Raspberry Pavlova

Remember how I used to post recipes?  Well I reckon it's time for another one.  I'm not the biggest fan of Pavlova or meringue (although I love how the word 'meringue' is spelled).  Sometimes it tastes egg-y?!  Yuk.  Other times it's either oozing in the middle or too hard.  This one, however, is perfect.  

I found it on a scrap of paper shoved into one of the kitchen drawers.  For some mental reason i.e. I couldn't sleep, I decided that cleaning and sorting the drawers in the kitchen would sort my mind.  

For the meringue you'll need:

4 egg whites (hang onto the yolks you might want to make your own lemon curd).

250g caster sugar

1 tsp white wine vinegar 

1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp vanilla extract (NOT essence - that stuff is muck).

Then you:

Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Using a pencil, draw the circumference of a dinner plate on baking parchment. Whisk the egg whites with a hand mixer (I used my big mixer) until they form stiff peaks, then whisk in the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until the meringue looks glossy. Whisk in the vinegar, cornflour and vanilla.

Spread the meringue inside the circle, creating a crater by making the sides a little higher than the middle. Bake for 1 hr, then turn off the heat and let the Pavlova cool completely inside the oven.

When the meringue is cool .... . 

The topping:

Okay, so the recipe stated: 500g strawberries, 200g redcurrants (stalks removed), 3tbsp icing sugar and 350ml double cream.  But I used:

500g strawberries,

250g raspberries 

250g blueberries

500ml double cream

and . . . the secret recipe lemon curd I was given.  I can't give it you but suggest you buy a jar of the best lemon curd you can get your hands on (or make it using egg yolks left over from making meringue).

So you:

Whip the cream and fold in your lemon curd.  Dollop over meringue/pavlova and then cover in the fruit that you have.

Delicious.