Pink peppercorn, passion fruit & strawberry pavlova

A totally delicious strawberry pavlova recipe from top pastry chef James Campbell. It's quite complicated but would be a fantastic dessert to serve on an occasion you really wanted to blow your guests away.

James says: "I love the combination of strawberry and passion fruit and I felt the pink peppercorn gives it an unusual twist. I feel that sometimes pavlova can be a little too much on the sweet, creamy side so for me the balance with the peppercorns works well and with the lemon yoghurt tulle and basil it helps to re-invent this old classic."

Serves 8-10 People

For the pavlova:

4 egg whites

140g caster sugar

140g icing sugar sieved

2 tbsp crushed pink peppercorns

Pre-heat the oven to 100°C Fan/110°C conventional, then whisk your egg whites up using an electric whisk. Once the whites are doubled in volume gradually add the caster sugar. Whisk on full speed for approx 10 mins. The resulting merIngue mixture will seem over-whisked but that is perfect for this recipe. Take the icing sugar and fold in gently in three stages. Then fold in the pink peppercorns.

Transfer the meringue to a piping bag with a size 8 plain piping nozzle and pipe on to a baking tray lined with parchment by making a large circle (roughly 20cm in diameter). Repeat the process on top of the original circle, then pipe a 4cm wide border round the edge to contain the fruit (Or James says you could just spread out the meringue with a palate knife if you’re lazy, like me FB)

Transfer to the oven and bake for between 1hour 30 mins and 1hour 40min. You can tell if the pavlova is cooked if you can lift the paper off the base and leave no residue underneath. Once it is cooked set aside to cool.

For the passion fruit curd:

50g passion fruit pulp including the seeds

2 medium egg yolks

1 whole medium egg

50g caster sugar

50g unsalted butter

In a heatproof mixing bowl, add the passion pulp, egg yolks, whole eggs and caster sugar and whisk together. This is then cooked over a bain-marie: Fill a saucepan with a third of water and leave over medium heat. Sit the bowl on top ensuring the water does not touch the bowl as it is the steam that cooks the curd. Continue to whisk over a medium heat until the mixture starts to thicken. Take off the heat and whisk for one more minute, whisk in the diced butter, allow to cool slightly and add a little lemon juice to taste. Cover with cling film and refrigerate

For the chantilly cream:

100ml whipping cream

100ml double cream

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod

1 tbsp Icing sugar

Whisk together the vanilla seeds, cream and half of the sugar, add as much or as little of the remaining sugar as you like depending on how sweet you like it and continue to whisk until the creeam forms soft peaks. Place in the fridge for finishing the dessert.

For garnishing the pavlova

1 punnet of strawberries

a little small-leaved basil

Wash, hull and halve the strawberries, set aside with the basil.

For the peppercorn & yoghurt tuile

75g fondant icing sugar

50g liquid glucose

10g dried lemon zest (see below)

10g acidic yoghurt powder (optional or include a little citric acid)

1 tsp crushed pink peppercorns

Boil the fondant and glucose together and continue to cook until 156°C then pour onto a Silpat mat or parchment paper and allow to cool. Once the mix is cool put in to a food processor and mix to a fine powder, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix again.

You can dry the lemon zest by taking the peel from the lemon using a peeler and leaving at room temperature for 24 hours. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C Fan/200°C conventional, dust the powder over a silicone mat or parchment paper evenly and finely and bake for 3-4 mins or until the tuille has melted, remove from the oven and sprinkle over the pink peppercorn, allow to cool and break into rustic shards

To assemble the dish:

Take the cooled pavlova shell, and pipe or spread the passion fruit curd up to the edge then spread the chantilly cream on top. Scatter over the strawberries and a little basil and spike in a few tuile shards. Dust with a little icing sugar for a nice finish.

What to drink:
I'm inclined to think you need something a little off-the-wall with this exotic dessert. I tried a Sauternes at the tasting and it was overwhelmed. A young vendange tardive or late harvest gewurztraminer would be ideal - or a late harvest riesling. A moscato d'asti would possibly work too. FB

You can follow James on Twitter @dessertdoctor