No, I’m not posting this early Monday so you can have it for today’s breakfast. Or tomorrow’s. I think this dish, from The Lemon Cookbook by Ellen Jackson, is so beautiful that I would hesitate to eat it. Well, maybe for 5 or 6 seconds. And I think it is destined for a weekend table when you have time to sit, adore, and appreciate.
This custardy, oven-baked, over-sized pancake gained publicity in 1966 when Craig Claiborne mentioned it in his New York Times column. Claiborne had a southern background, so the first roots of this dish may be British and Appalachian. Ellen has added some cardamom here to lend it a Scandinavian twist.
It is actually as easily made as conventional pancakes. And it begs for adornment. So the picture here has some blue berries drifting across the top. Other berries or fruits will be welcome. This is surely a year round dish.
Christmas Breakfast anyone?
David’s Double-Lemon Dutch Baby
Yield: one 10-inch pancake to be divided as you desire
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Generous pinch of kosher salt
- Seeds from 4 to 5 green cardamom pods (about ¼ teaspoon seeds)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- ¼ cup [½ stick] unsalted butter
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, and salt. Finely grind the cardamom seeds using a mortar and pestle or clean coffee grinder and add to the dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with the milk and zest. Add the dry ingredients and lightly whisk until blended. The batter doesn’t have to be completely smooth, but make sure there aren’t any large lumps of flour.
In a medium (10-inch) cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is very hot and foamy, and almost beginning to brown. Immediately pour in the batter and put the skillet in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges are billowy and brown and the center of the pancake has puffed up. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle the pancake evenly with the confectioners’ sugar, and return it to the oven for 2 to 3 more minutes. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the top and serve immediately.
Source: The Lemon Cookbook by Ellen Jackson [Sasquatch Books, 2015]