Caribbean Dutch Baby Pancakes

This morning, I reached for the apple I knew was in the fridge, only to discover that it was not there at all. But, you see, I needed that apple for the Dutch Baby Pancakes I was going to make for breakfast this morning.

I looked through the vegetable drawer, hoping that the apple had escaped and was hiding under the limp kale, but the only fruit I came across was a very happy mandarin orange.

It was far too delicious to put in the pancake. I have lunch plans for that orange.

I considered making the pancake without fruit, but that just felt pointless. The caramelized fruit is my favourite part of the whole Dutch Baby experience.

And then, sitting proudly on the top shelf of my fridge, the leftover pineapple spoke to me.

"Why not choose me and some coconut milk?" it said.

"Excellent." I responded and wondered why my fruit was speaking to me. Last time I'd checked, I wasn't living in a Jim Henson production.

Some allspice and cinnamon add a nice warmth to the whole recipe.

Caribbean Dutch Baby Pancakes (maybe that should be Dutch Caribbean...)

(based on this recipe)

Ingredients

1 knob butter (about a tbsp)
¼ fresh pineapple, peeled and cored
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp water
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice

3 eggs
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup flour
¼ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º.

2. Slice the pineapple into ¼ - ½" thick rounds. Cut each round into quarters.

3. Heat a cast iron (or oven proof) skillet over medium heat, add butter. Once butter is melted, place the pineapple slices in the pan and let brown.

4. Once pineapple has browned on both sides, add brown sugar, water, cinnamon and allspice. Let the sugar mixture bubble away and reduce a little bit.

5. While the sugar mixture is reducing, whisk together remaining ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Remove skillet from heat and pour batter over top of the fruit. Place skillet in oven and let cook until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with icing sugar if desired!

Dutch Baby Pancakes

I'm not a pancake person. I suppose at one point in my life I was, but then a childhood pancake related trauma turned me off of them.

It's a long story.

Okay, no, that's not true. It's a medium length one.

When I was living in St. John (I think I was about 6 or so for this incident), we had one car. My brother needed to go to kindergarten in town, my father worked in town and I went to school in our neighbourhood out in the suburbs. So, that meant we had to get up at hour zero dark stupid, pile into the car and drive Dad to work downtown. Then we'd drive back, I'd go to school and my mum would take my younger brother downtown for school.

Have I mentioned I've never been a morning person?

Anyway, to deal with the tricky problem of school mornings and breakfast, my father would cook huge batches of pancakes (usually blueberry) over the weekend and then freeze them individually. Said pancakes were then popped in the toaster (we're talking pre-microwave days) and handed to us kids to eat in the car.

We did this three times a week.

I have this very clear memory of sitting in the car one winter day, bundled up in my snowsuit, the heat barely working and being handed a pancake.

The toaster had burned the outside. It was frozen in the centre. It was my third one like that that week.

And I just snapped. No more pancakes. I couldn't stomach the thought of eating them again.

Even now, they arouse no joy in me... unless, of course, we're talking about a less traditional kind of pancake. Martha Stewart's Dutch Baby Pancake makes a semi-regular appearance (read: once every couple of months) in our weekend breakfast routines. I like to switch up the apples for pears, the cardamom for cinnamon, maple syrup (the real stuff, please) for the honey and throw in a little vanilla to the batter. Whatever you decide to do, it puffs up all golden and brown and tastes NOTHING like the burnt pancakes I used to have to eat in the car.

See?

 Have you been traumatized by a food from your childhood? Tell me I'm not the only one!

Martha Stewart's Dutch Baby Pancakes 

Ingredients

Serves 4.

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1/3 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Directions
 
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add butter. When melted, add apple wedges.

I leave the skin on for added nutrients. And it looks pretty.

Cook until softened and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in honey and cardamom, and remove skillet from heat. 

Golden and softened

In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients, except confectioners’ sugar, until smooth. Pour over apple mixture.

Mmm. Batter + Apples.

Bake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer pancake onto a serving platter by flipping out.

Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with confectioners’ sugar sifted over the top. And, might I recommend a side of bacon? Everything is better with bacon!

Breakfast of champions!

Okonomiyaki

This is, by far, one of my favourite quick dinner recipes of all times. I eat way too much of it each time we have it, but it's SO good, and SO ridiculously easy to make.

Phil even made the sauce from scratch because he forgot we had a bottle of it in the fridge.

The finished product.

So, okonomiyaki is a Japanese dish that's essentially a pancake batter mixed with cabbage, pickled ginger and other vegetables and meats. It's a very customizable dish! At okonomiyaki restaurants in Japan, the okonomiyaki is cooked on huge griddles in front of you. Some will have you do the cooking at low tables.

This recipe is based on one from The Japanese Kitchen, which was my first Japanese cookbook.

Sauce

¼ cup ketchup
1½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp smooth Dijon mustard
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce

In small saucepan, mix all sauce ingredients together. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Batter

1 cup flour
2 tbsp potato starch
1 cup water (or dashi, if you have it)
½ tsp salt

Sift the flour together with the potato starch into a bowl. Add water and salt and mix. Divide the batter between two bowls.

Remaining ingredients

¼ large head shredded cabbage
¼ cup benishoga (pickled red ginger)
¼ cup sliced green onions
3 sliced bacon, chopped (set one piece aside)

2 eggs

Put half the cabbage, ginger, green onions and one piece chopped bacon into each bowl of batter. Press the center of each bowl to make a small depression. Break the eggs, and drop one into the center depression of each bowl.

Heat a large skillet, add 2-3 tbsp neutral flavoured oil and swirl to coat. When the oil is hot, dump out the excess. Reduce heat to low.

With a spoon, mix the batter and the other ingredients in one of the bowls. Raise the heat under the skillet to medium and pour all of the batter from the first bowl into the skillet. Spread the batter into a disk, about 6-7" in diameter. Top with half of the remaining chopped bacon, pressing it into the surface of the pancake. Cook the pancake over medium heat until the bottom is golden.

Now comes the fun part: the flipping. This is a two spatula job. Be quick and decisive. If the bottom is cooked enough, the whole thing shouldn't fall apart.

Once you've flipped it, press to flatten the bottom and cook until the other side is golden. While it's doing that, brush the top with the sauce. Transfer to a plate to keep warm in the over while you repeat the directions with the second bowl of ingredients.

Cut each pancake into six pieces, like a pizza, and serve hot. Phil and I just tend to cut it with our chopsticks and serve ourselves from the middle of the table.

The last piece of bacon shall be mine!

Just for the record, I don't really use my chopsticks like that.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I would never have made this recipe if it weren't for the good folks over at August Cooks. Man, these were delicious! I added some chocolate chips into the second half of the batter, but both Phil and I loved them.

These would be great with maple syrup mixed with a little orange blossom water... but I was too lazy for that, so we just ate these with bacon and regular maple syrup.

Nom!

Definitely check out the recipe on August Cooks and give it a shot!