A perfect popover partnerIn my life, I have had a few food obsessions. Sometimes they are things I was exposed to early in life that imprinted themselves on my subconscious (my dad’s cinnamon roasted chicken, Donnelly’s tuna salad (RIP), peanut butter swirl ice cream, merguez sausage), and some have come in recent years, as my palette becomes exposed to more and more exciting flavors (Thai green curry, comte cheese, cannolis).
Popovers are firmly in camp one, and I am obsessed with them. A friend’s mom made them for us as a child and I just thought they were magic. The simple breads rise like crazy, crunchy on the outside and airy in the middle. When I first got interested in cooking, a popover pan was one of my first purchases. (You can also use a muffin tin, but your odds of success diminish slightly.) It’s also one of those foods that tastes decadent, but is actually incredibly simple and not too rich. I use the Joy of Cooking recipe; it calls for a cup of flour, a cup of milk, a tablespoon of butter, two eggs and a pinch of salt.
Saturday morning, I realized that my popover itch had been too long between scratchings—plus, I had some of that beautiful Daisy flour in the cupboard. I was only missing one thing: jam. (I prefer mine with butter and jam, though there are more savory options.) While the oven preheated, I ran down to the Fitler Square Farmers’ Market where Highland Orchards carries a wide array of lovely preserves. I still had black raspberries on the brain, so I was drawn in that direction.
When my little popover babies came out of the oven, they got the works with some grass-fed local butter and black raspberry preserves. The spread itself was tangy and not even the slightest bit oversweet. Excellent.
Obsession satisfied. For now.
Not my popovers; but wanted to give the uninitiated a sense of their beauty
