Frutta Pavlova

By Matthew Luca

Wondering what to do with left over egg whites? who can refuse a good pavlova anyway.

Oodles of cream and crisp but gooey meringue, soo tasty.

Ingredients

6 egg whites

300g Caster sugar

1/4 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp vanilla essence

200ml double cream (whipped)

200g chopped strawberries

100g raspberries

50g blueberries

Method

Using a food mixer with balloon whisk or bowl and electric whisk, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, add the sugar, vanilla essence and white wine vinegar and whisk for a further 5 minutes until smooth and very firm.

Preheat oven to 130c. On a large baking tray lined with greaseproof/baking parchment, place the soft meringue on the middle, spread to form a round and make a well in the middle so that when cooked the cream can sit inside.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour, 30 minutes until firm but slightly soft in the middle. transfer carefully to a cooling rack.

When the meringue is completely cool spread the whipped cream around the middle of the pavlova, garnish with the fresh fruit.

Chefs tip; put a little of the soft meringue mix into a piping bag and make little nests, they take around 40 minutes to cook. why not try some spun sugar for decoration.

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Torta rustica di Mele (Rustic style Italian Apple Pie)

By Matthew Luca

So what makes an apple pie Italian? this recipe uses a flaky style pastry that's synonymous with the countries pastry desserts along with a little flavour twist from me. It's a melt in the mouth pie that is best served with a good spoon of vanilla ice cream / Gelato.

Ingredients for the Pastry

300g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)

250g caster sugar

100g butter

2 egg

1 tablespoon baking powder

Ingredients for filling

6 large apples (peeled & sliced)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of amaretto liqueur

Sprig of fresh thyme (leafs picked of the stem)

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon of butter

For the pastry, combine the flour, butter, 1 egg, sugar and baking powder using a mixer or by hand and knead into a dough. wrap in cling-film and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.

Cut the dough into two halves, dust a work surface with flour and roll into large circles to just over the size of the pie dish you will be using.

Lightly grease and flour the base of your pie dish and lay a sheet of pastry on the base (The base sheet should be intentionally thin as we will not blind bake the pastry).

For the filling, In a large pan add the apples, cinnamon, amaretto, butter, sugar and thyme leafs and cook on a high heat for around 2 minutes.

Put the apple filling onto the base layer and spread evenly. Lay over a thicker sheet of pastry on top, brush glaze the pastry with some egg wash (1 egg whisked) and put on the middle shelf of the oven for 35 minutes on 180c until the pastry is firm and golden brown. Allow to rest for a few minutes prior to serving.

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