GREAT EXPECTATIONS

A daughter keeps her mother’s memory alive by making her impressive pavlova for family birthdays.

WITH A DENTIST FOR A FATHER, Amanda Brodie and her three siblings weren’t allowed a lot of sweet treats. So it was always exciting when their mum, Maxine, made a pavlova. Her towering meringue topped with cream, strawberries and kiwifruit was on the table for every family birthday. “She just whipped it up,” recalls Amanda. “She’d have the Mixmaster going and we’d get to lick the beaters. We loved it.” Maxine’s pav remained a tradition over the years, even as the family expanded to welcome 10 grandchildren. But when Maxine (pictured above) passed away in 2015 at the age of 86, her signature recipe was almost lost. “We looked through all her books of handwritten recipes and found cut-outs of pavlova recipes from different magazines, but none of them looked like it. She obviously made it off the top of her head.” Luckily, Amanda’s sister-in-law remembered that Maxine had once written down the recipe on a scrap of paper. “At the end of the recipe it says, ‘Good luck’, which is so Mum. She was a very dry New Zealander and she kept that till the end.” Born in 1928 in Napier, on New Zealand’s North Island, Maxine moved to Australia with her parents and sister in 1946, and the family lived on a boat in Sydney’s Middle Harbour. Although she married an Aussie, Malcolm, raised her four children (Jenny, Suzie, Hugh and Amanda) in Sydney and travelled extensively, Maxine never forgot her Kiwi roots — Amanda suspects that the pav, the origins of which have long been disputed between the two countries, was a nod to her heritage. It took a lot to ruffle Maxine, but Stevie the family Labrador managed it. Amanda recalls a time when Maxine had made about 10 pavlovas for a school fete and piled them carefully into the back of their station wagon for delivery. “No sooner had she done that, than Stevie jumped into the car and trampled over the top of them!” After her mother passed away, Amanda realised that no-one had ever actually made a pavlova for Maxine. “I was almost scared of it, I thought there’s no way I could make it the way she did.” But Amanda now likes to make the dessert regularly with her four-year-old son, Flynn, in Maxine’s memory. “It’s a ritual we’d like to keep alive in our family.”

MUM’S PAV

Serves 8–10 6 eggwhites, at room temperature 2 small pinches of table salt 1½ cups caster sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla essence 1 teaspoon white vinegar 300ml thickened cream 400g strawberries, hulled, halved fresh strawberry leaves, to decorate (optional)*

Preheat oven to 120°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Draw a 20cm-diameter circle on baking paper. Place paper, circle-side down, on tray. Using an electric mixer, whisk eggwhites and salt in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking well after each addition until sugar has dissolved and meringue is thick and glossy. Add vanilla and vinegar and whisk until combined. Spoon meringue into circle on prepared tray, then use a spatula to smooth top and sides of pavlova. Bake for 1¼–1½ hours or until pavlova is crisp and dry to touch. Turn oven off. Leave pavlova in oven with door slightly ajar to cool completely. Using a balloon whisk, whisk cream in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Place pavlova on a serving board or plate. Spoon whipped cream into centre of pavlova and top with strawberries. Decorate with strawberry leaves, if desired. *Ensure strawberry leaves have not been treated with sprays.

SHARE YOUR FAMILY FAVOURITES Do you have a recipe that has been passed down through generations? Send us your recipe, the story behind it and a photograph (preferably a copy or scan) of the relative who passed it on. Remember to include a daytime telephone number. Email austcountry style@bauer-media.com.au or send a letter to Heirloom Recipe, Country Style, PO Box 4088, Sydney NSW 1028.