I have a number of weirdo food quirks:
1. I eat all the crust off a slice of bread first, in a circle, until all that’s left is the center
2. I suck on Cheetos until they’re soggy, then chew and swallow
3. I eat french fries two at a time, and they have to be identical in length. I’ll sort them first, to match each fry with a similar-sized french fry companion, then eat them together
4. I don’t like cold foods touching hot foods
And relatedly:
5. I like to eat desserts one layer at a time
Cake, then frosting. Crust, then pie filling. Whipped cream, then Jell-O. Bars present their own issues, but that’s another story for another, messier day.
On the evening I served these ethereal splendors to Mom and Handsome Greg, I took care in sequestering the creamy filling from the cloud of meringue. Yet somehow, a crispy shard of meringue found its way onto my forkful of sweetened mascarpone, stained with blackberry juice.
How could this have happened? I mean, it’s not like I’d had three glasses of wine, or anything.
And then a light bulb turned on in my mouth, or maybe in my head. In that one, incredible you-got-your-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter-no-you-got-your-peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate moment, I finally understood the desire to construct “the perfect bite” of food.
While each element of the recipe – the light, crunchy meringue, the duvet of butter-sweet cheese, and the fresh, tart blackberry sauce – is tasty in its own right, together they are magical.
So what are your food hang-ups?
Continue reading for the Lemon Pavlovas with Blackberry Sauce recipe