Berry and mango pavlova

Posted by kathryn in Pudding and Dinner parties

I’ve got a few unfinished blogging strands at the moment, including the dessert from this dinner party. I rarely make desserts, so far there are only three posts in my pudding category and at home we generally stick to the trusty fruit and yoghurt combination.

For a dinner party though, I like to do something special, a little bit decadent even, but without tripling everyone’s saturated fat intake. This berry and mango pavlova fits the bill.

It’s adapted from an old copy of Delicious , although my first attempt at making meringue from the magazine instructions was a disaster – a total failure to maintain any sort of peak, stiff or otherwise – and ended up in the bin. For round two, I consulted the trusty Delia Smith website and followed her excellent meringue making instructions. Success.

I have to admit, this is not exactly a health recipe – there’s too much sugar for it to qualify as being “good for you”. However, it’s not as bad for you as many. Meringues are lower in fat, particularly saturated fat, than most desserts (think cheesecake, anything with chocolate here, etc). Plus I use a combination of ricotta and yoghurt, instead of cream and plenty of fresh fruit, which again keeps a lid on the saturates, while boosting up the vitamin and antioxidant levels. It’s not something I’d eat everyday, but is a good choice for a dinner party.

Berry and mango pavlova

Adapted from Delicious issue 23 (December 2003). The original recipe was for a triple-deck pavlova. However one of my guests was intolerant to sheep’s milk, so I used the top “layer” as a separate mini-pavlova, which I spread with sheep’s milk yoghurt and topped with the berries and mango. The recipe here is for the full three layers. Serves 12.

• 9 egg whites
• 520g caster sugar
• 800g ricotta cheese
• 200ml thick Greek-style yoghurt
• 1 punnets strawberries
• 1 punnet raspberries
• 1 punnet blackberries
• 1 large ripe mango, peeled and cut into small pieces
• Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line three baking trays with baking paper. Trace a 26cm diameter circle on one, a 20cm circle on the second and a 13cm disc on the last.

Make the meringue according to these instructions and note her advice about cooking them the day before and leaving in the oven to dry out overnight.

Before serving, mix together the ricotta and yoghurt. Place the large meringue disc on a serving plate, spread with half the ricotta mix and scatter over half the fruit. Place the medium circle on top of this, spread with 2/3 of the remaining ricotta mix and fruit. Finally, add the small circle and top with the last of the ricotta and fruit. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

See the full menu here .

PS Sorry the photos are so bad, but it was a damned fine dessert.

12 January, 2007