Mon Parfaite Pavlova Parfait

Summer and spring are two seasons that signal the blossoming of a particular crop in a country. For Americans and British, Summer/Spring is strawberry season; while for my country, it means seeing yellow as markets put out crates full of ripe and golden mangoes. There a lot of things I love to do when summer rolls around. Unlike a normal person who would immediately head for the beach, I prepare my table mat, picnic basket, tea, and baking pantry. 'Tis the season to go on a picnic, have al fresco tea parties with pitchers of cold sweet tea and let the neighbors smell your special barbecue sauce wafting from the griller.

The sunny season prompts outbursts of happy colors from outfits to food. Who am I not to jump at the colorful bandwagon? I am going to share with you a simple dessert that combines the best of the northern and southern hemisphere: the American parfait and the New Zealand/Australian pavlova.

Mango-Chocolate 

Pavlova Parfait

The parfait for the French means 'perfect' and refers to a frozen mousse-like dessert with a smooth, velvety texture and taste of lightly whipped cream. The Americans have expanded the original parfait to include an assortment of sweet treats like ice cream, flavored gelatin, and fruits in addition to scoops of parfait cream.

Since we're on the topic of parfait, I know traditional pavlova doesn't look anywhere near my presentation of the traditional New Zealander/Australian dessert. It usually looks like a cake-shaped meringue topped with vanilla whipped cream and slices of fruits like kiwi, strawberries, mangoes, and bananas. Tangy fruits like cherries, raspberries, and blackberries are common toppings, too. Since summer is also mango season for my country, I went with simple mango pavlova with ice cream.

Pavlova, on the other hand, has quite a debatable origin. Some say it's Aussie, some would insist it's Kiwi (slang term for New Zealanders, attributed to its national animal of the same name or the fruit). One thing that is sure about its origins is its namesake--that pavlova is a dessert made in dedication to prima ballerina Anna Pavlova upon her tour to the continent of Oceania in the late 1920's. I imagine it to be shaped like a swan in homage to her popular performance of the The Dying Swan set in the beautiful music of Camille Saint-Saëns' Le Cygne. But since its well-known form is a thick cake-like meringue base with a crispy, crackly exterior and a soft marshmallow-y interior, the-original-pavlova-must've-been-served-in-swan-form is probably just my wishful thinking. Ah, one can dream~

Now if you don't have a conventional oven or a swanky oven toaster with temperature control in your kitchen, you could save yourself the time with ready-made meringue you could get from the grocery or your neighborhood bake shop. I won't judge you :D

I also do this when I'm feeling lazy to exercise my right arm. I included a basic meringue recipe for those who are in the mood to DIY. It's a basic meringue recipe and you could pipe the meringue however you want, you don't necessarily need to make it look like the one on the photo above. After all, it was piped by a professional (thank you, Nel's Bakery!). Likewise, you could add whatever food color you prefer or even omit the food color altogether.

Ingredients

4 large egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp pink food coloring (or 1/2 tsp more for a darker color)

250 ml whipping cream 

3 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

slices of mango or any of your favorite fruit

scoops of chocolate ice cream or any of your favorite flavor

Directions 

Making the Vanilla Whipped Cream

I'm sure you know the drill with the whipped cream. But if you are not up to the DIY challenge, you can buy your whipped cream in a can.

1. Rest your mixing bowl on a bed of ice and pour on the whipping cream. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and whip like there's no tomorrow. Of course, you'd have to stop when the liquid cream starts to thicken and form stiff peaks. Scoop with a spatula into an airtight container and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Making the Crunchy Meringue

1. In a large mixing bowl, pour you egg white and start whisking until it starts to foam and add your 

cream of tartar. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

2. Gradually add a table spoon of sugar at a time and continue whisking until it becomes white, glossy and stiff. You know you've achieved the desired stiffness when the beaten sugar-egg white mixture doesn't fall over the bowl when you tip it upside down like a Dairy Queen blizzard.

3. Carefully fold the food coloring in and scoop the meringue with a spatula into a piping bag fitted with a 1 in-wide tube tip or your largest star tip. If you don't have a piping bag, just pile on the meringue onto a baking paper-lined cookie sheet with a table spoon. 

4. Cook the meringue for 10 minutes at 180 deg C. After that, lower the temperature to 160 deg C bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. When the timer rings, leave the oven door ajar and let the meringue cool and dry inside the oven.

5. When the meringue cools and sets, store in an air tight container and chill in the fridge for up to two weeks. You could enjoy it as is OR--

Make a Pavlova Parfait~

~ By layering whipped cream alternately with ice cream, mangoes, then sit the fancy meringue on top of everything. Or just jumble them up in a bowl and gobble it like an excited kid at heart that you are :D

If I had a lot of ice cream left in my freezer, I would've done a tall parfait for you, guys. But, I had to compete with my brothers for the remaining supply of ice cream. I know you probably won't encounter the same supply-and-demand problem I had, so I trust that you could pull off a more heaped-up parfait worthy of a Man vs Food challenge! Oh, and you could also crush the meringue and add it to the layers of sweet goodies.

When I have desserts that are cold, rich, and heavy like a parfait, I usually just drink water. I know summer is the season of cold sweet tea and tall pitchers of fruit juices and iced water with mint leaves and lemon slices. Hot tea is probably not a good idea unless you're trying to lose weight. Then again, if you were, you wouldn't be patiently reading my post down to this sentence! :-D As for the matter of what drink to have with a parfait, the choice is yours, dear reader :) 

Have a great summer~