Popovers - Part 2: Success!

I wanted Popovers, but Fannie Farmer had failed me (see previous post.) So I fed my first batch to the birds, and then the second batch as well, and turned to the big guns: Julia Child in Baking with Julia. Need I say the results were dramatically different?

The batter and instructions were pretty similar, but not duplicates. Where Fannie Farmer uses 2 eggs, our sainted Julia puts in 3 and she doubles the butter as well. Such differences have their affect. Out of respect for Julia, I clenched my teeth and pulled out white flour, not spelt or whole wheat pastry flour, and I used actual butter instead of canola oil or lard. (It was tough, but I forced myself.)

The result was tall, crisp, hollow Popovers, the way God intended them to be. Well, not terribly tall, because I only have muffin tins rather than proper Popover pans. Also, I was determined to use the toaster oven, which is important during the summer in the Arizona desert. Then I made yet another batch (#5) to prove the recipe would work in the silicon muffin tin. It did, and the sight of the puffy pastries through the toaster oven window was a joy to behold.

These Popovers were golden and crunchy outside with a creamy interior and lots of big spaces for holding butter and jam. Nutrition-wise I shall have to be content with the calcium and protein of the milk and eggs, and rely on other elements of the meal for fiber and Omega 3s. Trust me, the Popovers are worth the compromise.

Recipe: Julia's Popovers

You'll need two 12-cup muffin pans, as batter is placed in alternate cups, leaving space between each popover. Actual popover pans should have adequate space to use each cup.

1 c. milk, whole or 2%
3 large eggs
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Move oven rack into the lower third of the oven, and preheat to 425 degrees.
Grease or spray muffin tins or popover pans.

Combine milk, eggs, melted butter and salt in blender. Pulse twice, just to break up the eggs.
Add flour, blend about 5 seconds, until smooth. Do not over-work the batter.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter into alternating muffin tins, leaving an empty space between each one. Bake for 25 minutes, without opening oven door during baking. Popovers should be puffed and brown. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately remove Popovers from the tin. Pierce each one with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.
Serve immediately.

Popovers - What Am I Doing Wrong?

Okay, what am I doing wrong with the Popovers?

Popovers are enjoying a comeback. They've been seen in the trendiest hot spots, and are featured in restaurants where the steaks require 2nd mortgages. Tall and golden crisp outside, with hollow innards perfect for sweet or savory fillings, I figured Popovers would be perfect for this column, not to mention perfect for supper.

So how difficult could they be? I whipped up the batter following my trusty old Fannie Farmer Cookbook, circa 1964. Poured them carefully into miniature baking cups, popped them in the oven, then pulled them out again, flat as pancakes. Remix, adjust oven temps, pour and bake. Flat. Tasty, but no "pop." One more try, this time in ceramic mugs, approximating the size and shape of actual popover pans. Very tasty, but definitely not "pop."

Somebody, somewhere holds the secret to light, airy, crisp Popovers. Won't you share that secret with me? I can take the criticism. Really. I'm ready. Tell me.

Here's the recipe I used:

Popovers; (Failed)


Put in a bowl:
2 eggs

Beat until light Add
1 c. milk
1 Tbs.oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Beat until blended, with the consistency of heavy cream.
Bake 20 minutes at 450 degrees.
Reduce heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes more.

Special Request: Egg-free, Dairy-free Crazy Cake

An egg-free, dairy-free cake? You bet!

Back in my Hippie days when the kids were small and the paychecks smaller, eggs were reserved for the main dish at dinner. Desserts and snacks had to be simple and, above all, cheap. Now the effort put into developing egg-free and dairy-free low-cost recipes is paying off when the problem is food sensitivity and allergies.

I've been reminded that this treat has several names, such as Wacky Cake. A few years after this recipe made the rounds of the young mothers in our neighborhood, commercial "Snackin' Cake" mixes appeared on supermarket shelves. Obviously, we had discovered a good thing.


Recipe: Egg-free, Dairy-free Crazy Cake

Today I'd insist on spelt flour, raw sugar and canola oil, but frankly, when my kids were small, I couldn't afford such things. So do the best you can with what you have.

3 c. flour
6 Tbs. cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. + 2 Tbs. oil
2 Tbs. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. cold water

Mix everything in a greased 9" x 13" pan,
bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Something's Cooking!

Something has been cooking around here, and the kitchen is busier than ever. But it's not putting food on the table!

Recently, I was invited to join Answers.com/WikiAnswers as a floating supervisor in the Food and Cooking category. Woo Hoo! Add "Supervisor" to my tag line! The girl has leveled up!

So I've been  reading the guidelines and learning the ropes, preparing to blow those spammers right off the Internet! My reference books and Julia Child cookbook collection are lined up beside my desk along with "Elements of Style" and "Mr. Peabody's Guide for the Modern Know-It-All." Supervisors, you see, are responsible for correcting punctuation and wording as well as generally enforcing online civility. And that's all before one even begins to offer practical guidance to chefs who have never been closer to a kitchen than the Cooking Channel on cable TV.

Clearly, I'm going to need to budget my time if delectable odors ever waft from my kitchen again.

So what shall we cook today? Something celebratory and oozing with self-congratulation. How about ...

Recipe: Know-It-All Almond Joy Cake


This is a small cake, formulated for 4 people, 6 if you're stingy. Bake in a small pan as shown here, or double the recipe for a standard-sized cake.

