Wednesday, March 7

Popovers

It's midterms week!  Insanity is ensuing!  I just put a bag on my head and cut out holes for eyes!  I'm barely beating back the hysteria!  Can you tell?!  My roommate is currently in the hallway writing her paper because the vibes in the room are not conducive to cohesive sentences.  My bag hat and I disagree.

Because there are so many other things that I should be doing right now and because my stomach is rumbling with a particular tonality and resonance, I am choosing this precise moment in time to fondly remember popovers.

Popovers are these weird things that Nor-easterners consume.  (I say this because I am not aware of their Californian presence and the bits of land over which I spend six hours flying have yet to make a culinary impression upon this slightly insane college student.)  They are part croissant, part souffle.  So basically delicious.

they burned (the muffin pan was a mini muffin pan)

Made with eggs and butter and milk (you should be drooling at this point), the popovers rise too quickly in the oven.  This creates warm, gooey innards and a flakey, crisp exterior.  Add (more) butter, jam, whipped cream, hell maybe even some nutella, and all of life's problems will disappear.  Until you realize how many dishes you dirtied and all the popovers are gone.

Popovers!
from The Tassajara Bread Book

1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 tbs melted butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Use a popover pan or regular muffin tins.  Mix ingredients thoroughly.  Grease the muffin tins and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.  When hot, fill each cup 1/3 full with popover batter.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake another 10-20 minutes.  Don't open the oven until after 30 minutes!  The popovers may fall as will your hopes and dreams!

But don't burn them like I did.  That may crush your soul.

***
The first time I enjoyed popovers was with my grandmother who lived in France for 25 years and first introduced me to Pink Martini.  The band, thankyouverymuch.  Pink Martini is a group that hails from Portland, Oregon (oh those Oregonians...).  They are fantastic.  My French teacher played this song in class and I cleverly made the connection to my grandmother's globally-oriented Christmas CD... And here's the song, "Sympathique":


Brown, Edward Espe. "Popovers." The Tassajara Bread Book. Boston: Shambhala, 2009. Print.

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