Quince and red port pavlova

Preparation – 1 hour and 10 minutes

Pre-heat the oven to 110 degrees celsius or 230 degrees fahrenheit. Line an oven tray with parchment paper and if you like your pavlova to be perfectly round you can draw a circle on your parchment paper (and then turn the parchment paper upside down).

Degrease the bowl and whisk of your standmixer. The easiest way to do this is using a few drops of lemon juice and a paper kitchen towel. Add the egg whites to the bowl and beat them until they form stiff peaks.

Gradually add 200 grams of sugar and beat until the egg whites are glossy. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla extract and a tablespoon of cornstarch.

Divide the egg whites over the oven tray, make sure they're not too thin, and bake them about 1 hour in the pre-heated oven. Time depends on the oven and the thickness of the pavlova.

The pavlova is done when the outside is crunchy but the inside is still soft. . So basically it's a large meringue with a soft center.  

Finishing the quince and red port pavlova – 10 minutes

When the pavlova is in the oven, you can make the poached quinces. Peel the quinces, remove the core and chop into pieces. Add the pieces of quince to a medium-sized pan along with red port, sugar and a few sprigs of thyme.

Also add the zest and juice of half a lemon and simmer on low heat for about half an hour. The exact time depends on the size of the quince pieces. Let it cook until it has become a syrup.

If it takes too long, you can also remove the quince pieces so they won't become mushy. As soon as it has became syrup, you can add the quince back to the syrup.

Let the quince and pavlova cool off. Serve with some extra thyme if you like, enjoy!