Two Cheese Ebelskiver Puffs with Marinara

An ebelskiver pan is just the kind of fou-fou kitchen tool that I can never be sure if I brought along to Missouri until drawers and cabinets are scoured to see if it shows up. Remember, my moving mind-set was "only the essential goes on the moving van"...but what did I consider essential???? That's been a continuing discovery process; figuring out what I have here and what I don't. Fortunately, a clearly essential ebelskiver pan made it to the midwest.

In anticipation of gals showing up for Reading and Rambling Club last night, it seemed like a good idea to try out a new ebelskiver recipe.  Sure, I'd finally cleaned up all the mess from chowder and pot pie makings but why not start on Round Three of Cooking Chaos? And maybe even leave time to get dressed before the first guest showed up. 

This is the first time I've tried a savory ebelskiver. Because there are steps that have to be executed fairly quickly once the fire goes on under those cute little wells in the pan, I studied that recipe like a surgeon preparing for a heart lung transplant. Each of my ingredients stood measured and ready by the stove. Not remembering what worked best in the past, I had two different turning implements carefully poised for quick retrieval. You can buy fancy schmantzy tools just for turning ebelskivers but I haven't succumbed to that lure YET, as I find spoons or wood skewers work well to quickly flip the balls of dough after they've had time to cook on one side. 

It's true that my finished products never look quite as perfect as what you see in recipe books. What happens in my kitchen is a kind of progression. The first few flips are clumsy, producing a definitely misshapen formation that looks closer to a partially deflated football than the perfect round orb I'm supposed to be turning out. As I get a few flips behind me, the rhythm settles in and my puffs look closer to round.

One of my many less than wonderful personality traits is that I'm too much a critic and perfectionist, as far as my own efforts go. How is it that with other people I can be generous of spirit...yet when it comes to me, I can't forgive myself for any kind of perceived weakness or flaw? Oh hey, are you thinking you stumbled into my therapy session? I'm bringing up this tendency to be hard on myself because I almost didn't serve the ebelskivers last night. Some seemed a little more browned and mottled than the picture. And then there were those weird footbally ones! That's just appearance - what if they didn't taste any good????

Fortunately, I managed to quiet all the naysaying in my head and offer ebelskivers and marinara sauce to the Monday night gals. None had heard of an ebelskiver before and all were intrigued to learn a little about this new funny looking little appetizer. Funny looking and less than perfect as they may have been, the girls couldn't dip those ebelskivers into the marinara sauce quickly enough. Julie went so far as to declare them to be a new form of crack. Take that, Critical Barbara!

Two Cheese Ebelskiver Puffs with Marinara

Ingredients:

1 cup (4 oz) cake flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs, separated

1 cup (8 fluid oz) whole milk

3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1/2 cup (2 oz) freshly grated parmesan cheese

2  1/2 Tbs. chopped fresh basil

3  1/2 Tbs. finely diced fresh mozzarella

1 cup (8 fluid oz) marinara sauce  (RECIPE BELOW - You could also buy marinara sauce but this recipe was so easy, why would you?)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolk, then whisk in the milk and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter. Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. The batter will be lumpy.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry peaks form. Fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest with 1/4 cup of the parmesan and the basil just until no white streaks remain. 

Brush wells of the pan with remaining melted butter and place over medium heat. (On my stove it was closer to low heat than medium). When butter starts to bubble, working quickly, sprinkle a heaping 1/2 tsp of the remaining parmesan into each well. (Yea, like you have time to measure this out! I just threw a bit into each well, without measuring). Add about 1 tablespoon of the batter into each well, then carefully add 1/2 teaspoon mozzarella to the center of each pancake. (haha..I love that it says carefully along with "YOU BETTER GET ALL THIS DONE WITHIN ABOUT A 2 SECOND TIME FRAME!" I doubt I was very "careful" as I, again, pretty much threw a bit of the mozzarella over the batter.) Top with another 1 tablespoon of the batter. 

Cook until the bottoms of the pancake are slightly browned and crisp, about 3-5 minutes. How do you know if they are browning on the bottom? At this point, you can use your skewer to delicately pull back a corner of the ball and see what's happening on the underside. When you see browning, turn the pancakes and cook until lightly browned on the second side, about 3 minutes longer. 

Transfer pancakes to a platter to keep them warm in the 200 degree oven while you repeat with 2 more batches. Serve with marinara. 

Marinara Sauce for Ebelskivers

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

pinch red pepper flakes

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 can (15 oz) crushed Italian tomatoes

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

In large frying pan over medium heat, saute the garlic in the olive oil, until fragrant, about 1 minute. 

Stir in the red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season to taste.