Nigella Lawson Knows What You Should Serve for Dessert This Holiday Season
Thispavlovais just so fabulously festive: an exuberant, rich, and luxurious treat for the holidays. The meringue base is crisp on the outside with a soft marshmallow interior, topped with sweetened chestnut puree (sometimes labeled "chestnut spread;" you need to look out for theClement Faugier brand), followed by swaths of softly whipped cream and splinters of bitter chocolate.
The combination of chestnut, meringue, cream, and chocolate is a favored one during the holidays in Europe, where it is known asMont Blancin France and Monte Bianco in Italy. It is, when made traditionally, a fairly arduous task: First the chestnuts have to be cooked, peeled, pureed, and forced through a ricer over a plate, so that the soft strands of chestnut puree fall into a mountain shape, which is topped and surrounded with bitter chocolate, then dolloped with whipped cream and dusted with a snow of crumbled meringues.
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Butthischestnut pavlova is—despite appearances—a relatively easy affair. The only complicated part is the meringue base and, provided you stash it in a completely airtight container (I use a cake carrier), it can be made two days in advance. Should you want to take it to eat at a friend's house, you will need to top the pavlova in situ when you arrive. Ideally, you should whip the cream once you're there, but if you use a mixture of cream and mascarpone, it should be fine to whip it in advance. And the chestnut puree comes out of a can! (I should add, too, that a can of this divine nectar is worth the special order and a holiday must-have for me: Spread on toast, or spooned over a croissant, it makes for a sensational breakfast.)
The grated chocolate that tops the pavlova is no mere decoration, so use the best-quality chocolate you can find; it needs to be bitter and intense to contrast with the dizzying sweetness of the meringue and chestnut.