Junior MasterChef & Pavlova

My kids like to help out in the kitchen, but it’s mostly licking spoons full of cookie batter. It never occurred to me that a nine-year old could cook something as beautiful and sophisticated as “Pheasant a la Orange with Pistachio and Cranberry Filling with Grilled Figs.” But after watching two seasons of Junior MasterChef Australia, my eyes were open. The show is a televised cooking competition for nine to 12-year-olds that originated in Britain in 1994 and has been adapted in many countries since. My family has really enjoyed watching the Australian version, and a few weeks ago we watched the British version. The junior chefs are talented and confident without being precocious. They come to the show with strong cooking skills and a love of food, but also receive a lot of instruction and practical experience on the show itself. My children learned a lot about food and cooking from the show and are much more interested in how meals get to our table. Although they still are not adventurous eaters, they have been inspired to try new things and help out more in the kitchen. It has been a very positive experience for our family, and I highly recommend those shows for kids of all ages.

On the Australian version of the show, it was quite popular to cook pavlova as a dessert; it’s basically a big meringue covered with whipped cream and fruit. It’s pretty easy to pull together, and even a sloppy version can look quite pretty. Kids like it because it’s easy to customize to individual tastes, like a pizza, and it’s super fun to decorate. We love pavlova with fresh berries, but it’s still delicious and beautiful with fruit like kiwi, oranges, and bananas that are available in winter.

Pavlova

4 egg whites

1 cup (210gr) of sugar

1 Tbs. vanilla sugar

2 Tbs. corn starch, sifted

2 tsp. white vinegar

Topping

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

(Or for a richer flavor, use 1 cup/250ml heavy cream and 1cup/250gr mascarpone.)

1 Tbs. vanilla sugar

2-3 cups fruit

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Place baking paper on a baking sheet.

2. Place the egg whites into a large mixing bowl. Using electric beaters, beat the egg whites for about one minute until soft peaks form. Continue beating while slowly adding the regular sugar and vanilla sugar until stiff, shiny peaks form, about 1 more minute.

3. Gently fold in the cornstarch and vinegar to the egg mixture with a spatula or whisk.

4. Spread the egg white mixture in a thick circle (about 9 in/20cm wide) on your baking sheet. Put in the oven and turn the temperature down to 150C (300F). Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off, crack open the door and allow the meringue to cool completely in the oven.

5. Shortly before serving, whip the cream (and optional mascarpone) with the vanilla sugar, then spread it on the cooled meringue. Top with fruit in a pretty design. To serve, cut slices like a pizza.

By Tanya Deans

Tanya is a California girl at heart but learned to be a mom in Switzerland, for which she will always be grateful. If you’d like to read more of Tanya’s work, check out her blogs expatchow.blogspot.com and momstotszurich.blogspot.com.