Homemade Pavlova at Jacqui’s

Maybe it’s the bright vivid colors of all the fresh fruits or the fruit that’s layered on a pillow of whipped cream, then set up on a bed of crispy meringue with a marshmallow center that makes this Pavlova the talk of the town when the party is over! This inspired recipe originates from my dear friend Jacqui who has been making this amazing Pavlova creation since she was 11 years old. She first started making this Pavlova with her friend’s mother back in her home land of Ireland.

There were definite ooh’s and aah’s in the room upon first setting eye’s on Jacqui’s pavlova at her St. Patricks Day party three years ago when she made her grand unveiling. That praise continued on after everyone finished eating their slice of heaven. I knew that this amazing Pavlova was next on my list of culinary endeavors.

The wonderful thing about Jacqui’s recipe is that she keeps it simple. I have gone through many recipes for this Pavlova and there are too many unnecessary steps being taken. I have made these other recipes with the stabilizers using cream of tartar and vinegar and corn starch but you just don’t need to waste your energy going through all this. The reason behind using all these stabilizers is because a meringue is usually set on top of a custard like base as in a lemon meringue pie where condensation is a very likely occurrence and the meringue weeps beads of moisture if it isn’t perfectly cooked through. In a Pavlova dessert you needn’t worry about any condensation forming because it’s base is a cake or serving platter. Jacqui bakes her Pavlova on a piece of tin foil that’s coated with butter and placed over an oven proof plate…how simple is that? If you are uncomfortable with that or don’t have a oven proof plate as such you can easily use a cookie sheet and parchment as shown below going about her same recipe.

I like that there isn’t any sugar in the whipped cream because the meringue is sweet enough. Planning ahead is a great idea and will make things easier if you can get the meringue done the night before. In Jacqui’s recipe there is also no need for a low and slow bake or a long slow cool off with the oven turned off and the oven door slightly open while the meringue stays in there until completely cooled.  I have put in all the extra steps and that extra time with meringue’s before…it is unnecessary here! I say the proof is in the pudding…or should I say the Pavlova! You will love making this recipe as much as I do.

“Meringue with Fruit Filling” is what this dessert was originally called. Both New Zealand and Australia claim to have invented Pavlova and both claim it as their national dish.  What it really comes down to is two countries being inspired by a Russian prima ballerina named Anna Pavlova. She was on tour in their countries from 1926-1929. A chef in New Zealand said he had invented the dessert for her and another chef in Australia had commented “It is as light as Pavlova”, comparing the dessert to the ballerina, and that’s how the name came about. Now you see how light this dessert truly is …just wait til you try it. You too will become a fan of Pavlova! I hope you enjoy the show and become as inspired by Jacqui and her Pavlova as I am.

Ingredients for Pavlova – Serves approx 16-20 slices:

• 6 extra large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 pint heavy cream (2 cups) NO SUGAR IN WHIPPED CREAM
• small containers of strawberries, blueberries,  & black berries
• 1 whole pineapple (buy ahead of time and leave on your counter for 2-3 days to get maximum sweetness)
• Pam canola oil spray
• parchment paper
• pencil

Directions for Meringue: (Good idea to make this the night before and leave on the counter covered with foil:

