Cocoa and Lavender: It's All About the Whites, No Yolk!

New Year's Day in London was perfect. It rained hard all day long, which is exactly what we wanted.

As if we were prescient, we had decided several weeks earlier that we would spend the entire day at home in our rented apartment. How could we have guessed that would be our only rainy day during our three weeks in Europe?

The flat had a few cookbooks through which to browse. I put on some classical music, went right for one of Jamie Oliver's books, and settled in for the day,

Jamie, in this book, talks about his extramarital affair... with his garden! I am assuming his wife not only understands, but encourages it. With Mark’s love of gardening, I feel her pain.

Jamie is into everything fresh and natural and homegrown these days. His garden (there are lots of photos in the book) is pretty stunning.

One dessert that stood out to me was tray-baked meringues with cream, pears, hazelnuts, and chocolate sauce.

This was a bit ambitious for the resources we had on hand, so I snapped a photo of the page and decided it would be one of the first desserts I made upon returning to the U.S. And it was. I made avgolemono soup for supper one evening after we returned, so I was left with three reserved egg whites.

If you make avgolemono, use the whites to make pavlovas, and vice-versa.

Naturally, my version is an homage to Jamie's recipe because, well, mine is quite different. He made one large meringue, I made individuals. He baked his meringue an hour, I baked mine using my traditional method: 30 minutes of baking, then leave them in the oven to finish drying. He uses only dark chocolate for the sauce, I used a blend of dark chocolate and gianduia chocolate.

One place I followed his lead and wish I hadn't: his recipe calls for canned pears and I thought that was great - it would save a lot of time. In the end I really wish I had poached my own pears! The jarred ones I used (though highly recommended) were bland and tasteless. I can poach a much better pear. (And it occurs to me... if he is all gung ho on using fresh ingredients, what the heck is he doing using canned pears?)

Thanks, Jamie, for the inspiration. It was a hit with our guests and I will make it again, next time poaching my own pears.

Individual Pear and Gianduia Pavlovas

2 ounces dark chocolate (70%), chopped

2 ounces gianduia (hazelnut-infused milk chocolate) chopped

5-7 tablespoons pear poaching liquid

3 large egg whites, room temperature

1/2 cup superfine (bar) sugar

4 pears, poached (try this or this recipe)

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Place 5 tablespoons of the pear poaching liquid in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Add the dark chocolate and gianduia and whisk until smooth. Add another tablespoon or two to make a good drizzling consistency. Set aside. You may need to reheat the sauce before serving to make it the right consistency.

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Using a standing mixer with its whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until firm peaks form. With mixer running, slowly add the superfine sugar and beat at high speed for 2-3 minutes until the stiff peaks are glossy and smooth.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and divide meringue into six portions evenly spaced. Using the back of a spoon, smooth them into roughly 5-inch circles, leaving a shallow indentation in each center. Don't worry about them being perfect circles!

Place meringues in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave them to cool. If you can, leave them there till it is time to serve, as they will stay dry and airy.

Slice the poached pears in half, and each half in thirds. Set aside.

Using a hand-held mixer, beat the cream with the confectioner's sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.

Assemble the dessert: Reheat the chocolate sauce. Place a meringue on each of six dinner plates. Fill the indentations of the meringues with half of the whipped cream and top with half the pear slices. Divide the remaining whipped cream on top of the pears, then top with the remaining pears, a generous drizzle of the chocolate sauce, and sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts.

Serves 6.