Ginger Infused February Delights

Hi guys!!!

Welcome back. It's Monday again and we prepare to meet the week. Despite the fact that it is a Monday, you can't complain when this greets your morning. My apologies for you who are experiencing harsh winter weathers. I'm willing to trade places. I love winter.

Beautiful, cloudless Tegucigalpa sky

As we enter the second month of the year, the time to decipher what we need to accomplish this year is shortly coming to an end. A year old and hopefully, wiser, I find myself pondering on how I wish my future to develop. As we graduated and parted ways after school, most of us encountered a big problem in our career: getting that first job. I guess I can speak freely in the name of the majority when I say we have little or no experience working in kitchens before. How then do we get that job? No company is willing to sponsor your naiveté of the kitchen world and recruit you as a member of their team. They fail to see a detail we haven't taken for granted: How did YOU get a job in the first place?

When you ask the question, you most likely will get ignored or presented with a far-fetched story of stardom and whatnot. Truth is, the opportunity presents itself at the right place, at the right time. However, we have to be vigilant, ready, with eyes wide open, ready to catch it. I guess what I'm trying to say is let's remain positive and confident in our abilities and skills to know that the job we want will be the job we get. Maybe not the first, second, third or tenth, but eventually we'll get there. I am about to venture into my first official job and cross your fingers I'll do well. But enough boring talk. 

Last week I made a promise to us, that I'd quench my curiosity with ginger and peaches. I got pretty close, as I used nectarines instead. Ever since I made poached pears for the first time (December 2011), I've been fascinated with wine poaching. It seems a tad unvaried and monotonous, but to be honest the technique is great and you get to explore with different flavors and spices. So what was this week's experiment?

What do you think?

Ginger, Nectarine Mini Pavlovas. Yup, it sounds that good, right?! So then I proceeded to do some initial research to not make my experiment a complete fail. I found several recipes on gingered poached peaches, but I then opted to change my course. I poached them in a sweet wine, a Muscat wine, with orange and lemon and a hint of vanilla. I left them soaking the liquid overnight, at room temperature and popped them in the fridge the following afternoon. Mid-morning I proceeded to make the mini pavlovas. I hadn't satiated my craving for ginger, so I decided to make ginger and cinnamon meringues. Both spices are overpowering, and I did not want the taste overall to be a mouthful of spices, so I stuck to small, equal amounts of each and they complimented themselves well. To fill them up, I also included ginger and cinnamon into a cream, but this time, the cinnamon taste was predominant. Together, the meringue base, the cream and poached peaches made for a lovely dessert. So say my relatives, who were my guinea pigs. My grandmother insisted on saying the ginger was not perceived in the meringue. A small mistake I made was not trying the dessert together. I merely tasted the components separately. On its own, the meringue does have the ginger taste, but I shall have to try it with the rest.

Try out my recipe at the end, and let me know what you think.

Further more, I've been thinking about new experiments to try. My grandmother gave me a bunch of carambolas (aka star fruit) and I haven't decided if I want to make a tropical cheesecake, a curd or jam. They'd all be lovely alternatives to each other and will all be golfed down quickly. Mind you, that isn't a backhanded compliment to my culinary abilities, but to the delicious and refreshing taste of the fruit. If you have at home and aren't willing to be adventurous in the kitchen, simply slice them up, spice them with salt, pinch pepper, some cumin and lemon juice and trust me, you're in for a treat! Same goes for green mangoes!!!

On a more literary note, I've been meaning to reach out to those who enjoy reading and books and I'd like to give a shout out to some of the works I gobbled up this past year.  I'll dispense with the widely known copies (The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments series, The Casual Vacancy...all great books, but I'm sure you knew that) and I'll dig into the lesser known. I can't recall ever mentioning The Night Circus to you. If I have, my apologies, but if I haven't then here it goes. I am a huge Harry Potter fan, so a fact you can deduce is a love for magic, imagination and fantastical fiction. The author is Erin Morgenstern. If you are a fan of these genres, then go out and pick yourself a copy. If it's humor and romance you're after, then  check out The Greatest Love Story of All Time by Lucy Robinson. I promise you'll be laughing your heart out within the first five pages. I also had the pleasure of reading a romantic and finding-yourself kind of book, Foreign Tongue by Vanina Marsot. It is a beautifully written story that will have you in tears. 

Then again, you don't have to. After all, you came here to read about my messy kitchen stories. :) So, I'll keep an eye out for a good rosquillas recipe and I'll inform you about my job adventures. 

Until next time.

xx

P.S KEEP READING... the recipe follows shortly.

The Messy Chef's Ginger Nectarine Mini Pavlovas

Serves 26

White Wine Poached Nectarines

8 nectarines, not overly ripe

6 slices orange

2 slices lemon

1/3 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp

1 750 ml bottle Muscat wine

1/3 cup water

1 tsp vanilla extract

Ginger Meringue Base 

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

5 egg whites

¾ cup, plus 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

pinch of salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Cinnamon-Ginger Cream Topping

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 cup, plus 2 Tbsp. heavy cream

2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

½ tsp cinnamon*

½ tsp ginger*

*you can adapt the measurements to suit your taste.

Preparation:

White Wine Poached Nectarines:

In a pan, large enough to have them in a single layer, place the nectarines, the orange and lemon slices and the sugar. Pour over them, the Muscat wine and the water. On low heat, allow to simmer with lid on, for an approximate 25 minutes. The nectarines should be holding their shape. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract and allow to cool without the lid. They can be made up to 3 days ahead, kept in the fridge to maintain them fresh.

Once in use, cut the nectarines in thin slices to adorn the pavlovas. Reduce the poaching wine to thin syrup by simmering on low to medium heat for approximately 20 minutes. 

Ginger Meringue Base:

Preheat oven to 300° F /150° C. Prepare trays with baking/parchment paper and trace 26 5 cm circles. Be sure to turn the paper over. Place egg whites, brown sugar, salt, ginger and cinnamon in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on low speed until well combined. Make sure no sugar lumps remain. Increase speed to medium; beat until soft peaks form, about 9 minutes. With mixer running, gradually add the confectioner's sugar. Continue beating until peaks are stiff and glossy, about 2 minutes more.  Then beat in the vinegar and vanilla.

Fix a pastry bag with an 11mm open star tip and fill halfway with meringue. It allows for better management of the bag. Using the tracing as a guide, pipe a rosette and continue along the edges, overlapping the rose to create a well.

Like so

Place trays in oven. Reduce the temperature to 250° F/130° C and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Please note that this will result in a firmer meringue, not the traditional pavlova meringue, which is softer and just about set. If you wish to have this instead, bake the meringues for 50-60 minutes. 

Allow to cool and remove from parchment/baking paper. If not using them immediately, store in an airtight container. 

Cinnamon-Ginger Cream Topping:

In mixer bowl with whisk attachment, beat the topping ingredients to a stiff peak. 

Assembly:

Place meringue bases onto plates. Using a pastry bag with same 11mm open star tip, pipe rosettes with the cream into the meringue wells. A small rosette is enough to compliment the meringue. Adorn with 2 or 3 thin nectarine slices on top. Pour 1/2 Tbsp. of wine syrup on top. Serve with extra nectarine slices and a some additional cream.

Enjoy!!!