My favorite meals are the ones that are low on ingredients, high on flavor. That’s why Ina Garten will always be my favorite celebrity chef. No head-scratcher-what-aisle-do-I-get-that ingredients. Just lots of butter, some salt, a few select ingredients. Good quality this, good quality that, and the perfect meal comes to fruition on your stove top or in your oven. Have you ever watched her show? When we had cable, I used to DVR it. Watching her show was akin to sitting down with a favorite novel. She made it look so effortless. I felt my body relaxing while I watched her mix and pour and stir. Always in a collared button-down, but who cares? She’s Ina. And while I might not make it look just as easy breezy as she does, her recipes are so attainable. There’s nothing fussy about them. I’ve made several of them, and they never disappoint. With other recipes, I feel I need to give them a trial run first, only Steve and the kids around to test it out, before I’d serve it to company. With Ina, no trial needed. They’re winners every time. (My favorite cook books of hers: here
With all that Ina talk, you’d think I’m going to share one of her recipes but alas, I’m not. It is a recipe reminiscent of hers, however. Easy, quick, attainable. But it looks a bit fancy. The way the edges puff up, brown and crispy, the call for a dusting of powdered sugar on the top, the way the apples sit higher than the batter, just a little bit soft from their brief sauté in a little bit of butter. I’d like to believe Ina would serve this to her overnight guests. With some pink flowers in the middle of the table and Jeffrey proclaiming, once again, that she’s a great cook.
Apple Egg Pancake
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
3 eggs beaten
1 t sugar
dash salt
1 T butter
dash of cinnamon
1 large apple, sliced
brown sugar
lemon juice, optional
Mix milk, flour, eggs, salt, & sugar. Set aside. Fry apple lightly in butter. Butter a 9×13 pan. Pour batter over apples. Bake 500 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Return to oven to brown. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve with maple syrup.
I’ve skipped the last part (the sugar/cinnamon/oven to brown bit) and it’s still delicious. Let me know if you make it!
And I should add, it’s pretty light so I find making two of them is better than one for us. If you’ve got some tasty sides–home fries or bacon–one could suffice. Recipe credit would have to go to my Mom, who gave it to me ages ago, and I’m not even sure where she came across it.
It's only been one day since my kitchen has been packed up to move and already I miss cooking!! I can't wait to get settled and maybe make this as a celebratory breakfast.
This looks so good!!! And it is totally something I think I can achieve without all three of my kids needing to be asleep. Winner!
sidenote: you guys don't have cable?? We don't have it and people look at me like I have three heads! We don't even have the basic channels. Glad to hear I'm not alone!
We haven't had cable TV either for 5 years and I don't miss it one bit. We watch our favourite shows online for free, connected to our big TV.
we don't have it! no basic channels either. i will say, steve misses it when it comes to the patriots season and i miss it a bit with morning talk shows – but i do watch some of my faves online!
we don't have it either! we have a blu-ray player in our basement and a dvd/vhs combo in our bedroom. all i really feel like i'm missing out on is duck dynasty.
No tv service club here, too! We use Netflix through our Wii and Hulu (free, not paying $8/month for commercials and very little upgrade) via our laptops hooked up to the tv. Showtime/HBO shows are tough to find, and CBS and TBS are jerks for free ones, but otherwise, we've been tv service free for 4 years now!
I make something similar for Sunday mornings in a cast iron skillet called a German Pancake (http://smallhomebigstart.com/2012/01/german-pancake.html). So easy to make, but looks great and tastes awesome. I'll have to try your apple version next weekend – I'm sure it will be a big hit!
So glad to hear someone shares my love for Ina, she is amazing. Seriously, my dream in life when I'm old is just to eat whatever I want, wear giant button downs, drink cocktails, throw fabulous dinners in the Hamptons, and cook delicious food. What a dream.
This recipe looks delish! 🙂
you and me both, jane.
I love Ina! I feel like she's my friends, she's so stinking cute! This recipe looks delicious! I'm going to try it tomorrow!
I have a recipe from my grandmother that's very similar. She's calls it a Dutch Apple Pancake. It's delicious.
yes! i think this is very dutch pancake-ish. that's a better name for it than the one i'm using.
I was just saying to Scott about 20 minutes ago how soothing Ina's show is. Just like a good book! You nailed it.
it really is. soooo relaxing to watch her.
Thanks for this. I love any recipe that calls for staples. I have every one of these ingredients in my kitchen every single day of my life. I was planning on leftover chicken pot pie for dinner; this will certainly sweeten the deal for my family. I might even have an oversized button-down laying around somewhere.
This looks delicious! I'll have to add it in to my fancy breakfast rotation. I love making a quick sugar/butter fried apple compote to put over Belgian waffles (or ice cream…), but this seems even more simple, which my starving morning belly loves!
We don't have cable either!! But I cheat and download some Bravo shows….. Can't help it!!! {I have a sickness 😉 }
Recipe looks delish!!
xo
Cassie
Good for you all who are without cable ….impressive!
As for the pancake, it is an old family recipe at our house. We have always called it by the name of a family friend that taught us to make it but when I was in Holland I had one like it. So I think Dutch Pancake is right. It is also good with pears or cherries. Really any fruit that bakes well. All are good….the one I had in Holland had cherries. Yum!
I adore Ina. I find her show to be so calming. I even own a few DVD's of Ina episodes that my husband gave me a few years ago. #whodoesn'tlikethat
This looks and sounds delish!
-Amy
I swear, nothing on 30 Rock made me laugh as hard as Matt Damon crying and saying he couldn't be as strong as Jeffrey: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/24/30-rock-barefoot-contessa-ina-garten-video_n_738490.html
LOL THAT is funny. i love the husband comes home on the weekend part and all week i hang out with my gay friends. basically, ina's life.
That looks so good! And easy. Which is a must with 4 kids! Thanks for sharing!
We recently got rid of cable too. Freedom! But I used to watch a lot of Food Network. Like you said, so relaxing. I got to where I knew all the different nuances of each host. I forget a lot of them now but I still remember Ina's – she's always asking these rhetorical questions: How easy is that? How hard can that be? Who doesn't like that? LOL!!
hah yes! she is!
Oh ma GOSH, this looks amazing. Pinning it now. 😉
xox
giedre
Girl I hear ya on Ina being the bee's knees — and so weirdly soothing (and interesting) to watch! I think part of it is her tone of voice and her pace — the opposite of perky, zippy Rachael Ray or even Giada. Not hatin on the playas, just lovin' me some Ina! Thanks for the simple and magically delicious recipe — it's a winner! I made it this morning when I had only a few minutes to whip something up (toddler son and all — you know the gig) and it was crazy-fast, plus I had everything in the house. I did put on the brown sugar and cinnamon … but next time I'd probably either skip 'em or mix them with the apples. As you noted, it didn't need it to be great. This one's going in the regular rotation — cheers to you and your mama for it!
yay! so glad. thanks jennifer!
Ina is the modern day Julia Child! I have her cookbook Foolproof and I LOVE it! It's for easy entertaining and everything is so chic and timeless. It plans the meal out for you and breaks it down into a time table of having the meal ready all together for a dinner party. One of my favorite Christmas presents from last year. Have you tried her Company Pot Roast? To. Die. For. Takes fooooorever to make but it is so worth it. It's a mans meal makes for a very happy hubby. Maybe that's why Ina's husband is still so smitten with her after all these years!
totally trying that. i love pot roast. thanks girl.
This is almost identical to my kiddos favorite breakfast, Apple puff pancake. We make it at least once a week!
I made this this weekend and it turned out great! My guest was super impressed! It was beautiful and delicious! Thanks for the recipe!!!