Day 9 - Australia - World Cup Eating Challenge 2015

For Australia, I was in a really similar boat as New Zealand. I had already picked up some Shiraz (their most well known wine), but I wasn't too sure on food. I had figured with a lot of livestock, that some sort of roast would be nice.

I decided to check out this article on Australian foods. I saw roast lamb on there and was happy I could stick with that idea. I also saw a dessert called a Pavlova. I had listened to some Australian audio books a couple of months ago. Pavlova was a dessert a character kept mentioning bringing for Easter. I had looked up what it was but still didn't have a good grasp. I thought it would be fun to also make this dish that I was already curious about.

Roast Lamb

I love roasts. I think they are the easiest and most delicious things. For some reason they always seem more complicated than they are, but the only hard part is putting it in the oven early enough for it to cook low and slow.

I usually get my lamb at Costco. I was excited to see that it was actually from Australia. I love those little additions of authenticity that pop up on my challenge sometimes. I was kind of surprised too - it seems like a really long way for some meat to come.

To prep the lamb, I just rubbed it with paprika, garlic, and salt. I then stuck some sprigs of rosemary in it as well. I then put it in the oven at 400 for 1.5 hours. After not too long, I could tell the rosemary was burning. It made me wonder if the lamb would dry out. I remembered I had some Kerrygold garlic herb butter and decided to put a few pats of butter on top.

I've made a few roasts before but this was the first time I added butter. Dan doesn't really like lamb but he told me this one was way better than other ones I've made. Butter is just the best.

We decided to invite some friends over for dinner as well. Roasts are so much food, I knew it would be way more fun to share dinner with friends. We got an expandable dining table just for this reason and it was fun to pull it out and get it all set up.

The Shiraz I picked up was also surprisingly good. Normally, I find Shiraz to be too bold and intense but this one was lighter and smoother. It went great with our lamb and I would definitely get it again!

Pavlova 

And don't think I forgot about dessert! Let's start with the burning question - what a pavlova? It's a dessert that has a meringue base, whipped cream, and then can be topped with a variety of other items. Fruit and honey seem to be the most popular. 

Sometimes for more obscure recipes, finding a paleo version can be hard. A lot of times, I'll just substitute in things. This kind of baking is so precise though that it doesn't translate really well to just swap something out. Instead, I decided to piece together recipes. While I didn't get a recipe for paleo pavlova, it wasn't too hard to find some for meringue and coconut whipped cream.

I was especially excited about the meringue. It's the bast of another recipe I want to try down the road so getting to test it out here was great. It only had two ingredients - maple syrup and egg whites too which are both things that are always on hand in my house. The one mistake I made though was the temperature of my pot. I didn't see it had it set to low so after the meringue was whipped, it started cooking a little bit. I was still able to pipe them a little bit but they definitely turned out a little uglier than expected. Or maybe I just suck at piping.

Side note: a pavlova is usually a big cake sized dessert. I saw some pictures of little bite sized ones though and loved that idea so I opted for that instead.

For the coconut cream, I threw a can of whole fat coconut milk in the freezer. When I took it out, I separated the cream from the water. I used a hand mixed to mix the cream and then put it in the fridge until I needed it. I then just re-whipped it when I was ready to serve. I also added some honey since it had no sweetness on its own. I wasn't able to get it quite as whipped as I'd hoped though. The recipe said that the coconut milk could not have guar gum as an ingredient. I had three different brands which all had it in there. I'm guessing that made the difference of being able get it properly whipped.

I then put the coconut whipped cream on top as well as some fresh strawberries. It was such a light and tasty dessert. It was a great contrast from the heaviness of the roast lamb and they were all eaten up between the four of us!