My nine month old daughter Arabella likes all kinds of foods in fact the other day my spouse and I were eating a bowl of mixed olives spiced with oregano and lemon zest and to our astonishments she liked it too. Of course she had a pureed version of it not to have the seeds clogging her little airway.
Me being a chef this could not make me happier - our baby eats just about anything coriander spiced carrot puree with a touch of orange, roasted fall squash with apple cider spices and a hint of maple syrup. Sous-vide steak – chopped up into tiny pieces - she munches way with her seven teeth.
Every day family
If you have a kid of your own you know what I mean - if you don’t it will melt your heart when you see your baby munching happily away on food. They become a real part of your family eating experience at the dining table. We make sure we’re together at least once a day – it’s our together time which is so much fun.
(Kaiserschmarren - Austrian style pancake)
The seventh day diet
Eating should be fun so on the seventh day we enjoy not so organic and natural foods …for instance the swollen baked carrot muffins baked in a golden paper cup from the local bakery or ice cream which Arabella can’t get enough of -- hammering her little hands onto her baby dining chair demanding more of it. Smoothies and milkshakes are a part of her seventh day diet too and she gets to practice eating through a straw.
I remember growing up in Austria one of the popular dishes for us kids was Kaiserschmarren which is a shredded Austrian-style pancake with a royal history. It was the emperor’s favorite breakfast or lunch dish which actually was created accidentally by one of the kitchen apprentices in the emperor’s kitchen. When the apprentice ruined the perfect spherical pancake he tore it up to make it look like it was intentional and the emperor (“Kaiser”) loved it. And so the dish earned the name “kaiserschmarren” which means “emperor’s mess.” It’s a kid friendly heavenly fluffy pancake with the torn up mess already built into the design!
Kaiserschmarren (Austrian pancake)
(recipe yields one large pancake)
½-cup unbleached flour
1/3-cup sugar
a pinch salt
1 cup milk
5 yolks eggs
5 egg whites
1 tablespoon butter
powdered sugar for dusting the pancake
- Preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit.
- In a bowl mix flour and milk with a wire whisk then add egg yolks.
- In a kitchen mixer bowl beat egg whites, sugar and salt until stiff peaks have formed.
- With a pastry spatula fold 1/3 of the whipped egg whites into the milk/egg yolk mixture then fold in remaining egg whites.
- On medium heat setting melt butter in a skillet (9 to 11-inch diameter) add batter and cook for four minutes, then transfer into hot oven. Bake pancake (10-12 minutes or until cooked in the middle when pierced with a toothpick)
- On top of stove tear pancake randomly into mouth sized pieces.
- Transfer torn pancake onto large plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.
Chef’s note: Fold whipped, sugared egg withes carefully with flour/egg yolk mixture –this way lots of air will get trapped into batter and result in a heavenly airy pancake.
Chef’s tip: serve Kaiserschmarren with cranberry jelly.
