I actually ended up making two differen pavlovas in the end. This dried apricot one and a somewhat simpler ginger-lemon curd one. They were both excellent and I keep going back and forth on which one I liked best.
This one was definitely the richer of the two. While the lemon curd in the first recipe used a mix of whole eggs and egg yolks with just a bit of butter, this one uses all egg yolks and the maximum possible amout of butter that they will allow you to emulsify before the whole thing breaks. It's also meant to include a sizeable quantity of both thickened cream and crème fra&icric;che, but I decided to swap those out for some plain Greek yogurt.
I think that the yogurt worked quite well! It still gave it a nice tartness and creaminess without quite as much chance of causing a major coronary event.
Dried Apricot Pavlova
Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au
Ingredients
Meringue
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 tsp. lemon juice (or 1 Tbsp. verjuice)
- 200g sugar
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
Curd
- 8 large egg yolks
- 140g sugar
- 180g unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Other Toppings
- 225g dried apricots, divided
- 200mL verjuice, divided
- 1/2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 sprig rosemary1
- ~1 c. plain Greek yogurt
- 1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted
Directions
Meringue
- Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Whisk egg whites with lemon juice at gradually increasing speed until foamy.
- Add the sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to whisk at high speed until all sugar has been used.
- Add the cornstarch and continue whisking until stiff peaks form. Do not overmix.
- Scoop the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into a large cyinder or dome.2
- Place the meringue in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 120°C (250°F), and bake for 1 hour.
- Turn oven off and leave meringue in warm oven to cool for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.
Apricot Purée
- Combine 100g of apricots and 100mL of the verjuice and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and set aside to steep for 10-15 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender or food processor to purée until smooth.
Apricot Curd
- Combine egg yolks and sugar and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for 15-20 minutes.
- Begin adding butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to cook over low heat and whisk constantly.
- Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and apricot purée.
Poached Apricots
- Combine remaining 125g apricots with remaining 100mL verjuice and 1/3 c. of water.
- Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
- With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer apricots to a bowl and set aside.
- Add honey and rosemary to the liquid left in the pot and bring to a boil.
- Boil for 4-5 minutes, then remove from heat and pour over the apricots.
Assembly
- Once everything is cool, top the pavolva with the Greek yogurt followed by the apricot curd. (Or do it the other way round and put the curd on first if you prefer.)
- Add the poached apricots on top and then drizzle with the syrup.
- Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.
1 I didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I just used a generous pinch of some that I'd dried myself the last time I did have fresh rosemary. Back
2 I recently learned that pavlovas are not actually supposed to have a hollow in the centre to hold all the toppings. They sometimes end up that way because they're slighly underbaked or because they can't support the weight of the toppings that have been added, but they are not (typically) actually meant to be like that. This was news to me as I've been deliberately making bowl-shaped pavs for years now! I guess maybe next time I can give the traditional shape a try. (Although TF is somewhat dubious about the traditional shape and its ability to hold all the tasty toppings.) Back
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