Deconstructed Pavlova deconstructs Pei Modern

Deconstructed Pavlova

A deconstructed this, and a deconstructed that.

Everyone’s deconstructing things, thanks a lot Ferran Adria!

Strangely I’ve never ever ever had a Pavlova in my life – it’s simple, I’m a hater of fresh fruit hahaha. Basically when it comes to eating, I prefer meat over vegetables, fruits and grains.

The only fruit I like are Apples, Oranges and Bananas and Mandarins.

Relatively easy to eat, and not as sour as say, Passionfruit, Grapes or Pineapple.

You might point out that I have been using Passionfruit quite frequently lately in the desserts I’ve been making but I like to… add C6H12O6 – that’s the chemical formula for sugar! Haha to turn the sour stuff into a more palatable form.

Anyway, back to the topic of Deconstructed Pavlova. At lunchtime while I was at work in the office, I just sat there reading on my iPhone 4 reviews about Vue De Monde.

Then I stumbled on Vue De Monde’s deconstructed pavlova, so munching on my cold soba noodle salad, I thought, say, why not make the stuff?

Deconstructed of course – since my oven is better suited to roasting and grilling skewers.

Ingredients

Meringues: Two egg whites, three teaspoons of sugar.

Strawberries: Two strawberries cut horizontally into “circular” pieces.

White Chocolate Strawberry Puree: 7 Strawberries, 5 pieces of White Chocolate, Three teaspoons of sugar, a piece of lemon zest and 10mL of lemon juice.

Passionfruit Curd: Two egg yolks, one passionfruit, three teaspoons of sugar

White Chocolate Cherries: Three cherries (stones removed using a cherry/olive pitter), 5 pieces of white chocolate, a teaspoon of dessicated coconut.

Wizz Fizz (for decoration)

Kiwifruit (diced)

Malt biscuit (crushed)

1. Using an electric mixer, whisk the two egg whites in a bowl and gradually add the sugar (not like I’m gonna put egg whites on the floor and whisk them haha) until you get stiff peaks. Heat up the oven to 200 degrees fahrenheit. What is that in celsius you ask?? Use this formula hahaha (forgot High School Maths now eh??) C = (Fahrenheit – 32) x (5/9) …

… which means I used 93.33 degrees celsius (200 degrees Fahrenheit) hahaha.

OK, once the white whites are at stiff peaks, using a spoon or piping bag (or in my case a syringe) spoon/pipe/squirt little blobs of egg white onto a baking tray or pan lined with baking paper and show it into the oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes (make sure they don’t get burnt!!!). Then remove the meringues from the oven and TURN THE OVEN OFF hahaha!

2. Slice up the strawberries horizontally and place the strawberry pieces in a bowl. Sprinkle on a teaspoon of sugar to allow the strawberries to absorb the sugar get sweeeeeeeeeter. Ideally, using your hands, massage the sugar into the strawberries like a dodgy Thai masseur on a perverted Aussie tourist.

3. To make the White Chocolate Strawberry Puree, in a saucepan filled with simmering water, place a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan. Toss in the white chocolate pieces onto the heatproof bowl and melt them! In a separate bowl, dice up the 7 strawberries and again, massage a teaspoon of sugar into the strawberries. In a saucepan, heat up half a shot glass of water, toss in the strawberries, two more teaspoons of sugar, the lemon juice and zest and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes Remove the zest and allow the strawberries and syrup to cool. Then throw the strawberries and syrup along with some of the melted white chocolate into a blender and blend to a puree! Then remove from the blender – duh!

4. Wash and pit the cherries, then dip into the white chocolate and then place the white chocolate cherries onto some baking paper on a plate. Then sprinkle with the dessicated coconut and store the white chocolate cherries in the fridge for about half an hour.

5. Make the Passionfruit curd. Cut open a passionfruit and remove the seeds and flesh. Crack open two eggs into a stainless steel or ceramic bowl. Use both the egg yolks and whites. Start whisking the eggs and mix in the two teaspoons of sugar. Whilst whisking, begin to pour in a small amount of the passionfruit seeds and flesh.

6. Boil some water in a saucepan and reduce the heat to a medium flame so the water is just simmering nicely. Place the bowl of eggs and sugar and juice on top of the saucepan (make sure it’s a stainless steel or ceramic bowl!) and continue whisking. Over a period of 15 minutes, just whisk away as the simmering water will produce enough steam to heat the stainless steel/ceramic bowl to coagulate the egg, sugar and passionfruit mixture into a curd. The mixture will coagulate and thicken (trust me, haha just be patient kids!) to the same consistency as somewhere between tomato sauce and yoghurt. Once thickened, mix in the butter and remove the bowl from the saucepan. Make sure you do it carefully as the bowl is hot!

7. Allow the curd to cool, but continue to whisk for a couple of minutes to spread the butter evenly through the curd.

8. Cut and dice up some kiwifruit, and smash some malt biscuits. Whip out a bag of Wizz Fizz too!

9. And then, presentation… Grab a syringe, and squirt the white chocolate strawberry puree and passionfruit curd onto the plate.

