Yesterday, for a fantastic birthday gift, I got to go to my second Hawksley Workman concert. It was Awesome! Seriously, if you haven’t heard of him except for in the above, you should check him out. He is an incredible Canadian artist and one of my favorite musicians. And he’s even better live! I listen to something by him probably every day. He’s a very witty lyricist, has incredible vocal range, and can play most of the instruments involved in his arrangements. On the whole, he is fantastic.  By fortuitous coincidence, he also played a concert three days before my birthday! What a great gift! (Thank you to the mister for that, again.)

So, I wanted to make something as impressive and good as he is, because a day later I am still running on my awesome Hawksley Workman show energy. To the cooking:

I decided to make Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova, an awesome pavlova that I have made previously, but when I went to the grocery store there where no raspberries.  It was too bad because the pavlova is to die for with raspberries, and they are probably the best berry out there, but I chose to go with strawberries in lieu of raspberries.

The meringue base for this pavlova is chocolatey! I know that this is not necessarily traditional, but it is delightful! You may notice that it calls for vinegar in the meringue, and it seems a little weird to put into a sweet, whipped egg mixture, but it actually helps the eggs get fluffier and more stable when you’re beating them. A fluffy meringue base is essential to a good pavlova. The vinegar of choice in this pavlova in particular is balsamic vinegar, which pairs awesomely with both the strawberries and the chocolate.

All in all, the pavlova was a lot of fun to put together, and very tasty to eat.  The base needs some time to bake, so you can’t pull it together in a snap, but the baking time allows you to get your fruit, whipped cream and chocolate shavings prepared, or you could bake the base ahead of time so that all you need to do is top it before serving.

Now if you’ll excuse me, but I’ve got a new Hawksley Workman record to dance to!

Chocolate Strawberry Pavlova

(adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova in Forever Summer)
Ingredients

6 egg whites

1 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

50 grams dark chocolate, finely chopped (I used 75% cocoa solids)

2 cups whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

500 grams strawberries, cut into rounds

3 tablespoons grated dark chocolate

Instructions
  • Preheat oven to 350° F, and line a pizza tray with parchment paper.
  • Beat egg whites in a bowl until opaque, and then beat in sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue has stiff peaks and is shiny.
  • Sprinkle the cocoa, vinegar and chopped chocolate over the beaten eggs, and fold in carefully  until the cocoa is spread through the mixture.
  • Moundmeringue on the lined pizza tray in a fat circle, making sure that sides and top are of even height.
  • Place tray in the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 300° F.  Bake for an hour and a quarter. You’ll know it’s done when the edges are crisp, and the top is dry but you can still feel the marshmallow like squishiness below the surface.
  • Open the oven door and let the meringue cool completely.
  • Whip the cream, adding the vanilla about half way through the whipping process.
  • Put it together kind of like a pizza: spread the whipped cream over the meringue base, scatter it with the strawberry rounds, and dust it with the grated chocolate.

I think Hawksley would be happy. Enjoy!

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