Sunday 9 September 2012

Torn to Bits!

Fritella Dolce di Zucca "Strappazzata" con Composta di Fichi
Pumpkin "Kaiserschmarrn" with Fig Compote


Sunday morning and time for something sweet for breakfast! Having half of the cute Hokkaido pumpkin left over from last night, I decided to use it to make some pancakes... originally. And then I changed my mind and tore that idea to bits. Oh sorry- I mean I stuck to that idea- I just tore the pancake to bits!

"Kaiserschmarrn" is a traditional and well loved dessert here in Germany. Basically, it is a very fluffy pancake, that gets torn up into bit-sized chunks in the pan, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and tossed over and over until each piece gets coated and it is just simply delicious!


So this was my version of that basic idea. To make it, I separated 2 eggs, beat the 2 whites together and set them to one side and beat the yolks and added: 1 handful of grated pumpkin, 4 tablespoons of ground semolina (or flour), 2 tablespoons of baking powder, 4 tablespoons of plain yogurt and a little grated orange zest. I whisked these together and added enough milk as was necessary to get it to a nice consistency for pouring. I sweetened mine with Stevia, but of course you can use sugar, a tiny pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. I whisked these all together and then carefully folded the batter into the egg whites, until everything was nice and smooth.

I poured the mixture, in one go, into a hot not-stick frying pan. I didn't add any extra fat or butter- that again is a matter of choice- but you know me well enough by now to know that if I CAN choose- I will always choose less or no fat :-) Once the bottom of the pancake started to set, I began to pluck it apart using 2 wooden spoons and to flip the pieces over. Do this again and again until all of the pieces are cooked from all sides, but let the pieces be nice and large as they are nicer to bite into that way and will not dry out so quickly. And that basically is all there is to it!

Being as I wanted to avoid all of the butter and sugar involved in a traditional kaiserschmarrn, I came up with the idea of making a simple compote of fresh fig... which is also probably a bit too grand of a name for it! Basically, I just took 2 figs and cut them into a relatively fine dice. I warmed them up in a hot pan with a little splash of orange juice and a little more of the grated zest, then added a half teaspoon of cinnamon and stir-fried them for 2-3 minutes. I added one half of a diced fig towards the end so as to give back a little of the nice red coloring, being as the cooked figs become brown- but that was purely for visual reasons.... and then I spooned this yummy stuff on top of my kaiserschmarrn and had me a breakfast fit for a king! Or even a kaiser! Guten Apetit!

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