Memorial Day Weekend Favorites

Hi dabblers. I hope you had a lovely Memorial Day weekend and are now enjoying a short work week. I spent a wonderful long weekend up north with my family and dogs. Here are some weekend highlights in photos:

A breakfast sandwich consisting of a fried egg, spinach, tomatoes, and herb cow's cheese on rye toast. I love having time to really make breakfast and enjoy it on vacation weekends. 

The donut counter at World's Best Donuts in Grand Marais, MN. Truly the best donuts I have ever had and a must stop if you are in Grand Marais. 

Cake donut with chocolate glaze. 

Cake donut with cinnamon and sugar. 

Raised glazed with sugar. Eat the donuts as soon as possible after purchasing (I suggest as you are walking out of the donut shop) for maximum deliciousness.

My favorite restaurant in Grand Marais, the Angry Trout Cafe. 

I always get the same thing because I love it. Whitefish chowder.

House-made root beer in an Angry Trout Cafe cup. 

Fish and chips with local whitefish. 

House-made dill tartar sauce. My favorite part of the entire experience. 

A fabulous delivery bike. 

Grandma's rhubarb pie made with rhubarb from the family garden. Her pies are the best in the world, and as always, the crust (recipe here) was fabulous. 

Spicy hot chocolate with cinnamon and cayenne pepper, made with milk that I whisked until frothy over the stove. Served in a classic cabin mug and topped with marshmallows :) The perfect accompaniment to a cool evening and a good book. 

Cheers to time spent appreciating the beauty of nature, 

and time spent with the people and animals you love. 

-The Delicious Dabbler

Sourdough Popovers

Happy Memorial Weekend dabblers! I am really looking forward to the long weekend and to heading to northern Minnesota for a few days with family. I hope that you get to enjoy some relaxing moments this weekend as well. If you are looking for a quick and delicious side, I highly recommend these sourdough popovers (pictured in last week's post) from King Arthur Flour.

The dough is very simple (1 c milk, 3 eggs, 1/2 c sourdough starter, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1 c all-purpose flour; yield 6 popovers) and the popovers could be served savory (i.e. with last week's compound chive butter) or sweet (i.e. honey, compound cinnamon/sugar butter, or chocolate hazelnut spread...whatever your favorite indulgence is).

To begin, preheat the oven to 450°F and place your popover pan (or a muffin pan, which is what I used...I am in the market for a great popover pan, so recommendations are welcome!) in the oven to heat up while the oven comes to temperature. While that is happening, heat the milk in a small sauce pan over the stove until it is warm to the touch. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, sourdough starter, salt, and flour. Slowly add in the milk, stirring constantly. 

Whisk the dough to combine (a few small lumps are okay). 

The dough is pretty thin and should feel runnier than pancake batter. 

When the oven is done preheating, remove the popover/muffin pan and generously brush 6 of the muffin cups with coconut oil. You can space the popovers out in the pan so that they have more room to expand. If you are using a popover pan, fill the cups 3/4 full. If you are using a muffin pan like me, fill them to the top. 

Forgive the through-the-oven camera work, but I wanted to show you how cute they look as they puff up. 

Bake the popovers at 450°F for approximately 15 minutes. You can tell you are ready to reduce the oven temperature when the popovers have reached max lift-capacity (see how the two in the front have broken open). Reduce your oven temperature to 375°F  and continue to the bake the popovers for an additional 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown. 

For the best popover enjoyment, serve them immediately with your favorite toppings. 

I am looking forward to getting a great popover pan so that these beauties will get even more lift. As mentioned on the King Arthur website, you can also make these with whole wheat flour, which I have tried twice now. They are much denser than the all-purpose variety, but also delicious. 

Have a great holiday weekend dabblers. Thanks for visiting, 

-The Delicious Dabbler 

Compound Chive Butter

Hi Dabblers. After a long hiatus due to grad school and work consuming my free hours, I am happy to be back and sharing with you all. Over the weekend, I was out working at our family garden. This is my first year being really involved in the planting and I have been enjoying it immensely. Chives and rhubarb were ready for harvesting, so I brought home some of both. Next trip I will take more photos, but for now- here is a photo of the lovely picnic prepared by my aunt as a mid-day break:

She makes every meal into a beautiful experience.

Back to the butter...compound butters are super easy to make and great to have on hand. I brought about a 1/4 of a stick of unsalted butter to room temperature and broke it up with a fork. I then added approximately 1 tbsp of finely chopped chives.

I then seasoned the butter with salt and pepper and used the fork to mix all the ingredients until combined.

You could also add garlic or red pepper, depending on what application you were going to use the compound butter for.

This butter was destined for sourdough popovers. That recipe is coming next...and within the week (I promise). I also used the butter to finish off a simple spinach, pasta, and goat cheese dish tonight and it was delicious.

The chives doubled as decorations as well. My aunt gave me this sweet little mason jar as I have been collecting jars to use as candle holders for my upcoming wedding. Chive flowers are edible and make great garnishes for salads or any other food displays.

Happy summer food dabbling :)

Thanks for visiting,

-The Delicious Dabbler