Pavlova With Blackberry, Raspberries, Mandarins, Kiwis and Strawberries
A Pavlova is a baked meringue dessert. It is made by beating egg whites and other ingredients to stiff peaks, then baking the mass “low and slow” so that the outer crust becomes crisp like a cookie but the inside remains soft like a marshmallow. It is then usually topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits. The Pavlova was created to honor the famed Russian dancer Anna Pavlova after one of her tours to New Zealand.
Our friend Felicia made a Pavlova for us at a previous dinner at their house, so I asked her to make another one for dessert for our recent Ultimate Ribs Showdown meal. I also asked her to provide the recipe and take pictures (I know, such a demanding host!) so that I could post the Pavlova recipe later. Here is that recipe.
We made this corn bread recipe as part of our Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 Ultimate Rib Showdown meal. It was really delicious and matched well with ribs. I got the corn bread recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (I love this book by the way!). I’ve used it before in a Thanksgiving meal and loved it (Peter Reinhart recommends trying to find turkey skin in place of bacon for that). But hey, bacon is always good!
Corn Bread with Bacon
What I love about this corn bread is that the flavor of corn is very evident and there’s a really wonderful mouth-feel in the texture of the corn bread. This comes from the use of polenta-grind cornmeal and the fresh corn kernels that go into the bread. The buttermilk plays nicely with the sweetness of the corn and the bacon adds a nice savoriness to counter the sweetness of the whole bread. Overall, it’s a very rich, flavorful, and toothsome corn bread.
We are thrilled to be hosting the “Grow Your Own” recipe roundup this month! “Grow Your Own”, created by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes, features dishes using ingredients which have been raised in our own gardens or have been foraged. This edition of GYO features 27 different dishes from 5 different countries.
I’m so excited to have such a great turnout! This, in what is early Spring for most of the Northern Hemisphere. Also, many of the entries are from first-time participants. It’s wonderful to see the whole range of what we can do with ingredients available to us right now.
The first time I had son-in-law eggs was in Hawaii (yes, at thatamazinggraduatedorm). My Thai friend, Pepper introduced this to me and we set out to make it together. It’s a really delicious dish!
