The Ultimate Ebleskivers? A Classic Pairing Transformed
Fois Gras + Lavender Truffel Honey + Ebleskiver (pancake) + Sauterns wine. Ridiculous and over-the-top. Very fun. Any good?
This started as a friendly request to make an ebleskiver dessert for a dinner party. Actually, we would both be making ebleskiver desserts, which raised the bar a bit. The hosts would be making a "sweet" ebleskiver dessert and I was instructed to bring dessert wine. With a Sauterns burning a hole in my wine fridge and some lavender-truffle infused honey that we had to get after eating a dish at Amada (tapas restaurant in Philly), my mind quickly filled in the blank ... Fois Gras! The dinner party needed a savory dessert, and the hosts had talked about the prospect of eating Fois Gras together with us some day (not something either of us do more than once every couple years).
I knew some higher being meant for us to eat fois gras when the local Wegmans happened to have it in stock. Time for some fun.
Ebleskivers are little pancake pastries that are perfect for stuffing with different ingredients. They are purported to come from Denmark, but Williams and Sonoma have popularized them in the states by selling the pan needed to make them. My buddy (the dinner party host) got into them first and followed quickly. In addition to being a nice breakfast treat, they make for good desserts. We even joke about doing a full 5 course meal of just Ebleskivers.
For dessert tonight, it was sweet and savory. Our hosts made peanut butter and chocolate skivers--hard to go wrong there, and our fois gras + truffel-lavendar honey skivers actually worked out quite well. I'm not sure the pancake pastry really added much, but the fois gras + honey combination was great. The truffel oil added a dimension that, while really not necessary, was quite interesting.
The sauterns was a 2001 Chataeu Filhot. On its own, it was just OK. Sweet and pleasant, but lacking some of the velvety smoothness of a finer bottle. However, it was transformed with the ebleskivers. There is a reason why fois gras + sauterns is a classic pairing.
Making the ebleskivers is quite easy. The bater is just pancake mix, although Williams and Sonoma sells a fancy (and expensive) mix that tastes quite good. This is what I used because we happened to have some left over. Once mixed, a teaspoon of batter is put into each pre-buttered depression in the pot--set over medium heat. If the temperature is right, you get just enough time to fill each soon-to-be airy pancake with something delectable. Then you put another teaspoon of batter on top and wait for them to get golden brown. It doesn't take long, and you can't actually see the browning process since the underside is getting most of the heat. With a little practice, you know when to flip the pancakes and cook the other side. This is made much easier with the special turning tools also sold by Williams and Sonoma. Once both sides are golden brown, you devour them. Each one is not much more than a single bite or two.
Lessons learned from the evening:
- Ebleskivers are always fun, especially when cooked with friends at a dinner party. Having each couple make their own was a great way to break of the evening and build some suspense.
- Foie Gras + Sauterns really is a classic pairing worth experiencing every once in a while.
- Lavender-Truffel Honey is a nice treat that can be put on just about anything. Within 24 hours, we put it on peanut butter, figs, pineapple, and [of course] fois gras. Delicious.
- Experimenting with--and most importantly eating--different food combinations with good friends is priceless.
