Nobody puts baby in a corner. Especially if she’s dutch. I whipped up this gruyere and onion dutch baby last week Sunday for our stay at home brunch (again). It was an act of desperation I guess one could say. It was the end of the week and I hadn’t bought groceries yet so it was a pseudo episode of chopped in my own kitchen with the mystery ingredients being whatever was still left over in my fridge.
my favorite Michigan brunch spots
Eggs, flour, half a block of gruyere cheese and an onion.. I can make this work. “20 minutes chef!” Joe yelled to me across the kitchen as anxious sweat started to bead on my forehead. Just kidding. About everything except the eggs, flour, gruyere and onion. I am a bit quiched and baconed out (if you can believe it) so I racked my brain for something new to do for brunch.
I’ve made sweet dutch babies from time to time piled with fruit and whipped cream. This morning though the gruyere was going to be the star of the show.
So what is a dutch baby? It’s basically eggs, flour, milk, sugar and butter whipped together and baked in a cast iron skillet. TECHNICALLY this is actually a German pancake. The name dutch baby is actually from an American restaurateur in the 1940’s misunderstanding that “duetsch” meant Dutch and not German*. Realllllly glad we can hit both sides of my heritage here today. (i’m half german and half dutch)
*info gathered from Cooks Illustrated
Dutch baby’s are a hybrid pancake, elephant ear and pop over. The sides are meant to be bubbled and crispy while the base is thicker and smooth. I slice it like a pizza once it’s prepared and serve it hot.
If you don’t have or don’t like gruyere cheese any melty style cheese will do. I added caramelized onions but a pancetta or bacon lardons would also be a delicious addition to the base.
This comes together in a matter of minutes and looks WAY more impressive than the actual preparations that goes into it. It’s fantastic as a lunch or dinner to because it is extremely filling (especially if you finish the pan off).
Here is what you need to make a gruyere and onion dutch baby.
Special Equipment: Cast Iron Skillet, I love Staub.
Ingredients:
Two onions, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp butter
6oz of shredded gruyere cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of milk
1tsp fresh thyme leaves
How to:
Preheat oven to 425F, spray cast iron pan with cooking spray and put in the oven as the oven heats up.
Over the stove melt 2 tbsp of butter and add onions. Cook until soft and translucent, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
Whisk together the eggs and milk. Slowly add the flour continue whisking to avoid clumps until smooth. Add in 3/4 of the gruyere cheese and 1 tsp of thyme and stir.
Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and add the remaining two tablespoons of butter to the skillet allowing to sizzle and melt.
Arrange the onions evenly on the bottom of the pan.
Pour egg mixture over the onions, immediately put into oven and bake for 15 minutes uninterrupted (fight the urge to open that oven!)
Remove from the oven, sprinkle remaining gruyere on top and bake in oven for one more minute to melt the cheese.
Serve immediately.
Do you think it would work to cook the onions in the cast iron skillet and just do it all in one pan?
That is a really good point. I think as long as your cast iron skillet was hot enough all the way around it would work. You could cook the onions in the cast Iron and keep in a bowl while the skillet heated an extra 10 min or so in the oven?
Thanks! – I’m going to try it!
Yum!!