Natasha Sideris, Founder & CEO of Tashas Group
With spring well under way in the northern hemisphere, it’s time to celebrate the warmer temps with delicious eats from Natasha Sideris’ cookbook: Inspired. Featuring a selection of classic recipes from cuisines worldwide, this beautifully illustrated tashas cookbook contains over 80 pieces of original art and stunning photography. A true collector’s item that can live as easily in one’s living room as it does on the kitchen counter, this book is sure to encourage home cooks to create culinary magic through mouthwatering dishes that evoke French bistros, Spanish tapas bars, New York’s delis, Greek tavernas, Middle Eastern souks and the English countryside.
Crafted with a sharing concept in mind, easy-to-follow instructions, and readily available ingredients, each section in the book honours the beauty of a different culture’s food and art. Every chapter also has a specially curated Spotify playlist to accompany the joyous moments while cooking and dining together. From refreshing drinks to bountiful meals, the tashas Inspired cookbook brings the restaurant group’s signature dishes home so that food lovers can easily replicate these meals for their families, friends and loved ones.
Established in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2005 by Natasha Sideris, tashas café expanded to the Galleria Mall in Jumeirah, marking its initial venture beyond South Africa in 2014. Now with 21 cafés globally, including 6 in the UAE and a recently opened London outpost, tashas remains dedicated to creating environments where food and authentic connections unite. Consisting of fine ingredients and delicious food, all prepared fresh on order, tashas welcomes their customers with easy-going elegance and engaging personal service. While the brand’s ethos runs through every outlet, each venue is unique, inspired by a place or a time reflected in both the menus and the design of each store, making every tashas experience one of a kind.
Natasha Sideris’ Coffee Pavlova
Coffee Pavlova Recipe
With an electric whisk and dollops of whipped cream, the meringue base of the Coffee Pavlova (page 45) is not so easily broken and will instead create the stiff, glossy peaks one needs for a flawless meringue base. Should the base collapse in the middle, it is easily fixed with an abundance of cleverly arranged fruit, nuts or berries. This bittersweet dessert is a billowing spectacle, sure to draw gasps of admiration once brought out, just like the famous Russian ballerina for whom it was named, Anna Pavlova.
Ingredients
- 6 large egg whites
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- whipped cream or mascarpone
- 1 punnet ripe figs, halved
- handful of nuts, pecans or walnuts
- honey
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150°C.
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper and draw a circle on the paper.
- Using the whisk attachment on a hand-held electric blender or a hand whisk, whisk the egg whites in a metal mixing bowl until frothy. Fold the cream of tartar and salt into the egg whites and continue to whisk.
- In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and cornflour together, then whisk it into the egg white, a tablespoon at a time, until you get stiff, glossy peaks.
- Mix the coffee powder, vanilla extract and vinegar together, then dribble slowly into the peaks. Gently whisk until well incorporated.
- Carefully pour the meringue mixture onto the circle on the baking paper. With a rubber spatula, lift the meringue all around the edges to make a high-rimmed shell.
- Bake at 150°C for 1 hour. Turn the heat off, but do not remove the pavlova until the oven has cooled completely.
- Place the meringue on a pretty platter and top it with whipped cream or mascarpone, figs and nuts, and drizzle it with a little honey.
Recipe courtesy of Natasha Sideris of tashas café / @tashascafe