kaiserschmarren

souffled creme fraiche pancakes with strawberry sauce

pancakes for an emperor.

or me and the fam. because, well, we rule! 

 these ‘emperors little nothings’ were very hard to photograph,  being a souffle base and all. the second you scoop them out of the baking dish- poof! they deflate. 

plan accordingly, and this can be your sunday breakfast feast, fit for a uh, er, king/queen/pauper. this souffle is equal opportunity. the first step, after you have acquired or made the creme fraiche/fromage blanc, is to make the fat raisins.

if your pressed for time, and i hope your sundays are not, but if they are just throw some plain raisins in the batter. no one will knock down your door and accuse you of treason. the recipe calls for dry white wine, i used sake. its what i had. hey, there are emperors in japan too!

with the fat raisins out of the way, lets move onto the strawberry sauce.

now, its definitely not strawberry season in new york, but somewhere in the world it is. i suggest you buy your berries from that place. this is really a summer meal, but i needed me some strawberry lovin. and mine, the package said, came from florida.with the egg whites, you add the cream of tarter when the whites are almost there, and have just began to foam.  start adding the sugar and in a minute or two you have beautiful stiff peaks.this recipe says it serves 6-8, i think its more like 5. thats how many people i had for breakfast, and we could have kept going. it was that good. melt in your mouth, crunchy, buttery, sugar, berry sauce goodness- with a touch of sake. 

kaiserschmarren

soufleed creme fraiche pancakes with strawberry sauce -sherry yard

for the strawberry sauce:

•  2 pounds of strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 3/4 C plus 2 T sugar
• 1/4 C water
• 3/4 C fresh OJ (about 3 medium oranges)
• 1 star anise
• 1 T grand marnier

for the pancakes

•  butter for the pans
• 9 T sugar, plus more for dusting pans
• 4 large egg yolks, at room temp
• 1/4 cup fromage blanc
• 3/4 cup creme fraiche
• 2 T dark rum
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 T fat raisins
• 8 large egg whites
• 1/2 t cream of tartar
• 1/4 C confectioners’ sugar for dusting

make the strawberry sauce:

set aside 2 cups of strawberries and 2 T of sugar. in a heavy saucepan combine the remaining berries,water, 3/4 C of sugar, OJ, star anise, and grand marnier. bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes.

remove from the heat and cover with plastic wrap, allow to infuse for 10 minutes and remove the star anise. allow to sit for 2 hours, covered.pass the sauce through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.

make the pancakes:

place rack in middle of oven, generously butter 2 9 or 10 pie pans. i used a metal and a glass, and the glass pyrex was a far better choice! add a heaping T of sugar to each pan and tap and turn the pans to dust evenly.

in a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with 2 T of sugar until mixture is light yellow. beat in fromage blanc and scrape down sides of bowl. beat in the creme fraiche and rum and scrape down sides of bowl. beat in flour and raisins and set aside.

in another bowl, beat egg whites until they foam, then add cream of tartar. continue t beat while stirring in the remaining sugar, a tablespoon at a time. beat until they form medium-stiff peaks.

whisk half of egg whites in the creme fraiche base. gently fold in the remaining egg whites. divide the batter between the 2 pans. bake for 15 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for another 5-8 minutes, until puffed and lightly brown.

finish the sauce:

meanwhile, in a large skillet, bring strawberry sauce to boil, add reserved 2 T of sugar and reserved 2 cups of strawberries, stir and heat through, then divide among serving plates.when the pancakes are done, remove from oven and using a large spoon, divide onto plates and dust with confectioners sugar. serve immediately.

fat raisins 

these are great in scones, bread, muffins, basically anywhere you would add plain raisins to a baked item.

• 1 C golden raisins 
• 1/2 C dry white wine (in my case- sake) 
• 2 T fresh OJ
• 1 T dark rum
• 2 T sugar

combine all ingredients in a small heavy saucepan, bring just to a boil ver medium heat, stirring the whole time. lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to cool to room temp. transfer to an airtight container and store in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

these can also be made with apricots, cherries, figs, etc.  

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