I had never heard of dutch babies until a few years ago when I got Alton Brown's cookbook, I'm Just Here for More Food.  I didn't actually attempt one until earlier this year when I found a recipe on Pinterest.  As with all recipes for the same dish, there are slight variations in ingredients and ratios, and this particular recipe happened to fit what I had on hand.



Dutch Babies are described as a cross between a crepe and a popover, and they are really fun to make for the "wow factor" because a very wet batter goes into the oven and a puffy, golden piece of tastiness comes out.

Dutch Baby
from Camille Styles blog

feeds 2 a big portion or 4 a more polite portion

3 large eggs
2/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon butter
optional garnishes: powdered sugar, butter, lemon wedges, fresh berries, maple syrup

Place a 10″ cast-iron skillet on the middle rack of the oven, and preheat to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs together vigorously until light and frothy, about 2 minutes. Add milk, sugar, salt and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Sift in flour, and whisk just until smooth. Let rest for 5 – 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the skillet from the oven, add the butter and let melt completely, swirling the pan to allow the butter to coat the entire bottom. Pour batter into hot pan, and place back in the oven, shutting door quickly so oven loses as little heat as possible.

Bake for 15 minutes, until the sides have puffed up a lot, and the entire top of the pancake is golden brown. Remove from oven and use a spatula to loosen the edges of the pancake. Transfer to a serving platter, dust with powdered sugar and cut into large wedges. Serve immediately.

Notes

• I am pretty cautious about deviating from baking recipes, but slight deviations I've made include using lower fat milk and subbing in some of the vanilla for orange extract.  Really good!
• Twice I have forgotten to let the batter rest, and it turned out fine.

Have you ever heard that rule about clothes, that when you buy something new, something old has to go?  The idea behind is two-fold; you won't end up with so many clothes that your closet takes over your life, causing you to forget what you own, and you become more purposeful in your shopping if you know you're going to have to give up something to buy that something new.  

I try to be like that with Pinterest.  Sort of.  My rule is that I won't pin it unless I have some sort of plan or desire to make it, and I have a real, legitimate plan to make everything I pin.

So the first time we made grilled pizza, it went pretty terribly wrong.  We had pre-assembled the entire pizza.  Our crust was cooked way before the ingredients were melted, and began to burn badly on the bottom and there were huge bubbles in the crust.  The brightest spot of that whole thing was the homemade sauce. 

I have tried a couple recipes to use up zucchini and have enjoyed every one of them.  This particular one came from a search I did for pasta recipes that contained zucchini and ricotta.  Wouldn't you know that the very recipe was sitting in one of my old issues of Everyday Food?  I continue to return to these little gems for simple, delicious meals.  

Zucchini is grilled and chopped up, and then tossed with corn, ricotta, herbs, and pasta for a decently quick and tasty meal.  Even Drew liked it, and he's usually none too excited about pasta recipes.  It also makes a ton.  I'm pretty sure we got something like 6-8 servings out of this recipe.

Try this recipe out for a nice, light feeling summer meal!

Herbed Ricotta Pasta with Corn and Zucchini

from Everyday Food, July 2012 or marthastewart.com