Young & Hungry

It started as many very, very good things do–with Neiman Marcus. Being a proud resident of Dallas, I hold the iconic department store with a sincere and utmost reverence. One of my very first ventures as a new Dallasite was to make a pilgrimage of sorts to the historic and stately flagship location downtown, silently honoring the store that launched a thousand girls’ Christmas lists. From clothes to shoes to linens and home furnishings, everything’s a little bit more sparkly when it comes from NM.

But I digress. This post is not about goods, but rather food, of course! And as with all other things NM, the popovers served at their restaurant, Zodiac, are a league apart, making the average dinner roll seem like a peon amongst kings. Popovers, those crusty on the outside, eggy-yet-airy on the inside brown clouds toppling sky high are the stuff that dreams are made of. They are also surprisingly hard to make…or at least make well. I decided at Thanksgiving to surprise my family with perfect popovers. Sadly after many failed attempts, I wound up with tens of overly crusty popunders, nowhere near perfect and certainly nowhere near Neiman’s standards.

 

Fast forward to Christmas…in the month lapse, I spent a great deal of time and eggs obsessively refining the perfect popover and at long last, found success! Popovers as high and mighty as those served at Zodiac. My winning recipe is one published by grocery scion Wegmans and calls for olive oil instead of butter, resulting in an expertly browned, puffed pastry masterpiece.

I sincerely hope you enjoy these luscious, delicate pastries as much as I do. They bring to the table an air of something special and, just like Neiman’s, make any lunch a little more sparkly.

Katy’s Tips for Successful Popovers:

Always preheat your pans (I used muffin tins but regulation popovers are sold at Williams Sonoma), allow your batter to rest for a few hours after mixing, and whatever you do, never, ever open the oven during baking.

 

MAKES 12-14 large popovers

4   Tbsp Wegmans Pure Olive Oil, divided
2   cups flour
1   tsp salt
4   Wegmans Large Eggs
2   cups whole milk
link

 

You’ll Need: Two 12-count cupcake tins, baking sheet, vegetable cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place cupcake tin on baking sheet. Spray every other cupcake form with vegetable cooking spray; add 1 tsp olive oil per each sprayed form. Place in oven 10 min; make sure there is 5 inches of space between oven racks/top of oven. As this heats, make batter.
   
2. Make batter: Blend salt and flour in large bowl. Set aside. Whisk together eggs and milk in separate bowl. Slowly whisk egg/milk mixture into flour mixture, blending until well-combined.
   
3. Pour batter into oiled forms until each form is 3/4 full. Bake 40-45 min (without opening oven door) until golden and puffed. Poke a hole in each popover with fork to release steam. Serve immediately.