Berry Dutch Baby
I was in the mood for a new breakfast dish one morning a few years ago, as I hungrily browsed the web for inspiration. The promise of both incredible lift and alluring creamy texture initially drew me to the Dutch Baby. This is an odd name for a fantastic hybrid dish that brings together the best of a popover, crepe, and pancake: spectacular poof, crispy edges, and subtly sweet custard-like middle. Rush your guests to the table as this flamboyant beauty of a breakfast dish comes out of oven! This recipe is adapted from Cooks Country.
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup skim milk
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 3 cups mixed berries (for garnish)
Steps:
- Heat the oven to 450. Coat the bottom of a 10 inch cast iron skillet with oil. Set in oven to preheat while you prepare the batter.
- Whisk the eggs in a stand mixer or with handheld mixers until they become lighter in color, approximately 1 minute. Add the milk, butter, vanilla, and almond. Mix briefly to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, salt, and powdered sugar). Whisk until combined.
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the the egg mixture and whisk to combine until smooth.
- When the oven is preheated, carefully (it will be very hot!) remove the cast iron skillet from the oven. Pour the batter into the skillet, and rotate to distribute evenly.
- Return the skillet to the oven and bake the Dutch Baby for 20 minutes until the middle is just set and the sides are puffed up and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and serve while piping hot. Note, for the sake of presentation, you might one to time this one to when you have guests seated at the table and waiting, it is a pretty spectacular dish fresh from the oven, but the puff only lasts a minute or two. Serve with extra icing sugar, maple syrup and berries.
Fresh Coconut Pancakes in the rainy season
A quick trip out to get ingredients can be a big ordeal here in Haiti, especially this time of year. May marks the start of the rainy season. We’ve seen torrential downpours almost daily for several weeks now here in Port-au-Prince. These heavy rains wash out main roads, swell the region’s rivers, overflow the sewers, and cause flash floods which can destroy the fragile homes that line the city’s narrow ravines. Add to this near daily political protests, that bring traffic to a halt with barricades and can shut down whole sections of the city. Recently, two of the three main bridges to the north (on our side of the city) have been out of commission after one collapsed when critical bolts were pilfered. So when I woke up this morning, craving a hearty pancake breakfast, convincing Paul to brave the traffic for butter, milk, or any other breakfast staple was a no-go. This recipe emerged from the bounty of our backyard; toasted coconut from our coconut tree and fresh-as-they-come eggs from Paul’s chickens. These Fresh Coconut Pancakes are absolutely delicious, custardy, and with just the right amount of chew, a perfect start to a rainy day.
Hoosier Milk Tarts with Berries
With 89 votes, the good readers of The Hungry Hounds clearly had a hankering for a Hoosier (or Indiana) style dessert. Having spent a combined 14 years in the Hoosier heartland, this mandate warmed our mid-western bellies! One of Indiana's finest culinary traditions is Hoosier Milk Pie (alternatively known as Indiana Sugar or Cream Pie). Hoosier Milk Pie came to Indiana in the mid 1800's with Quaker and Amish homesteaders. It is a homey, dairy-rich custard-style pie with a stove-top filling. Hoosier Milk Pie is egg-less, which is great for those with allergies, makes it easy to cook (no curdling), and allows the clean milk flavor to take the limelight. A crisp flaky crust (whole wheat in this case) paired with the milk custard partners beautifully with fresh ripe berries. To make this pie your own, substitute any fruit you'd like, eat it unadorned, or add whipped cream as is traditional in some parts of Indiana. Either way, you are going to love this easy and versatile pie.
Salted Caramel & Pear Bread Pudding
Dessert descriptions are thorny things. When it comes to sweet things I find that eloquence often fails me, and unhelpfully divide desserts into two camps, delicious… or, not. While clear cut, these categories do not offer the reader much to recommend this decadent Salted Caramel & Pear Bread Pudding. Besides the obvious “delicious, ”a brief description is in order. Salted Caramel & Pear Bread Pudding has some great things going for it. The bread is toasted to maximize its ability to absorb all the decadent custard, the custard is silky and aromatic with a whopping ¼ cup of vanilla, and is further treated to a topping of caramelized pears with accompanying pan sauce of pear infused salted caramel. For all its flavor and texture complexity, this dessert is also subtle and balanced. This recipe is adapted from one of our favorite cookbooks: Rustic Fruit Desserts. The gorgeous pears for this dish come from our Penn's Corner CSA.
Almond Meringues with Creme Anglaise & Berry Sauce, Îles Flottantes
Sumptuous Îles Flottantes, "floating islands," are a rustic French dessert. Part custard, part meringue; think of these as decadent deconstructed egg desserts. We were first introduced to this old-fashioned dish on a trip to France, where Paul ordered it for dessert on a whim. He developed something of an obsession with this quirky dish, and would call ahead to restaurants to confirm they made it from scratch. On his fourth round of Îles Flottantes, he finally persuaded me to dip my spoon, and in a creamy instant, I too become a devoted fan. For Paul's birthday this month, we decided to create our own simplified and less sweet version of Îles Flottantes. We ditched the step of poaching the meringues, and baked ours scented with almond. We served these toasted almond meringues floating in a creamy bath of egg yolk thickened creme anglaise with a fresh berry sauce for a bright fruit contrast to all that creamy goodness. Note that the quality and flavor of your eggs make a huge difference in this dish, so use the best eggs you can find (we used local Clarion River Organics).
Homemade Berry Yogurt Cups
We just got back from a weeklong trip to Canada for my sisters’ wedding, it was a magnificent weekend of celebrations, and we are thrilled to have a new brother-in-law! Driving home yesterday, we realized that in all the wedding festivities, it sort of slipped our minds that we have a food blog to write!
In the meantime, we have been busy cooking and eating summer produce and I wanted to share a simple make-ahead breakfast I have been eating this berry season. It all started with a craving for a decent berry yogurt cup; just a simple cup with plain yogurt and some fresh tasting berry puree that didn’t have the caloric count and saccharine sweetness of an ice cream Sunday. It turned out that this was a tall order! My grocery store hunt yielded a host of unpalatable and over-priced results, so I decided to try my hand at making yogurt cups at home. These Homemade Berry Yogurt Cups are simple to make and delicious to eat, a refreshing summer breakfast on the go.
