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Dutch Baby

April 8, 2019 by Farah Abumaizar 15 Comments

5 minutes of prep, and you get a delicious golden puffy oven baked pancake.

Pancakes are good right? We can all agree on that. A reliable weekend morning starter, great mood picker up. Crepes are good too. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like crepes. So, a hybrid pancake and crepe must be delicious. Meet the Dutch Baby.

Have you ever tried a Dutch Baby? It’s like a light as air huge puffy pancake that kind of looks like a crepe exploded. Made without any leavening agent, but rises sky high. It’s unbelievably easy to make but spectacular to look at. It falls quickly so eat it right when it comes out of the oven!

They are light, buttery, delicious and different. Just toss all the ingredients (except the butter which you’ll melt directly in your pan) into a blender if you have one. If you don’t, just whisk them vigorously. Blend, pour, bake. Eat, enjoy! Voila. They look much more intimidating than they actually are. The New York Times made the recipe super easy!

The Ingredients:

The interesting thing is that there’s no leavening agent in a dutch baby (baking powder, baking soda). That’s part of what makes them different than pancakes. The base is similar, eggs, flour, milk, sugar and melted butter. The pinch of freshly grated nutmeg really gives these a great flavor but feel free to leave it out, or substitute some other spice. Can we stop to picture how amazing a saffron dutch baby would be?

Baking the baby:

Imagine a world where you could get the glory of pancakes without standing at the stove for foreveeeer. You can! Just pour the dutch baby batter into a cast iron skillet that’s been coated in melted butter, go do something for 25 minutes, then come back and enjoy.

Dutch Baby topping ideas:

These just scream berries to me, but they’d be excellent with just a little lemon juice and sugar, some jam, or maple syrup. The baby is your playground so go wild!

Dutch Baby

A puffy hybrid between a crepe and a pancake that’s baked up in an oven skillet. Delightful!

4.72 from 7 votes

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Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 30

Servings:

Calories: 133kcal

Author: Farah Abumaizar

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 220 C (425F).
Combine the eggs, sugar, milk, flour, vanilla, and nutmeg and blend until smooth. You can also just whisk thoroughly by hand.
In a heavy 10 inch skillet or baking pan, put the butter. Place it in the oven until the butter melts. watching carefully so it doesn’t burn. One butter is melted, remove pan from oven and pour in all the batter.
Return the pan to the oven, and bake for 20 minutes until puffed and golden. Reduce oven temperature to 150 C (300 F) and bake for 5 minutes longer.
Remove from oven and serve immediately by cutting into wedges and top with toppings of your choice. Berries and maple syrup are always a good idea! You can also try jam, butter and sugar, honey.

Notes

Recipe from Florence Fabricant for the New York Times.

Nutrition

Calories: 133kcal

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Homemade Chicken Broth

April 1, 2019 by Farah Abumaizar 2 Comments

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Easy Homemade Chicken Broth made with Whole Chickens and Vegetables

What’s the difference between chicken broth and chicken stock?

I actually didn’t know this before setting out to write this post! So, I googled. Stock is usually made with just the bones of the animal (sometimes roasted in advance to enhance the flavor). Homemade chicken broth is made using both the meat and bones and usually takes less time- 3 hours as opposed to 8 hours! It’s also usually thinner. Both are very healthy and delicious!

Benefits of Homemade Chicken Broth:

Bone Broth has come into fashion recently in the nutritional world as being an all around powerhouse. We all know chicken soup is good for us when we are fighting a cold, but there’s a myriad of benefits. Bone broth can boost immunity, improve gut function, maintain healthy skin and joints, and detoxify our body. It contains over 19 amino acids. Every part of our body benefits from these, from our gut to our brain, muscles and ligaments.

Different Ways to Make Chicken Broth:

You can make chicken stock out of leftover chicken bones from a previous meal. Or, you can boil the chicken with the bones in, cooking the chicken at the same time as making the stock. I prefer this method because you’ll end up getting perfectly cooked chicken so that’ll be the method reflected below.

What do you need to make chicken broth?

You need good quality chicken, either whole or cut into pieces. The bones of said chicken, a bunch of fresh herbs. Some aromatics like bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, peppercorn and star anise if you have that on hand. You basically need a mixture of fresh herbs, aromatics, and root vegetables. We like to throw in carrots, celery, and parsnips, but this heavily depends on what you have available! Onions and garlic are a must.

Storing Chicken Broth:

Homemade chicken stock can be stored for 3-4 days in an airtight jar in the fridge, or up to 6 months in the freezer. I love having chicken stock in the freezer in airtight freezer bags.. You don’t even need to thaw it before cooking. Just dump it in the sauce pan and it’ll melt quickly over a low heat.

Using Chicken Broth:

Once you make homemade chicken stock, and smell how fragrant and delicious it is, you’ll have no problems drinking it just as it is. Otherwise, this is amazing to have in the freezer and use for homemade soups and stews, to cook up grains like rice, freekeh, quinoa, or bulgur with lots of extra flavor and nutritions, as the base for sauces, etc. There’s a lot of ways to use this up so don’t hesitate to make big batches then portion and freeze as discussed above.

Chocolate Loaf Cake

March 26, 2019 by Farah Abumaizar 3 Comments

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chocolate loaf cake with chocolate ganache sliced onto plates.

I don’t know what to say to people who don’t like chocolate. How to make them envision what they are missing out on. I just say a silent thank you that I have something in my life that instantly lifts my mood.

I recently participated in a cookbook Instagram challenge, where you make a recipe surrounding a monthly theme ingredient. The idea is to get back to your cookbook roots and search among your cookbooks for a good recipe. For the chocolate month, I was immediately drawn to a trusted source and a cookbook that holds a place of pride on my kitchen shelf.

