. You can if you wish make a flat circle of meringue and then build up the sides of the 'nest' with a piping bag.

These meringues cooked  in 20 minutes but I like meringues crisp on the outside and chewy within. Also many people cook their meringues at two temperatures i.e. 5 minutes at 180°C or 350°F and then turn down the oven to 120°C or 250°F for a further 20 minutes. Using a wood cooker with residual heat in the cast iron body, I don't have that sort of immediate temperature loss, so I chose an intermediate temperature and it worked.

Store the meringues in an airtight tin until needed.

FOR THE FILLING

Cream and fruit are the traditional fillings for Pavlova and in particular passion fruit. I used one big heaped teaspoon of cream per Pavlova. For the fruit I chose from what I had to hand, peaches, apricots and raspberry. The cream I use is raw it comes from our local organic pastured Normandie rare breed dairy and if you are interested we got up at dawn one morning and filmed the morning's milking and helped make the cream.

We stopped drinking pasteurised milk some years ago and we fetch it from the farm once a week and freeze it. The cream lasts fine, that is if there is any left but you can freeze it as well (see link below).

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Hope to see you here again for another recipe from my 100 Gluten-Free Organic Party Foods Challenge!

All the best,

Sue

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©  Sue Cross 2017 

Smoked salmon roulade with fromage de brebis and oven-dried tomatoes Gluten-free

I made two versions of this roulade, firstly using my favourite local organic goats' cheese, which is covered in cornflower petals and herbes de Provence. It was really tasty and rolled well into a classic roulade shape but it looked rather insignificant on the plate. I then made this second version, which is a lot more succulent, has even greater depth of flavour and more contrasting textures. The second version is thus much more substantial and therefore the individual canapés look good when plated. The only element I've lost is the classic roulade 'roll-up', as the salmon slices I used were only wide enough to wrap around the outside of the filling rather than be completely rolled up in it.  However, for overall taste and aesthetic, the latter version wins hands down.

I incorporated four layers, four different textures and four contrasting flavours by using the following:

INGREDIENTS

Makes 14 to 18 individual canapés/appetisers dependent upon slicing widths

60g (2oz) (2 slices) of Organic Smoked Salmon or if you are lucky enough to be able to get it, wild salmon!

50g (1¾oz) Fromage de brebis/ewes' milk cheese or similar well-flavoured soft cheese

Nasturtium leaves (for crunch and a peppery taste)
Oven-dried tomatoes*

For decoration - Lemon balm leaves

* I have an article on how to make these, link at bottom of page. For this dish I used the large Beefheart  variety and sliced them to a thickness of 1 cm (½") before oven-drying them. That way they were an ideal size and had great texture for this roulade.

ASSEMBLY

Lay a sheet of unbleached baking paper onto a flat surface, I'm using a bread board and place a slice of chilled smoke salmon upon it.

As you will observe, fish come in irregular shapes, so it may be necessary for you to exert 'Cook's Privilege'  and eat the final one of each slice! I did.

Break up the cheese with a fork and gently smooth it over the fish.

Add a layer of nasturtium leaves.

 

Place sections of oven-dried tomatoes on the top of the leaves.

Using the paper as a guide, roll up the roulade from the longer edge.

Press gently but firmly to join the two ends of the salmon together.

Remove the paper and using the sharpest knife you have, slice into canapés. You may need to wipe the knife between cuts. Even if an individual appetiser comes slightly adrift (usually the first one) it is very easy to smooth it back into shape. 

Don't worry if the filling 'overflows' at the ends, it is easily remedied. This actually indicates that the edges are well sealed.

Cut slivers of lemon balm leaf so that the decorative edges of the leaf are used to advantage.

Serve immediately. If you are making this for serving later then I would store the uncut roulade in a fridge or similar and then cut it just before taking it to the table.

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

Hope to see you here again for another recipe from my 100 Gluten-Free Organic Party Foods Challenge!

All the best,

Sue

RELATED ARTICLE

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RETURN TO MAIN CONTENTS PAGE 

RETURN TO 100 GLUTEN-FREE PARTY RECIPES CONTENTS 

©  Sue Cross 2017