Savory Dutch Baby with Goat Cheese and Dill

Ingredients

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• 1 cup crumbled plain goat cheese

• ½ cup chopped fresh dill, divided

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 lemon

• Coarse kosher salt

• Ground black pepper

• 1 cup/135 grams all-purpose flour

• 8 large eggs

• ¾ cup whole milk

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 2 cups or so of watercress leaves with tender stems, or other tender greens such as spinach or arugula. I like to chop it very roughly so it’s easier to get from skillet to mouth

• A little bit of honey

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Special Equipment

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Four 5-inch mini cast iron skillets (you can buy these online if you can’t find them at your local hardware store, which you should support whenever you can)

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Four cork coasters, or something (a folded cloth napkin perhaps) to protect your dishes from the very hot skillets that will be placed on them and will undoubtedly crack them.

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Note
 

This can also be made in one large skillet. If you want to do it that way (and you are more than welcome to), follow Yewande Komolafe’s recipe from New York Times Cooking, which is where I got the idea for these individual puffed pancakes.

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Directions

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• In a small bowl, combine goat cheese, ¼ cup dill, 1 tablespoon oil, the zest from your lemon, and a pinch each of salt and pepper and let sit to marinate. Take a spoon and mark a division through the middle of the mixture, because you’ll be using half for baking and half for crumbling on top later.

• Heat oven to 475 degrees (yes, I know that’s really hot).

• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Add the remaining ¼ cup dill and stir.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Whisk wet ingredients into dry until just combined.

• Squeeze a little lemon onto the watercress, and toss it around.

• Melt one tablespoon of butter in each of your 5-inch skillets over medium-high heat. Let it cook until it smells nutty and browns, about 5 minutes, swirling the skillet so that butter coats the bottom and sides of the pan. Keep an eye on these, as you want to get them off the heat before the brown butter turns to black.

• Pour a ladleful of batter into the hot buttered skillets and add a spoonful of the marinated goat cheese into the center of the batter. Bake until puffed and golden, 7-8 minutes. These should be very puffed and golden, leaning toward brown around the edge.

• Let these cool for a minute. Top with watercress. Scatter a spoonful of goat cheese on top and drizzle with a tiny bit of honey and a little olive oil. Serve immediately.

• Do NOT put these directly onto a plate. They will be very hot and will most likely crack your dishes. We use small cork coasters, which also help to keep the skillets from sliding around the plates as you bring them to the table. Warn your people that the skillets will be stinking hot.

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