What I've Been Cooking

Tonight, from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem: Roasted sweet potatoes with green onions, peppers, figs, and balsamic reduction.
Served with roast chicken, but could be a vegetarian main course with the optional goat cheese mentioned in the recipe.

Dessert: Pavlova with whipped cream, raspberries, strawberries.

Earlier this week: simple food --
roast turkey salad with grapes, lettuce, mayo, parsley flakes.

Pavlova Recipe

4 large egg whites (for medium eggs use 5 egg whites)

1 1/4 cups white sugar mixed with 2 tsp. cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

8 oz. carton heavy cream whipped with 1/3 c. sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla OR 1 recipe of lemon curd

Fruit for garnish

1.	Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw a 9-inch circle on the parchment paper with pencil and turn over the paper so it won't get pencil on the cake. Sprinkle the circle lightly with corn starch to avoid sticking. NOTE: I did it once without cornstarch and it didn't stick.
2.	In mixer, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gradually add in the sugar mixture, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until thick and glossy. Gently fold in vanilla extract and lemon juice.
3.	Spoon mixture inside the circle drawn on the parchment paper. Working from the center, spread mixture toward the outside edge, building edge slightly. This should leave a slight depression in the center.
4.	Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack. NOTE: this recipe skips all the complicated stuff about cooling it in the oven overnight that usually is part of Pavlova instructions.
5.	Whip the cream with sugar & vanilla. Or make lemon curd with the leftover egg yolks, allow to cool. Remove the paper, and place meringue on a flat serving plate. Just before serving, fill the center of the meringue with whipped cream or lemon curd and top with fruit: kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, whatever. ADAPTED FROM http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-pavlova/