“I’m loving the Chinese pavlova dessert at Spice Temple in Melbourne. Could you please ask for the recipe? I’d love to replicate this at home.”
Thao Le, Carnegie, Vic
REQUEST A RECIPE
To request a recipe, email [email protected] or send us a message via Facebook. Please include the restaurant’s name and address, as well as your name and address. Please note that because of the volume of requests we receive, we can only publish a selection in the magazine.
Ingredients
Panna cotta
Passionfruit ice-cream
Meringue roll
Method
Main
1.For panna cotta, bring cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds and half the sugar to the boil in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in remaining sugar to dissolve. Squeeze excess water from gelatine, add to cream mixture, stir to dissolve and strain through a fine sieve into a bowl placed over ice. Stir occasionally until cool but not quite setting (5-7 minutes). Gradually fold into crème fraîche until smooth, then continue stirring over ice until starting to set and vanilla seeds stay suspended (5-7 minutes), being careful not to let it set completely. Remove bean and pour mixture into serving bowls or glasses and chill until set (30-40 minutes). Cover and refrigerate until required.
2.For passionfruit ice-cream, whisk passionfruit, sugar and yolks in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water until thick and pale (5-7 minutes). Cool over a bowl of iced water (5-6 minutes). Whisk in cream and churn in an ice-cream machine, then freeze until firm (3-4 hours). Makes about 1 litre and will keep for 2 weeks.
3.For meringue roll, preheat oven to 150C. Mark a 20cm x 30cm rectangle on a sheet of baking paper. Lightly oil an oven tray, turn paper over and press onto tray. Whisk eggwhite in an electric mixer to soft peaks (1-2 minutes), then gradually add sugar, whisking until firm peaks form (8-10 minutes). Fold in cornflour, vinegar and Sichuan pepper and spread mixture evenly inside rectangle template. Reduce oven to 120C and bake until meringue forms a crust (18-20 minutes). Cool for 20-30 minutes, then turn out onto a clean, dry tea towel, drizzle lightly with condensed milk and spread with a spatula. From a long side, use the tea towel to roll meringue into a cylinder. Cut into 8 pieces. Place each on a serving of panna cotta, top with passionfruit ice-cream, banana slices, passionfruit pulp and pashmak, and serve.
At Spice Temple the kitchen uses d’Isigny crème fraîche, available from select delicatessens. For passionfruit juice, process the pulp of about
22 passionfruit in a food processor, then push the pulp through a strainer to remove seeds, scraping to gather as much seedless pulp as possible.
Notes