Category Archives: Passionfruit

Nigella’s Pavlova and a different kind of holiday

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For me, the summer holidays end today. I’m back to work tomorrow. Well, not back to work, really – I’m starting a new job. And like all new job starts, it’s part exciting and part scary.

I’ve been on holiday for a few weeks now – probably the longest holiday since I was at university, (when I worked most of them at cafes and restaurants anyway). And I have to say, the days before Christmas still didn’t feel like a holiday! I enjoyed them, but there’s something about those 2-3 middle weeks of December that just breeds hectic busy-ness. Then we had a very full house over Christmas (so full my easy-going brother was sleeping across the inside of our front door, guard dog-style), and a slightly-less-full-but-still-double-the-usual-population for a week over New Year’s. It was such a blast having family and friends with us to celebrate the festive season, and it seems so quiet once you wave them off from the driveway. You turn around to an empty house and an even emptier fridge (easy-going brother helped here, too).

Then my husband went back to work, and I still had 10 days of holiday. I’m a little bit of an organisational freak, so I wanted to make sure my days had some kind of structure, but not so filled with endless jobs that I started the new year and my new job tired and behind the 8 ball.

I usually keep my blog posts to recipes, but I’ve had such a great week, I felt I had to share my secret to a great holiday. These are some of the things I’ve done over the last few days. Doesn’t it look boring??! But I really do feel relaxed, refreshed, and ready for new adventures. So during my last few days off, I…
<ul.

  • went to bed early every night
  • got up early and did fun and challenging exercise every day
  • drank gallons of water
  • ate as much central otago stone fruit as I could lay my hands on
  • enjoyed taking my time preparing simple, tasty, healthy meals
  • started a herb garden
  • took religiously good care of my skin and teeth
  • read magazines
  • had coffees, lunches, dinners with old friends
  • painted my toenails
  • got a massage
  • listened to my favourite music, old and new – including the Kylie Minogue of my childhood (put your hand on your heart and tell me you don’t love old school Kylie)
  • went for walks in parks, gardens, wildlife reserves
  • managed to avoid sunburn – with my complexion, this is probably the biggest achievement of the week

    • I don’t write this to be smug! And I am truly sorry to all parents reading this. Don’t worry, I’ll get my come-uppance one day when I have littlies of my own and I’m too exhausted to re-read this post and wish, wish, wish for another week like this. But if you get the opportunity for a few days to yourself, this is a great way to spend them :)

    This feels like a celebratory kind of post, so I thought I’d include this new pavlova recipe (which I tried before my holiday, of course). My dear husband gave me Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat for Christmas, and my nose has been stuck in the book ever since. On top of that, mum and I have been re-thinking whether our family pavlova recipe really is the best one out there, and with thoughts of improving it, I gave Nigella’s a whirl. It’s included in How to Eat as part of a dinner party menu for six titled, as only Nigella could, “Camp, but only slightly, Dinner for 6″. It’s a darker pav than our family one, but Nigella’s tip of serving the pav upside down is a keeper. I’ve included her comments below too.

    Pavlova
    From Nigella Lawson’s How To Eat

    Nigella says: This version comes, appropriately enough, from an Australian book*, Stephanie Alexander’s compendious, addictive Cook’s Companion. I was taken by her family tip of turning the cooked meringue over before smearing it with cream, so that (in her words) the marshmallow middle melds with cream and the sides and the base stay crisp.

    4 egg whites at room temperature
    250g caster sugar
    2 tsp cornflour
    1 tsp white wine vinegar
    few drops pure vanilla extract
    300ml double cream, whipped til firm
    pulp of 10 passion fruits

    Preheat oven to 180°. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Draw a 20-23cm circle on the paper if this helps you dollop the meringue into an even circle.

    Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until satiny peaks form. Beat in the sugar, a third at a time, until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and fold in lightly. Mound on to the paper on the baking tray, flatten the top and smooth the sides. Place in the oven. IMMEDIATELY reduce the heat to 150° and cook for 1¼ hours. Turn off the oven and leave the pavlova in it to cool completely.

    Invert the pavlova on to a big, flat-bottomed plate, pile on cream and spoon over passion fruits scooped – pips and all – from their shells. Don’t be tempted to add other fruit**.

    *Um, I don’t intend to start that debate on this blog, but felt it needed to be indirectly referred to.
    **I was tempted. And yielded. Because I didn’t have fresh passionfruit, ok? I put fresh kiwis on it and served it with beautiful fresh blueberries. I’m sure Nigella would understand.