Watercress, Strawberry & Lemon Pavlova Roulade
Recipe by Suze Morrison, Gourmet Glow | Photography by Lara Jane Thorpe
Ingredients:
5 Large Egg Whites, room temperature
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar
45ml Cold Water
250g Caster Sugar
10g Cornflour
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Cider Vinegar
Icing Sugar to Dust
480g Double Cream
2 tbsp Icing Sugar
1 Vanilla Pod, seeds scraped
50g Watercress, finely Chopped
100g Lemon Curd
400g Strawberries, washed and finely chopped
Method:
Begin with the meringue. Preheat the oven to 170C, turn off the fan. Grease and line a large (40 x 28cm) baking tray with non-stick paper, then re-grease over the top. Set aside in the fridge.
Add the egg whites, salt & cream of tartar to the base of a stand mixer (if your whites are not at room temperature, sit the eggs in a bowl of warm water for a minute or so)
Whip on a medium-high speed for 2 minutes then slowly drizzle in the water. Continuing on a medium speed, add the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, making sure you don’t get any granules on the side of the bowl as this will make your roulade grainy.
Once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed to high and whip for 3-4 minutes or until it is stiff, glossy and shiny. Mix the cornflour with the vanilla and vinegar and gently fold in using a rubber spatula.
Dollop mounds of the meringue onto the tray and smooth them out to cover the whole tray. Bake in the preheated oven for 22-25 minutes or until risen and caramel coloured.
Remove from the oven, dust with icing sugar and cover with a clean tea towel and allow to cool for 2-3 hours (up to 12).
Meanwhile, mix the cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on a medium speed until thickened but still runny. Continue beating by hand until it only just holds its shape (bearing in mind, if you are making this in advance it will continue to thicken). Fold in the watercress.
Remove the tea towel from the roulade and dust with more icing sugar. Invert the roulade onto the tea towel and carefully peel off the paper. Spread with half of the whipped cream and then the lemon curd.
Dot half the strawberries over the lemon curd. Here comes the tricky bit! Taking the short edge in front of you, roll into a tight log – you can remove any cream that spills out.
Cover with cling film and pop into the fridge for 1 hour before finishing with the remaining cream, strawberries and a few sprigs of watercress if liked.