1. Pre-heat and put on Convection if you have it to 325º When I have tested cooking the meringue on a regular oven setting the bottom burns on the cookie tray. The convection setting distributes the heat for a more even cooking and beautiful bottom
2. Lightly spray cookie sheet with Pam-canola oil to help keep parchment in place while you are shaping the meringue into a circle
3. You can use tin foil that is coated with butter on both sides and placed over a oven proof dish OR trace the outside of a 9″ dinner plate on a piece of parchment and flip it over so the drawing is facing down and place onto sprayed cookie sheet (top of parchment is clean and dry)
4. Separate egg whites from the yolks using your hands – it’s the best way to ensure you won’t break the yolk & having the eggs at room temperature helps you get more volume when you whisk
5. Put the egg whites into kitchen aid mixing bowl with whisk attachment (or electric mixer and large mixing bowl)
6. Beat egg whites on medium/high speed (#8) til it begins to looks white, and firm and you see volume form – 4 minutes here)
7. Begin to add 1/2 cup of sugar, and whisk- you will see the whites becoming shiny
8. Add 2 Tbsp at a time every 15 seconds on medium (#6) speed – the meringue holding stiff peaks and looking shiny – this will take 3 minutes while adding sugar and 1 more minute after sugar addition is done
9. GRAND TOTAL WHISKING 8 MINUTES
10. Gently fold in the rest of the 2 tbsp of sugar
11. Scoop whipped meringue onto parchment paper and spread with spatula into the circle shape – keep thickness at 2.5″-3.0 because you will loose a little volume when it cools
12. Put into the oven for 45 minutes… DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR (especially in the first 30 minutes!)
13. Clean and chill your kitchen-aid mixing bowl and whisk or mixing bowl by placing it in the freezer (at least in the frig. if no room in freezer)
14. Slice up your fresh pineapple as shown in the photos
15. Slice up your strawberries and put all your fruit on a plate to make laying it out on the whipped cream an easier process
16. Take the meringue out of the oven and let it cool 5 minutes just so you can handle the hot pan better (I actually even slide the meringue off of the cookie tray onto the counter – you can actually pull the parchment paper so the meringue slides with it and let it completely cool)
17. Then flip it over onto your serving platter –  get your hands underneath it to help flip it over onto serving dish
18. Let meringue cool completely if you haven’t already (if you put the whipped cream on when it’s not fully cooled and the whipped cream will melt)
19. DON’T WORRY about any cracks or imperfections, that’s the nature of the meringue when cooked for a Pavlova and you are topping it with whipped cream and fruit : )
20. Peel off the parchment paper
21. Take out your chilled mixing bowl and begin to whisk 2 cups of heavy cream
22. Whisk on medium/high till the cream turns into stiff peaks
23. Using your spatula scoop out whipped cream and spread a layer of whipped cream on top and then layer your different fruits in your favorite design
24. You can store this in the refrigerator for a few hours until you are ready to serve it

TIP: Always use stainless steel or glass mixing bowls to whisk eggs whites and NEVER plastic or wood because they can have residual oils in them which is very bad for egg whites.  Also NEVER use a wooden spoon to scoop out the meringue …same idea.

Mixed Berries with Dreamy Cream

Mixed berries with dreamy cream is a really easy yet super delicious way to end any meal! This homemade white fluffy fruit dip is made from melting and whisking Marshmallow Fluff with Philadelphia cream cheese. Believe it or not this mixture is a perfect combination. You might think at first that it may be wicked sweet but the tang from the cream cheese mellows that right out and brings it all together in a very nice balance.

You can add a half of teaspoon of vanilla extract to this recipe but I feel like it just gets lost anyways and I like to keep this fluffy dip a bright white making for a wonderful color contrast with the berries. This dreamy cream fruit dip is pretty rich so all you really need is a small dollop in between fruit layers.

Now you may think this Marshmallow Fluff and Philadelphia cream cheese is the perfect compliment to the berries but wait until you invite fresh mint to the party! The flavor of the mint with the mixed berries and dreamy cream is an absolute MUST. I happen to have “peppermint” mint growing around my yard and I use it for so many things like my roasted beets and feta salad. Once you start to grow mint it just takes off and the is no need to ever fuss over it again. 

With all the effort we put into entertaining I’m so happy to be able show you a recipe that can be made in a matter of minutes and get the oohs and aah’s that it does! Hope you enjoy the show and the mixed berries and dreamy cream recipe as much as we do.

Ingredients:

• 12 martini glasses, parfait or plastic drink cups
• 1 16 oz. container of Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 8 oz. pkg. Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1 pint of blue berries
• 2 lbs fresh strawberries sliced
• 1 pkg black berries
• 1 pkg raspberries
• fresh mint leaves

Directions:

1. Place room temperature Philadelphia cream cheese and Marshmallow Fluff in a medium size pan on medium heat
2. Begin to melt this combination all awhile whisking the whole time
3. This process will only take 1 minute
4. Let this mixture fully come to room temperature before layering with the fruit
5. Begin to layer berries into glass with a small dollop of dreamy cream in between each layer
6. Top with fresh mint leaves

Easy Gourmet Pesto

This easy gourmet pesto will definitely put a smile on your face when you see how quickly you can make it! You may never go out and buy the jar stuff again when you taste your own homemade either. There’s just no comparison when you make your own pesto. Now that I show you in my new show how to make it simply in a food processor you have no excuse but to get going and create some incredibly delicious dishes with my homemade pesto recipe.

There’s making pesto by means of mortar and pestle and I admit I have spent many a day making it this way, but there’s another way which I will show you here that saves you time and energy which we all seem to run low on by the end of the day.  If it’s the weekend and you have some time on your hands then be my guest and knock yourself out with the mortar and pestle.  It is truly is a lovely way to make this paste, and useful in so many other ways like grinding spices for instance not to mention being therapeutic.