Joy the Baker is one of the first food bloggers I ever started following, and her bakes never disappoint me. She has an inherent understanding of how to combine flavor, and taste in a down to earth and easy package.

From her cookbook, I found the recipe for this chocolate loaf cake. I always delude myself into thinking loafs are lighter and less caloric than the circular kind of cake. They seem more civilized and dainty, perfect for pairing with tea (or coffee or milk). This one is a winner. It has everything you need from a good chocolate cake in a simple unassuming package.

Easy and Moist Chocolate Loaf Cake with Chocolate Glaze

So what makes this recipe so good?

It’s Moist.

It’s moist and buttery because of the combination of buttermilk and butter. The glaze is delicious and decadent but you could definitely go without.

It’s Chocolatey.

This cake has the perfect chocolate richness, coming from combining two chocolate sources- dutch processed cocoa powder and chocolate chips. . Dutch processed cocoa powder is cocoa powder that has been neutralized and is darker in color than natural cocoa powder. Most European cocoa powder is dutch processed, and it pairs will with baking powder, which is why we use it in this recipe today! To find it, look for the commonly stocked Hintz brand on the shelves in Bahrain (see photo below).

There’s also hot coffee in this whose sole purpose is to enhance the chocolate flavor. You can substitute with hot water if you’d like but trust me you can’t taste the coffee!

It’s yummy, it’s pretty, and it’s easy.

So without further ado, let’s jump to the recipe:

Classic Meatballs

March 24, 2019 by Farah Abumaizar 1 Comment

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You need a good classic meatball recipe in your life. Good meatballs belong in your freezer. I love having a stock of meatballs frozen and ready for me. It gives me a sense of security knowing anytime I want a good plate of spaghetti and meatballs (Of all the pasta dishes I love, spaghetti and meatballs may take top mantle) all the hard work has been done already.

Meatballs are largely a dash of this and pinch of that affair. What goes in them depends on what we have at home ready to be used up. However, I went to the liberty of actually writing down the recipe of these really good Italian style meatballs because they came out so well and are perfect as the starring role in your pasta dish. You can throw these in soup, in a simple stew, but definitely try them with a classic spaghetti first. It’s a match made in heaven!

The base:

Minced meat, of course, fresh herbs (parsley to give them this bright flavor), and dried herbs. We get low fat beef mince and are happy with that. An egg and breadcrumbs for binding and for a softer texture, and Parmesan cheese for that Italian flavor. If you don’t have kids that can detect one iota of spice like mine, then definitely add some red chili flakes in this.

The secret ingredient:

My husband adds a secret ingredient that’s SO GOOD. He finely chops some onion and garlic, and saute’s them till soft and golden. You’ve probably had meatballs with raw onion in them, but I bet you haven’t had them with cooked onion. Complete gamechanger.

Make these, snack on a few as a reward for you hard effort, and refrigerate or freeze any leftovers. I’ll post a simple spaghetti recipe soon in which these would be perfect for!

Slow Cooker Pulled BBQ Beef

March 17, 2019 by Farah Abumaizar Leave a Comment

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Imagine you could spend 5 minutes throwing things into a pan, then come back 8 hours later and that’s your dinner all ready for you. You can! Yay for slow cookers. I don’t use mine a ton, but every couple of weeks or so it really saves my life. I like using mine especially with dishes using beef or chicken. You end up with the most tender meat (I see you lamb shanks). This beef chili is another great example of a family pleasing slow cooker meal. Both of the above can also be made in a regular stove top or oven, but it’s kind of fun to just set it and forget it, like you do with this slow cooker pulled bbq beef.

This recipe came about when I had a couple of friends coming over for a game night. I don’t usually like cooking Friday nights (that’s the start of our weekend here in the Middle East), but we had a streak of disappointing delivery orders. This time, I wanted us to eat good food. So I made it myself! it barely counted as cooking anyway, so my Friday relaxation was still intact. I adapted it from The Real Food RD’s website, and it came out perfectly.

The Cast of Ingredients

You have boneless beef chuck roast which will cook up all tender and soft and shred perfectly. An onion that’s sliced up and softens and glazes as the meat cooks. Tomato paste, Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar (ends up tasting kind of like a less cloyingly sweet version of tangy bbq sauce). Of course, your spices. You’ll use garlic power, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper and chili powder. Don’t confuse chili powder for cayenne pepper. I did that once and barely lived to tell the tale.

Note, if you can’t find chili powder in the supermarket (Typical in Bahrain), at the bottom of the recipe I have a note on how to easily make your own. I have my homemade mix stored on my spice shelf now and it always comes in handy.

Browning the meat?

In the original recipe, they give you the option of browning the meat before putting it in the slow cooker. Browning the meat is a great way to lock in the flavor and juiciness. In the spirit of a complete no fuss meal, I completely ignored this option. Let me tell you, I did not miss it. I think more than enough flavor and juiciness comes through with the slow cooking of the meat to compensate for anything extra you’d get by browning the meat. Plus, I didn’t want the whole house to smell like meat and didn’t want the extra dishes so that’s my reasoning behind it anyway!

Set it and forget it.

All you need to do is combine all the ingredients, cook on low heat for 8-10 hours until cooked through and tender. Remove the meat, shred it with two forks, then return it to the sauce and onions. That’s it! To serve, you have several options. I heaped it on toasted buttered burger buns, with some ready made coleslaw and pickles and we loved it like that. For a healthier option, this would make an awesome loaded sweet potato. I had leftovers on top of spelt spaghetti and I swear it made for the best meal!

The Ingredients:

Baking the baby:

Dutch Baby topping ideas: