Baby Buckwheat Popovers With Pressed Caviar Recipes

POPOVERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle a teaspoon or so of melted butter in each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan or a popover tin and put it in oven while you make batter.
• Beat together the eggs, milk, 1 tablespoon butter, sugar and salt. Beat in the flour a little bit at a time and add thyme if using; mixture should be smooth.
• Carefully remove muffin tin from oven and fill each cup about halfway. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 15 minutes more, or until popovers are puffed and browned. Do not check popovers until they have baked for a total of 30 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and serve hot.

BUCKWHEAT POPOVERS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush cups of a popover pan (or muffin tin) with butter or coat with cooking spray.
• In a large measuring pitcher with a spout (this makes pouring easier later), or in a bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, butter, sugar and salt until frothy. Add flours and whisk until mostly smooth, though a few clumps may remain in batter, which is fine. (If you prefer you can mix everything together in a blender instead of a bowl.)
• Pour batter into prepared cups. Bake 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 350 degrees and bake another 20 minutes until popovers are golden brown and puffed. (Reduce baking time by 5 minutes if using a muffin tin.) Keep tabs on their progress by looking through the window in the oven door. Do not open the oven door until the last 5 minutes of baking or they won't puff. Serve warm.

BABY BUCKWHEAT POPOVERS WITH PRESSED CAVIAR

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush four dozen miniature muffin cups with melted butter.
• Place the milk, cream, flour, salt, eggs and lemon rind in a blender or food processor and process until very smooth. Pour this batter into the muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake about 20 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.
• Immediately split open the popovers and fill each with a teaspoon of creme fraiche and a dab of caviar. Serve at once.

BUCKWHEAT NOODLES WITH RED CAVIAR AND SOUR CREAM

Steps:

• In a pot of boiling water cook soba for about 8 to 10 minutes or according to package directions. until done. While soba is cooking heat butter in a small skillet until it is golden brown; you want the flavor of the butter. Drain soba and return to saucepan and toss with golden butter and 4 tablespoons of sour cream, chives and half of caviar. Portion out and top with more sour cream and caviar if you wish.

CAVIAR WITH BUCKWHEAT CREPES AND SMOKED CREME FRAICHE

Steps:

• Add the milk, all-purpose and buckwheat flours, eggs and a pinch of salt to a high-powered blender and blend until thoroughly mixed.
• Place a medium nonstick pan over medium heat and spray with nonstick spray. Pour about 1/2 cup batter into the preheated pan and swirl to thoroughly coat the pan with the batter, making a crepe. Cook until it has golden brown spots and edges, about 2 minutes. Flip onto a cutting board to let cool. Continue to cook in batches, covering the finished crepes with a towel to keep them from drying out.
• Season the creme fraiche with salt and pepper in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and use a smoking gun to smoke the creme fraiche for 10 minutes.
• For serving: Fold the crepes into quarters and add to a serving dish. Top with the caviar and smoked creme fraiche.

POPOVERS

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 240C/220C fan/gas 9. Pour a little oil into the holes of a deep 12-hole muffin tin or 12 popover tins, making sure the oil coats the bases in a thin layer. Slide into the oven for 10 mins to heat the oil.
• Whisk the flour and eggs together in a bowl with a pinch of salt until you have a smooth, thick paste. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking continuously until you have a thin batter that's the consistency of double cream.
• Carefully remove the hot tin from the oven and quickly pour in the batter, filling the tins half full. The batter should sizzle immediately as it hits the oil. Bake for 10 mins, then reduce the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and bake for 10-15 mins more until the popovers are golden, crisp and well-risen. Serve straightaway.

BUCKWHEAT BLINI WITH CAVIAR

Steps:

• In large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup milk. Stir in 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.
• Combine remaining all-purpose flour, the buckwheat flour and salt. Add 2 cups milk to the yeast mixture and gradually whisk in flour-salt mixture until you have a smooth, thick batter. Whisk in melted butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature and let batter slowly double in size, about 2 to 3 hours. (The batter may remain at room temperature even longer if necessary.) You may also mix batter and refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.
• When you are ready to cook blini, stir down batter, which will have become quite frothy. Beat egg yolks and whisk into batter. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into batter.
• Spoon batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle, using a large soup spoon to make blini that are 3 inches in diameter. Cook for about 2 minutes, until bottom is well browned. Flip and cook 1 minute more. (Wait until surface is covered in bubbles before flipping.) Keep warm in a low oven. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche, a drizzle of butter, a generous spoonful of caviar and a sprinkling of chives.