Back to reality, being able to use my food processor to make my homemade gourmet pesto is a wonderful thing!  The pesto tastes the same and you still put all the love into it using good ingredients.  You can play with this recipe also when it comes to amounts like adding a little more Parmesan if it’s too thin or drizzling in a tad more olive oil if it’s too thick.  Making pesto is a very forgiving process…. just trust yourself and be sure to taste as you go along to see if you need to add a sprinkle more of salt and or pepper.

Ingredients for Pesto:

• 1 pkg. 2-3 cups of fresh basil leaves
• 1/2-3/4 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
• 1 lg. garlic clove put thru garlic press
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• dash of Siracha

Directions for Pesto: 

1. Take the basil leaves off of the stems and place them into the food processor with the pressed garlic.
2. Begin to pulse while drizzling in all of the olive oil thru the top opening of the food processor.
3. Once you finish adding the oil you may need to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula if you see large pieces of basil leaves.
4. Pulse once more, then add the parmesan.
5. Pulse a couple more times to blend, taste and add salt and pepper and tabasco if you want a little kick to it.
6. Pulse once more to combine.
7. The pesto is ready to use.
8. If you want to save the pesto put it into a plastic container and drizzle about 1 Tbsp of olive oil right on top, lay a piece of Saran wrap right on top of the new layer of olive oil so there isn’t any air touching (This will keep the basil from oxidizing and turning brown).
9. At this point you can either keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or put it into the freezer.
10. When you are ready to use the frozen pesto take it out the night before and let it thaw in the refrigerator.
11. Now that you have this delicous pesto you can easily make the Crostinis with Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto and Roasted Tomato appetizer.

Ingredients for Roasted Tomatoes:

• 1 lb. grape or cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• s&p to taste

Directions for Roasted Tomatoes:

1. Slice tomatoes in half, drizzle on olive oil and S&P and roast in a 400º oven for 15-20 minutes

Chicken Alfredo & The Madison Cheese Shop

Talk about a perfect sauce, well this homemade Alfredo sauce is right on the money! Not only can you make this Alfredo sauce in 5 minutes but it’s a delicate sauce, cheesy, but not too heavy, nutty, sweet and tangy all at the same time. Granted this sauce will come out good no matter which reggiano cheese you end up with but we go to The Madison Cheese Shop to get a three year old aged Reggiano Parmigiano which just takes the Alfredo sauce to another level, where it should be.

You can really taste the difference from a generic grocery store cheese to a specialty cheese shop cheese like this incredible Reggiano Parmigiano that I got from Fawn at The Madison Cheese Shop. With knowledgeable people like Fawn and Henry, Fawn’s assistant at Madison cheese, you just can’t go wrong making this one of your routine stops building on your own knowledge of cheeses and inventory!`

You can keep this fettuccine alfredo vegetarian or add in chicken and asparagus as I did in the show. A nice combination for this alfredo sauce is to add in peas and crispy bacon and you have yourself some fettuccine carbonara. Have fun with this one by adding in your favorites or just changing up the pasta shape because you have the perfect Alfredo sauce base already figured out for you!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups heavy cream (1 1/2 cups heavy cream, 1 1/2 cups half & half)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 cups fresh grated Reggiano Parmigiano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 strips of Boars Head smoked bacon, cooked til crispy and then crumbled or sliced into 1/2″ strips (which ever you prefer)
• 1 bunch fresh asparagus blanched for 4 minutes, then throw on grill for 3 minutes if grilling chicken just for extra flavor, then slice into 1″ pieces putting aside several tips for garnish
• 1 lb. egg fettuccine pasta OR your favorite pasta
• 2 grilled chicken breasts or sautéed chicken breasts ( click this link for sautéed chicken recipe)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook up bacon slices, cool and slice or crumble
2. Grill up or sauté your 2 chicken breasts and dice up into 1″ pieces
3. Blanch your asparagus and if grilling, throw onto grill just briefly for grill flavor, remove and slice into 1″ pieces
4. Cook fettuccine according to directions on box
5. Add heavy cream to a large sauce pan with wine and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes
6. If chicken has cooled add in diced chicken and asparagus and simmer for 5 minutes
7. Turn off the heat to sauce pan and whisk in 1 1/2 cup Reggiano cheese
8. Place cooked pasta into a large serving bowl, pour over the Alfredo sauce and toss
9. Serve and garnish with bacon and more grated Reggiano

Turkey Stuffed Peppers & Nick Fradiani Day Recipe/VIDEO

Homemade turkey stuffed peppers and a peek at Nick Fradiani’s home town concert celebration made for quite an exciting time for my kids, Reilly and Bella. Probably more so with Nick’s concert than the peppers with them lol. I have to say though that these turkey stuffed peppers are one of my favorites!

