{"id":418,"date":"2010-04-10T22:30:43","date_gmt":"2010-04-10T14:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/?p=418"},"modified":"2010-06-13T14:30:35","modified_gmt":"2010-06-13T06:30:35","slug":"need-to-use-egg-whites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/need-to-use-egg-whites\/","title":{"rendered":"Need to use – Egg whites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Being invited to a friends place for dinner is a special treat for me as not too many people will invite and willingly cook for a (self confessed) food junkie.\u00a0 However, our friend M is a wonderful cook in his own right and often provides me with recipes for his generous and delicious creations.\u00a0 I offered to make dessert because I had a couple of\u00a0egg whites sitting in the fridge that I wanted to get rid of but couldn’t bear to throw out (I know, sad isn’t it).\u00a0 The first thing that I thought of making was a pavlova because it is easy and transports well but I had made one of those for the same dinner guests previously so decided against it.\u00a0 I really wanted to\u00a0create a meringue layered with passionfruit curd because I also had purchased some lovely passionfruit during the week that were begging to be utilised.\u00a0 So being the stubborn Taurean that I am, that is exactly what I created.\u00a0 I must say, I\u00a0was quite proud of this\u00a0dish so I hope you enjoy it\u00a0too.<\/p>\n

meringue stack with passionfruit curd and banana\u00a0(recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller and Taste online)
\nserves 6\u00a0(my version)<\/span><\/p>\n

My alterations:<\/span>\u00a0 *I only used 4 egg whites and divided the remaining ingredients to suit.\u00a0 This\u00a0mixture made\u00a0two 14 x 20cm layers.\u00a0 *I used less castor sugar as I follow the rule of 50g of castor sugar for each egg white to make meringue.\u00a0 *I cooked the meringue\u00a0at a slightly highter temperature than the recipe suggested by starting it on 150\u00b0C for 30 minutes then reducing it to 100\u00b0C for the final 30 minutes.\u00a0 This makes sure that the outside is nice and crisp and the inside a little\u00a0soft and sticky. \u00a0*I used two medium sized bananas to cover on layer.\u00a0 *I didn’t mix the curd into the cream as the recipe suggests.\u00a0 My layers from bottom to top were – meringue, banana, passionfruit curd, meringue, cream, fresh passionfruit.\u00a0 *I used the old fashion\u00a0method of cooking the curd, in a pot on the stove.\u00a0 I feel I have more control over the result than if I use a microwave, although I am sure it would work well.<\/p>\n

My tips:<\/span>\u00a0 *I always add a pinch of salt to my egg whites when I beat them up, it helps them to hold their shape once they are whipped up. \u00a0When mixing the sugar into the egg whites make sure that you do so slowly and beat the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved.\u00a0 This will prevent the layers from “weeping” after they are cooked.\u00a0 *The easiest way to get the pulp from passionfruit is to squeeze it and roll it between your thumb and forefinger like you do with citrus.\u00a0 This also prevent scrapping the membrane out that encapsulates the seeds.\u00a0 *When making the curd you need to be careful that the eggs don’t curdle as it thickens.\u00a0 I found moving the pot on and off the heat while whisking or stirring did the trick.\u00a0 *You could prepare all of the ingredients and assemble this just before serving, that will ensure the meringue stays slightly crunchy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Meringue stack<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

ease: 10\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0This is simple meringue and the shapes don’t need to be perfect.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nprep time:<\/strong>\u00a020 mins<\/strong> + cooling and assembly.
\ncooking time:<\/strong> 60mins.<\/strong>
\ntotal: 1hour 20mins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Passionfruit curd<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

ease: 8\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0cooked this on the stove (see\u00a0my alterations) and needed to\u00a0be careful that it didn’t curdle.\u00a0\u00a0
\nprep time:\u00a05 mins.
\ncooking time: 15mins.
\ntotal: 20mins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

taste: 10\/10.<\/strong>\u00a0 Meringue stack with banana and passionfruit curd – <\/em>Firstly, I have to say that I don’t like passionfruit.\u00a0 I made this because G & M both love it and I had some to use.\u00a0 The outcome was that we all loved it.\u00a0 The passionfruit curd was sweet while still tasting of the fruit itself.\u00a0 The meringue yielded slightly as we cut into it but everything held its shape very well.\u00a0 The flavours were well balanced and each seemed to contribute to the other tasting that much better and the textures melded together beautifully.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We had some left over and it was just as good the next day.\u00a0 The meringue had softened slightly but had not collapsed and the flavours were fabulous.<\/p>\n

would I make it again:\u00a0Absolutely<\/strong> \u2013 Especially to impress friends.<\/p>\n

Meringue recipe<\/a>\u00a0– From Gourmet Traveller Online<\/p>\n

Passionfruit Curd Recipe<\/a>\u00a0– From Taste Online<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being invited to a friends place for dinner is a special treat for me as not too many people will invite and willingly cook for a (self confessed) food junkie. However, our friend M is a wonderful cook in his own right and often provides me with recipes for his generous and delicious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78,81,28,93,48,49,27],"tags":[6,101,19,119,120,100],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.foodfourthought.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}