1/4 c. canola oil or melted butter
3/4 c. raw sugar
1 egg
1 Tbs. vanilla or 2 tsp. vanilla + 1 tsp. almond extract
1 c. buttermilk (1 c. milk + 1 tsp. vinegar)
1 c. all purpose unbleached flour
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c. chocolate chips dusted with 1 tsp. flour
topping:
1/2 c. whole or halved almonds
1/2 c. chocolate chips
2 Tbs. butter

Brush small baking dish with oil, line with long strip of parchment paper. Oil paper.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat oil (or butter) with sugar and egg for 2 full minutes.
Add flavorings and buttermilk.
Combine dry ingredients and stir in only until moistened.
Gently stir in dusted chocolate chips.
Turn batter into prepared pan.
Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until cake tests done.
Using parchment strip, remove cake from pan to cooling rack.
When completely cool, arrange almonds on top of cake.
Melt chocolate chips with butter; stir and pour over cake.
Chill until glaze is set, then cover and keep at room temperature.

Slow Fries

Ah, the things I do for this blog!  This week I've been making and eating French Fries. Yes, it's rough work, but somebody's got to do it.

I'm not even going to post a recipe, because what's to say? Slice up a potato and fry it. But wait - in this method you'll put the potatoes into a relatively small amount of room temperature oil, then cook them over low heat for as long as an hour. No special appliance or deep fryer required,  no spattering oil, no smoke or oily smell in the kitchen. Just crisp, luscious French Fries, hot and fresh from your own pot.

I'd love to say that I invented this method, but I can't. You can find it on the Diner's Journal blog of the New York Times, by Edward Schneider. But that article only described an easy way to fry up ordinary Potatoes. It took my twisted imagination to apply the same method to Sweet Potatoes, Plantains, Carrots and Beets.
 
So here's what you do. Peel and slice up the vegetable in question. Make those slices about a quarter inch thick, or thicker if you're a fan of Steak Fries. Rinse in cold water and drain, then dump them in a nice sturdy skillet. I find my cast iron chicken fryer is perfect - 10" by 4" deep. A single layer of slices is ideal, but a little overlapping is okay.

Pour in oil, just enough to cover the vegetables. I use a mixture of about half canola oil and half lard. You could even use pure olive oil, because with this method, high heat and smoking oil will not be an issue. Turn the heat up to about medium until the first bubbles show that things are getting hot, then turn the burner to low. Let it bubble gently until the vegetables are very tender, half an hour or longer.

Eventually your veggies will become very soft and fragile, and you'll know they are well cooked. At this point turn up the heat just a bit - to medium low or medium at the most. Soon you'll see the edges caramelize and your fries will be getting crisp. When they are perfectly browned, lift with a slotted utensil onto paper towels to drain. Sprinkle generously with salt and serve immediately.

The Sweet Potato Fries we had last night were beyond description. Crisply chewy outside with an interior like custard. The Idahos were every bit as good, turning my husband into Oliver Twist, holding out his bowl and begging, "Please, Mum, I want some more!" But there's the catch: it would take the better part of an hour to make another batch. Of course, that's a blessing as well, because no one is claiming these fries are low in fat; quite the opposite. Small batches guarantee portion control.

My further experiments in slow frying had mixed results: the plantains (big starchy cousins to the banana) were tasty but never got crisp. The Carrots were okay but not fantastic. The Beets were delicious, crispy brown and full of flavor. Still, nothing came close to the Potatoes, White or Sweet.

So when you've stuck to your salads and broiled chicken all week long, and you really deserve a treat  - within limits - try some Slow Fries. You'll be impressed.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Spring is the season of strawberries and rhubarb, and the two scarlet beauties meld perfectly together.

This dish is as old as the hills, and you probably have at least one grandmother or aunt who has her own special version.

As always seems to be the case, I needed a potluck dish. So I prepped the fruit and sealed it in a container then put the dry ingredients for the filling and crumb topping into separate zipper bags, to be assembled in the church kitchen. I was not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed that there was barely a berry left to bring home.

Recipe: Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

 Filling: 
1 lb. rhubarb, cut in 1/2" slices 
1 pint strawberries, halved. 
zest of one lemon
2 Tbs. lemon juice
3/4 c. raw sugar (coarse or fine)  
1/4 c. unbleached flour 
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In large bowl, gently combine filling ingredients. 
Turn into a sprayed or greased 9" x 13" pan. 

Topping:
1/2 c. unbleached flour
1 c. raw sugar (coarse or fine)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine flour, sugar cinnamon and salt. 
Mix in butter with hands or a fork to make coarse crumbs. 
Spread evenly over fruit filling in pan. 
Bake about 40 minutes at 400 degrees, until topping is browned and filling is bubbly.
Cool slightly. Serve warm with ice cream or lemon sherbet.

Corn Dog Corn Bread

If there's anything more purely American than cornbread, it's cornbread with hot dogs, recognized nationwide as  Corn Dogs. If you're too calorie conscious and nutrition savvy to give in to the guilty pleasures of the Wiener Popsicle, you can easily justify the more respectable pleasure of Cornbread with Hot Dogs.

The concept is nearly too obvious to set out in a recipe. Mix up some cornbread and bake hot dogs in it. Top with mustard and ketchup, and there you go.

Okay, maybe that's a bit too simple. Suppose we're heading out to a neighborhood potluck and need a full meal in a single pan. So we'll take the same idea, starting off with a quick bread recipe, stir in onions, corn kernels and cheese, then bake hot dogs in that. We can't call it cornbread, too confusing. How about Corny Bread?