My first Pavlova with white peaches - La mia prima Pavlova con pesche biance - Moja prva Pavlova s bijelim breskvama

When I cook pasta alla carbonara, or I bake my fantastic brioche, I usually use only egg yolks, or I use one egg and one egg yolk and so I always have one or two egg whites to be used in a frittata or I prepare small meringues that are like cherries, one after another, me and Mr. M, we finish them in a moment. This time I've decided to try this famous, sweet and delicate dessert that I've never baked before. I always feared it, the great Pavlova. Well, I feared its preparation and the kind of fruits to be used and its size and thousand other details that disappeared when I realized that my meringues remained snow white and so delicate, apparently solid, but so friable and dry. I have not expected to succeed in this experiment, but when I broke my Pavlova while arranging it on the plate I was smiling joyfully! The sound was the original "pavlova cracking sound", so I broke this perfect, thin and well dried meringue and my fingers plunged into whipped cream, cubes of white peaches and mint leafs.

This is the very first Pavlova of my life, but I already have in mind another very special Pavlova and as soon as I will have some egg whites left I will prepare it.

Did you noticed that I took light pictures too, how do you like them? It's definitively not my style, but I think these little (or temporary!) change is worth this beautiful dessert. These light and almost colourless shades match perfectly with the texture of meringues. On purpose I've chosen the combination of sweet meringue, whipped cream with no sugar at all and white peaches that are not too sweet, but are so perfumed and have a delicate and flavorful taste.

No need to say that I'm very proud of my summery dessert. It exceeded all my expectations.

But if you are craving a tasty and real Italina carbonara after all these sweet ingredients, I promise I will try to cook it only for the blog...and will eat it the day after for lunch in the office!

PAVLOVA WITH WHITE PEACHES

(I've got 4 meringues 10 cm of diameter)

2 eggwhites

110 gr fine sugar (not icing sugar)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 dash of baking powder

250 ml of heavy cream

4 white peaches

some mint leafs

Preheat the oven to 100°C

Place the egg whites in the bowl and start beating them with the hand mixer. Once your eggwhites get foamy start adding sugar a tablespoon at a time, continuously mixing until you get shiny and stiff foam. Add cornstarch and a dash of baking powder and incorporate in the foam.

Draw on the parchment circular shapes 10 cm of diameter, place the parchment on the baking tray. Arrange the meringues in every circle on the parchment and create a small crater in the middle of each meringue.

Reduce the heat to 80°C. Put the meringues in the oven and bake for 1 hour. Switch off the oven and leave the meringues in the oven until completely cool and dry.

Cut peaches in small pieces. Beat the cream without sugar right before assembling your pavlova.

Arrange the meringues on the serving plate, put on top of each meringue some whipped cream and pieces of peaches. Spread on top some mint leafs.

Serve.

PAVLOVA CON PESCHE BIANCHE

(ho ottenuto 4 meringhe del diametro 10 cm)

2 albumi d'uovo

110 gr di zucchero fine (non zucchero in polvere)

1 cucchiaino di amido di mais

1 pizzico di lievito per dolci

250 ml di panna

4 pesche bianche

Alcune foglie di menta

Preriscaldare il forno a 100° C

Mettere gli albumi nella ciotola e iniziare a montarli con il mixer. Una volta ottenuta la neve ferma iniziare ad aggiungere lo zucchero un cucchiaio alla volta, mescolando continuamente fino ad ottenere un composto lucido e rigido. Incorporare al composto l'amido di mais e un pizzico di lievito per dolci.

Disegnare sulla carta forno i cerchi del diametro 10 cm, posizionare la carta forno sulla teglia. Sistemare la neve in ogni cerchio disegnato sulla carta forno e creare un piccolo cratere al centro di ogni meringa.

Abbassare la temperatura del forno a 80° C. Mettere le meringhe nel forno e cuocerle per 1 ora. Spegnere il forno e lasciare le meringhe nel forno finché non saranno completamente fredde e asciutte.

Tagliare le pesche in piccoli pezzi. Montare la panna senza zucchero appena prima di assemblare le pavlove.

Mettere le meringhe sul piatto, farcire ogni meringa con panna montata e pezzetti di pesche. Cospargere qualche foglia di menta sulla frutta.

Servire.

PAVLOVA S BIJELIM BRESKVAMA

(dobila sam 4 beze kore promjera 10 cm)

2 bjelanjka

110 gr sitnog kristal šećera (ne u prahu)

1 čajna žličica kukuruznog škroba

prstohvat praška za pecivo

250 ml slatkog vrhnja

4 bijele breskve

nekoliko listića metvice

Zagrijte pećnicu na 100° C

Tucite bjelanjke mikserom. Kad izradite čvrsti snijeg od bjelanjaka, počnite dodavati šećer žlicu po žlicu i neprekidno miksajte dok ne dobijete sjajnu i krutu smjesu. Dodajte u snijeg kukuruzni škrob i prstohvat praška za pecivo i umiješajte ih u snijeg.

Nacrtajte na papir za pečenje krugove promjera 10 cm, stavite papir za pečenje na pleh za pečenje. Rasporedite snijeg u krugove na papiru za pečenje i napravite malu udubinu na sredini svake hrpice snijega od bjelanjka.

Smanjite temperaturu pećnice na 80° C. Stavite beze u pećnicu i pecite 1 sat. Isključite pećnicu i ostavite beze kore u pećnici dok se ne ohlade i potpuno osuše.

Izrežite breskve na male komade. Istucite vrhnje neposredno prije nego što ćete složiti pavlove.

Stavite beze kore na tanjur za serviranje, stavite na vrh svake beze kore šlaga i komadiće breskve. Posujte to površini par listova metvice.

Poslužite.