10. Put on the plate the white chocolate cherries with coconut, kiwifruit, strawberry pieces and malt biscuit and wizz fizz like mine below along with the meringues…

11. And abracadabra… here’s mine

There you have it, my take on Vue De Monde’s Deconstructed Pavlova.

Pei Modern

One night in late June, I headed to dinner with theveryveryhungrycaterpillar. It was a horribly cold evening. On the way down Collins St from one end to the other, my face was pretty much frozen numb. I couldn’t feel much of my cheeks or forehead by the time I reached Pei Modern hahaha.

Upon getting into restaurant, to warm me back up I ordered myself a glass of red… a Pinot Noir from… er *scratches head* I can’t remember where hahahahaha.

Definitely Australian though!

We hopped over to our table, only to be told that Pei Modern had bread, but not plates for the complimentary bread. O… K…

Anyway forget that little niggle over the bread – let’s get to the tasty stuff now shall we!

The caterpillar ordered a plate of Brandade Croquettes. These were burning hot as soon as the first bite landed on my tongue hahaha – a lesson I’ll never learn. But heck, they were lovely – creamy potato that was smooth and buttery and accompanied by a blast of salted cod. Salty, but not overpowering!

The next course was Almond Gazpacho with Blue Swimmer Crab. This was fantastic baby! Creamy and nutty with the fragrant notes of almonds and pieces of crab meat. When I first saw the grapes in the gazpacho I was huh why is there grapes in my gazpacho?? But it was great – the grapes gave an added dimension in the form of sweet and sour hits to the palate.

Then came the shortbread with anchovies and parmesan… this dish was a bit *shrugs*. Alright… but the fishy and salty sting of the anchovies ugh. I’m not a fan of anchovies, just like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The shortbread was lovely though, a bit on the sweet side, but lovely and “crusty” anyway.

The next dish, whilst quirky tasting, was one of my favourites – Witlof lettuce with Bonito Sashimi, Foie Gras and something from a citrus fruit? Ask the Caterpillar hahaha. It was certainly refreshing, the bonito tasted like tuna and the foie gras creamy and fatty and er… livery (for those who’ve eaten liver hahaha). The lettuce tasted like it hopped into a swimming pool filled of gin and tonic – a hit of subtle bitterness and that lemon tang. As if the Pei Modern Kitchen Team felt as though that weren’t enough, it was like the lettuce decided to grab a bottle of Prada Pour Homme fragrance, empty the fragrance, pour in the gin and tonic and sprayed the gin and tonic on itself. Mmmm Gin and Tonic hahaha.

The next dish just didn’t do it for me…

Baked Beetroot Tart with Horseradish foam. I’ll eat beetroot, say in hamburgers or as a side with say, steak or something, but this dish just didn’t do it for me. The slices of beetroot were artistically arranged on the tart and the edges covered with a generous application of horseradish foam… looking at it, it (the foam) reminded me of my late pet Jack Russell dog Mimi’s “puke”. Basically Mimi would have something stuck in her throat from eating or whatever, or a furball, then she’d go eat a handful of grass in the backyard and she’d spit out the furball/grassball and it’d be covered in foam EEEEEWWWWWWW hahahaha. Sorry, but that’s what this dish reminds me of, my dog’s… “foam”.

The following dishes were absolute gems. Firstly (pictured above), the Dutch Creams. Mojama (cured tuna), coffee, bone marrow, cheese and potato. Fantastic! Slightly salty, but very very creamy and with the fragrant aroma of ground coffee beans reduced to powder form. I was sort of hesitant about this dish (coffees after midday stop me from sleeping) hahaha, but heck I slept well after Pei Modern! Looks like dessert, but tastes creamy and salty and cheesy! And a bit of fattiness too. Brilliant!

Our main was lovely. I’ve never had Spatchcock before – and have only seen it cooked on Season 1 of Masterchef and this current-I-mean-just-finished 2012 series. The spatchcock came with a small bit of black cabbage and grapes. It was as though the Spatchcock said to the kitchen team, if you can make that Dutch Creams smell great, then you bloody well make me smell even better! So they tossed in the grapes and cinnamon and made this plate of dead bird and cabbage smell like it had slept a night earlier in a slice of raisin toast. Fragrant and beautiful… not to mention succulent, in a chickeny way (oh shut up stupid wordpress I know it’s not a word – wordpress doesn’t like words I make up).

Ah dessert…

Milk Chocolate Sorbet, Poached Quince, Dehydrated Chocolate Sponge Cake and a generous dusting of chocolate and coffee powder. *Sniffs* Ahhhhhh the beautiful smell of chocolate and coffee mmmmm. Whilst it wasn’t whoa this is fantastic, it was VERY VERY VERY VERY good. Nice, but not overly rich. Remind me to eat the chocolate first and the fruit last for the next time hahahahahaha.

Pei Modern good… now for Marque in the future!