About this recipe

The Wattleseed Pavlova is Vic Cherikoff’s flagship dish and has to be a contender for an Australian national dish.

The history of the Pavlova stems back to Fremantle, Western Australia and was created at the Esplande Hotel by chef Bert Sachse who named it after Anna Pavlova a Russian Ballerina who toured Australia. The kiwis simultaneously concocted the same sort of meringue mixture or believe they did. The idea of serving it with wattleseed and in Swiss roll fashion instead of as a cow pat must put us in front.

Ingredients

7 egg whites
5g (1 teaspoon) lemon juice
15g (1 tablespoon) corn flour
300g (1¼ cups) castor sugar
300ml (1¼ cups) whipped cream
30g (2 tablespoons) wattleseed extract
120g (½ cup) cereal or biscuit crumbs
strawberry jam
juice of 1 lemon
pinch fruit spice

Cooking instruction

Add the Wattleseed extract to the cream and whip this to stiff peaks; this can and is best done the day before to allow the full flavour to develop; taste and add more extract if you want a stronger flavour.

In another bowl whip the egg whites to soft peaks; add the sugar and lemon juice slowly until stiff peaks form. Line a baking tray with baking paper to cover an area the width of the baking paper and 1¼ times the length. Read the pavlova mix over the baking paper in a rectangular shape to a depth of 2cm.

Bake at 150°C for 10 to 15 minutes or until firm and nearly touch dry but not browned; it should look like soft meringue at this stage. Remove from the oven and slide it off the tray to stop it cooking on; sprinkle the top with the crumbed breakfast cereal evenly coating the surface.

Flip the meringue over, seasoned side down, onto a clean tea towel and remove the baking paper carefully; if it sticks, place a wet towel which has been heated in a microwave (or soaked with really hot water) on to the baking paper for 30 seconds; try peeling the paper away again and it should come away cleanly. Spread the wattleseed cream evenly over the meringue to a thickness of around 1cm or ½ an inch. Roll up the pavlova using the long edge of the towel; cut the ends on an angle. Before removing the towel completely, lift the pavlova onto a platter and roll the pavlova off the towel.

Serve with a sour fruit coulis, for example, a berry jam mixed with enough lemon juice to taste tart and to pour like a thick sauce. I’d add a pinch of fruit spice to this sauce as well to enhance the fruitiness.