Servings: 4
Preheat: 425
Prep Time:
Source: Smitten Kitchen Everyday
I used to make Dutch-baby pancakes-the crape’s tousled, melodramatic cousin-all the time as a treat: gingerbread-spiced at the holidays; with cherries and toasted almonds in Lune; with lemon and powdered sugar the rest of the year. Nothing made one feel like more of an Instagram/Pinterest/ Snapchat-ready domestic diva than pulling one of these fluffy, crispy-edged beauties out of the oven and shrugging off how easy they are to make-and telling the truth. You take the milk, eggs, and flour you’d use to make a crape but move the melted butter directly to the skillet, and generously There’s no ladling or brushing pans with melted butter or fragile high-stakes flipping techniques only oohs and oohs when the timer rings. The oven does all the work; you get all the credit.
Eventually, though, the reality of dinnertime got me plotting a savory version that would be just as special. This became our instant favorite. Where there was nutmeg, there’s salt and pepper. Powdered sugar becomes Parmesan, and instead of lemon juice, we make a rubbly sauce of mushrooms that have been sautéed with shallots in butter before being swirled with cream. Suddenly what seemed like the highest calling of a breakfast pancake becomes the most luxurious calling of a weeknight dinner, easily split between two people with a side salad, or among four perhaps with some grilled sausages or an additional vegetable on the side.
Ingredients:
MUSHROOMS
2 tablespoons (25 grams) unsalted butter
1 shallot. minced
1/2 pound (225 grams) cremini (small brown) mushrooms. cleaned, chopped into small bits
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon (15 ml) dry white wine or white vermouth
3 tablespoons (45 ml) heavy cream
PANCAKE
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk (whole is ideal, but any kind will work)
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons (25 grams) finely grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
Directions:
MAKE THE CREAMED MUSHROOMS
In a 12-inch cast-iron or other over proof skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot, and cook until soft. 1 to 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste, and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, during which the mushrooms will release and then cook off their liquid and brown a little at the edges. Add the wine, reduce the heat to medium-low, scrape up any stuck bits, and cook off the wine, 1 to 2 minutes, Add the cream, and as soon as it simmers (i.e., almost immediately), scrape the whole mixture into a bowl and set aside.
MAKE THE PANCAKE
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Wipe out the pan, add the butter, and place in the oven to melt until very hot and sizzling.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Add the flour, and whisk until mostly smooth. Whisk in the milk. Lumps are fine.
TO FINISH
Remove the skillet from the oven. Swirl the butter around to evenly coat and pour in the batter all at once and return the skillet to the oven. Cook for 15 minutes after which the pancake should be browned in places and rumpled. Sprinkle with Parmesan, and return to the oven for 1 to 2 minutes, until it has melted. Remove it from the oven, and immediately dollop the mushroom sauce in pockets all over the pancake, and scatter with chives. Divide onto two or four plates.