This Dessert Is Worthy of a Diva, or Two.
'What happens when you cross a Pavlova and a peach Melba, dishes named for performers of great renown? The show stops.
Here’s a game for the food-obsessed: Instead of contemplating which historical figures you’d invite to a dinner party, picture the dishes you’d serve for the meal. As in oysters Rockefeller followed by tournedos Rossini with a side of Caesar salad?
Then for dessert, will it be a fruity peach Melba and vanilla ice cream drizzled with raspberry purée (created by Escoffier and named for the opera star Nellie Melba)? Or an ethereal meringue Pavlova, mounded with whipped cream (named for the ballerina Anna Pavlova)? At my table, I’d have them both, sharing the plate in a way the two divas never did the stage.
And it was this kind of daydreaming that led to my idea for a raspberry-stippled Pavlova topped with peaches and cream.
In season at the same time, peaches and raspberries are a fairly intuitive combination.
This isn’t to say that Pavlova with peaches and raspberries is a big leap. Peaches and raspberries are in season at the same time, so it’s a fairly intuitive combination for any summer dessert. It’s also a pretty one, especially if you use yellow rather than white peaches to shine brightly against the pale cream.
But I didn’t leave it there. Wanting to make a bolder gesture to honor the two flamboyant performers, I took the concept one step further, adding freeze-dried raspberry powder to the meringue.
My thinking was the raspberry powder would speckle the egg whites bright fuchsia, adding drama to the dessert course. But I wasn’t counting on much in terms of taste.
The opposite occurred. The deep fuchsia faded as the egg whites baked, turning light pink. But the flavor packed a wallop. It was intensely fruity, with a sweet, sour, almost candylike character — a little like SweeTarts, but airier.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/dining/peach-pavlova-recipe.html?