Originally, my intentions with this post were to emphasis how important it is to support your local butcher and to introduce you to one of my favorites. With all this in mind, it also happened to be Nick Fradiani Day here in Guildford, CT when I shot my visit at their Food Center. So you now get to see how a small New England town supports their own Nick Fradiani, one of the American Idol finalists!

I used to make these stuffed peppers with beef but a good friend has turned me on to turkey and I am really loving it. After making these homemade gourmet stuffed peppers with the ground turkey I have no desire to go back to beef. The turkey based stuffing really hold its own!  These peppers are juicy, tender and sweet made with ground turkey, sautéed mushrooms and onions, fresh chopped parsley, rice, grated Reggiano Parmesan, pinot noir or cabernet (your favorite red) and baked in a porcini red wine sauce.

My porcini sauce gives this recipe a really nice flavor but if you don’t have time for it you shouldn’t let that stop you from making these savory stuffed peppers.  You can buy a favorite store sauce for convenience or use one of your own.  I have you slice the mushrooms paper thin here and then cut those in 1/2 and that keeps the flavor delicate and the mushrooms very tender not chewy …. they almost melt into the stuffing when baking. The onions are finely chopped so I love to use my vegetable hand chopper because it saves a ton of time when you are doing all this prep work unless you have a sous chef that is.

Now you of course can use any color pepper you like. I like using the green ones because I like the strong flavor they render.  Peppers are milder in flavor and sweeter with the reds, oranges, and yellows.  I don’t believe in using “instant rice” ever because it doesn’t have a great texture. Making rice is a simple process …see “TIP” below.  These stuffed peppers are a few step process so it’s a good idea to get some of the work done the day before like making the porcini red sauce and the rice.  This dish  is so worth the effort …. It just may become your go to Sunday dinner and you can even end this delicious dinner with a bang making a quick and easy German pancake recipe or chocolate-avocado mousse!

Ingredients: For Porcini Red Sauce:

• 1 large can whole peeled tomatoes (I use Sclafani)
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1/4 -1/3 cup dried broken up porcini mushrooms
• 1/4 cup warm water for the porcini mushrooms
• 1/4 cup pinot noir wine
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tsp salt
• 1 Tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Directions: 

1. Put the dried porcini mushrooms in 1/4 cup water and let sit for 1/2 hour.
2. Sauté 4 large garlic cloves in 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium sauce pan until golden.
3. Add whole tomatoes and golden garlic cloves to food processor and purée for 1 minute.
4. Add this back to the pan.
5. Take the soaked, softened porcini’s out of the water and coarsely chop.
6. Add the porcini’s and their juice to the sauce pan along with 1/4 cup pinot, salt, pepper and sugar.
7. Bring to a simmer, lower heat and keep simmering for 20-30 minutes.
8. Remove from the stove and cool.

Ingredients – For Stuffed Peppers – Serves 6-8 people:

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 6 -8 large bell peppers, 2 red, 2 orange, 2 yellow, 2 green (USE 6-8 peppers)
• 2 1/4 cups porcini red sauce (1 c. in the stuffing, 2 1/4 c. in the bottom of baking dish)
• 1 1/2 cup cooked Basmati or Jasmine long grain rice
• 1 cup grated Reggiano Parmesano
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 8oz. pkg of baby bella brown mushrooms (finely sliced) and then a little chop
• 1 large spanish onion FINELY chopped about 2 1/2 -3 cups
• 1 cup pinot noir or cabernet (1/4 c. for mushroom/onion mixture, 3/4 c. for baking dish)
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 1/4 Tsp salt (2 tsp in bowl with stuffing ingredients and 1/4 when sauteing the mushrooms and onions)
• 1/4 Tsp pepper
• 2 Tbsp live oil (for sautéing)

Directions: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350º.
2. Cut 1″ off of the top of the peppers, pull out the centers with your hands and clean out the inside white part of the pepper.
3. Place into baking dish.
4. Clean your mushrooms with either a damp paper towel or a mushroom brush … you should NEVER wash your mushrooms or submerse them in water because mushrooms are porous.
5. Pop out the mushroom stem and finely slice them and then slice that pile in 1/2…don’t need to be neat about it.
6. Finely chop a large spanish onion…I’m all for using one of those choppers for this!
7. Add onion and mushrooms and 1/4 tsp salt to 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté on medium/high heat for 10 minutes til soft and then on medium heat to caramelize for anther 10 minutes
8. De-glaze with 1/4 cup pinot let evaporate about another 5 min.
9. Remove from the stove and let cool.
10. Add Turkey, grated cheese, 1 cup cooled sauce, 1/3 cup parsley, 2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and all of cooled mushroom/onion mixture to a large bowl and gently mix.
11. Fill the peppers gently with the stuffing, don’t pack it down.
12. Add the rest of the porcini sauce (approx. 2  cups), 3/4 cup pinot, and 1/2 cup boiling water to the bottom of the baking dish.
13. NOTE:  If the porcini sauce was refrigerated you should warm it a little to room temperature so it doesn’t prolong the cooking process of the stuffed peppers.
14. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan, cover with foil and bake at 350º for 1 hr.
15. Remove the foil after 1 hour
16. Then up the heat to 400º for another 30 minutes uncovered
17. Keep an eye on it at this point so the tops don’t blacken too much (everyone’s oven is a little different)
18. Total cooking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes
19. Take the peppers out of the oven, cover back up with foil and let them sit for 5 minutes.
20. Sprinkle with more parmesan and serve with porcini sauce from bottom of bake dish

