Blue Cayenne

Pavlova:  A meringue-based “cake” with a soft marshmallow-like center and a crisp crust.

How good does that sound?

Throw in a story about a famed Russian ballerina and a century-long petty diplomatic dispute between Australia and New Zealand about the origin of the recipe and you have an interesting recipe, indeed! I don’t know about you, but I especially enjoy making a recipe that has an interesting back story.(Caesar Cardini’s Caesar Salad, Catherine de Medicis’ Macarons and Pimento Cheese Sandwiches come to mind.)

Must be that high school history teacher “phase” in my life. 

Some years ago, 2016 actually, Blue Cayenne featured a Pavlova recipe. Here is the link to that previous post Pavlova  complete with a photo of the recipe’s famous namesake ballerina decked out in a quirky swan costume. (Below,too,  you will find a photo of that delicious Lemon Curd and Berry”Pav” that we baked (and enjoyed) back in 2016.)

The other day, while searching the King Arthur Baking site, we found KAB’s simplified take on the pavlova batter and gave in to serious Pavlova cravings So, here we are with another Pavlova recipe and a simpler option for the meringue.

Here is still another iteration of this pavlova recipe, this time with mascarpone whipped cream (wow!), lemon curd and berries. I loved the color scheme of this one!

Here is King Arthur Baking’s simple Pavlova recipe as we prepared it in our kitchen. You can find the original recipe here.

I remember first encountering bok choy years ago on a trip to China. Whether we were in Bejing or in The Stone Forest, bok choy was on our plates. It’s a staple in the Asian kitchen. Today, back in the United States,  bok choy is everywhere from your local bodega to the local Costco. 

If you haven’t tried it, you are in for a real treat. Bok choy  is a type of Chinese cabbage. It’s flavor is sometimes described as spinach-like. Believed to have originated as early as the 5th Century AD, bok choy is believed to be related to cabbage, broccoli and kale. It is low calorie but rich in vitamins and minerals. It’s versatile, too; you’ll find it widely used in stir fries, soups, salads. It can be boiled, steamed and stir-fried. 

This is a delicious soup recipe featuring bok choy in a star anise-flavored broth. 

This recipe is from Hetty McKinnon’s  cookbook Tenderheart. You can order the book through your local bookstore or find it on Amazon here.

McKinnon, a James Beard Foundation finalist, is the author of a number of cookbooks including To Asia, With Love and  Family: New Vegetarian Comfort Food. Brooklyn-based, you can find her work in The New York Times, Bon Appetit and The Guardian. 

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

As I sat steaming bowls of this beautiful soup in front of my New Year’s Day guests, I remember saying “This may be the most beautiful soup in the universe.”

And it is. 

The intense orange color of this soup is spectacular. And the edgy spicy hot flavor of this soup soars.

Unfamiliar with red kuri squash? Here is a piece from the magazine Food and Wine that mentions the squash.(http://Food and Wine Magazine: Red Kuri Squash).  Admittedly, this is not a common type of winter squash found in your local market, but it is sometimes available at your local farmers’ market.

Hope you will try this soup. It is perfect for cold winter nights and makes for a dazzling  party soup course