TIP:  RICE- To make Basmati or Jasmine rice measure 1 cup rice and put into medium pan. Run cold water over rice and drain using your hand to hold back the rice.  Then add 1 1/2 cups water (water level is 1 knuckle over rice), cover and bring to a boil, turn down heat IMMEDIATELY to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat and keep covered letting it sit for another 10 minutes and voilà.  Fluff with a fork

Asian Shrimp & Noodle Salad Recipe/VIDEO

This Asian Shrimp & Noodle Salad is best when you make it the night before so all these wonderful herbs and oils can marinate the rice noodles and shrimp. Granted, sometimes it just can’t be helped because the flavors are so bright and delicious no one can wait for the next day. This recipe originated from my good friend Karen who is a true foodie! I of course have tweaked the ingredients as I do with most recipes. I used rice noodles making it gluten friendly instead of pasta which you can use as well…I love it with pasta also but I feel that using the rice noodles makes this a lighter dish. I have also added in carrots using a lemon zester which makes spaghetti like strands and I love what the color does for the dish not to mention orange is my favorite color…can you tell? When you buy the carrots be sure to buy the loose carrots with the greens still intact because they are so much sweeter then the packaged ones especially for something like this where they play one of the main characters to the story.

You can pretty much buy rice noodles anywhere but I have to tell you one of my favorite Asian markets is Hong Kong Grocery at 71 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT. It’s on the corner of Trumble St. & Whitney Ave. and they have a Dim Sum Restaurant next door. You can get all your rice noodles, rice paper, rice wine vinegar, soy’s, a good size bag of sesame seeds and much more at the street level. Down stairs you will find the freshest, juiciest ginger you will ever have and the same for their daikon radish and garlic bulbs. I also buy some very durable and adorable Asian bowls there. It’s a great find and you should really try to stop in when you get the chance. This Asian shrimp and noodle salad would go great with some chocolate-avocado mousse, or Pavlova with fresh pineapple & berries for dessert!

Ingredients – Serves 6-8 lunch or dinners:

• 1 lb. rice noodles (linguine fini or fettuccine…I used a fettuccine size width in the pictures)
• 1 1/2 lb. medium size peeled and deveined shrimp or cooked shrimp
• 3/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup “seasoned” rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup oilve oil
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
• 1 bunch sliced scallions (save 1/4 cup for garnish)
• 5 medium-small size loose carrots (don’t use the packaged ones)
• 1 cup cilantro (2/3 for dressing, 1/3 for garnish)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 Tsp pepper
• 3 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 Tsp Tabacsco or Siracha (a hot chili sauce sold right next to the Tabasco at the store) this of course if optional

Directions:

1. If you have uncooked shrimp bring small pot of water to a boil, then add uncooked shrimp, turn down heat and simmer for 1 minute
2. Drain the shrimp and run cold water over them or put into an ice bath, dry with paper towels and set aside
3. Toast sesame seeds on medium heat in a small pan shaking the pan periodically back and forth
4. This happens quickly once they heat up…it will only take about 3-4 minutes so it’s best not to leave the pan or the stove
5. Once the sesame seeds are golden remove from the pan, place in a ramekin and set aside
6. Peel and grate the carrots with a lemon zester and set aside
7. Follow package directions to cook rice noodles (or Pasta)
8. Rinse Rice noodles with cold water til cooled so they don’t stick together, set aside
9. In a large bowl add soy, toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, olive oil, ginger, scallions, cilantro, salt & pepper, Tabasco, 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds, shrimp, rice noodles and carrots and toss…so basically add everything together and toss till blended
10. Put into the frig for at least 2 hours, preferably over night
11. Serve in bowls and top with cilantro, scallion slices and a sprinkle of sesame seeds..YUM!
12. NOTE: You can CHANGE this up using grilled shrimp, steak or scallops!