Autumn Apple D-Baby
It’s early days here, sure, but you’re smart— I’m sure you’re noticing a pattern emerging.
Act I: I feel sad and lonely
Act II: A friend shows up to demonstrate the Redemptive Power of Love and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace
Act III: I feel very fortunate to have a friend
Act IV: I make my friend a snack
There will be, I’m certain, times when this is not the format, but today is not that day.
I am including this photo from the weekend as proof we look the same. This is the least alike we’ve looked since becoming friends.
I met Haley, AKA HeyGirl AKA StarFox AKA one of the brightest lights in the celestial skyscape that is my life, in the autumn of 2009 when she wandered into the wrong party with the right haircut. She was a transfer from what I called a girls’ school (they, I have since learned, strongly prefer women’s college) after a turnabout in Argentina, and I decided immediately that we should be best friends. Sydney, who also had the right haircut and also has many nicknames, agreed, and that’s how I ended up here on this nudist beach in Montenegro.
Actually, that’s another story altogether, but it was the start of something amazing. Sometimes you just connect with another person quickly, and not just because you look exactly alike. When I got the news we were moving to D.C. from Italy, I called Haley first. “Bitch, if you are kidding, I am going to murder you in your sleep.” I was not kidding. Being close to Haley was the #1 most exciting part of moving to our nation’s capital. Sometime roughly ten minutes later, she met this great dude, Josh, making them one of those amazing couples where you invite both of them to everything and if only one of them shows up you don’t actually care because they’re both so great. Congrats, you two, you’re the .1% of couples. It’s time to get married.
They are, in fact, so great that they became my COVID pod during those horrible early days. Josh and Haley basically moved in with my former partner and we did everything together. Three of us were able to work from home, so some days, Haley, Josh, and I would eat all our meals together and hang out until someone passed out from exhaustion or being overserved or both. Leaving D.C. was sad for me for many reasons but the biggest one was giving up Haley and Josh’s constant companionship.
When things suddenly got so, so bad for me in Kansas City, Haley called my mom. Called! My! Mom! She called my sister! Called! My! Sister! Without my knowledge or consent, they booked me a hotel downtown and bought her a plane ticket to the Paris of the Plains. In the middle of a pandemic, during the coldest winter Missouri has ever known, at the absolute lowest point of my entire goddamn life to date, she texted me to pick her up at the airport. She is, as the saying goes, ride or die.
Nigella probably opts for her presentation because it’s prettier, and I agree, but what is better than an in-season apple confit?
Josh’s birthday happens to be my wedding anniversary, which happened to be last weekend.* He’d never been to Kentucky before (a travesty, IDK how anyone lives to his 30s without this experience) and Haley suggested they come down for a visit in the autumn. How about for Josh’s birthday? The pair of them had apparently already agreed amongst themselves that they were going to pretend they didn’t even realize they were doing me a huge favor. Josh asked for a strawberry cake, a tour of a bourbon distillery, and time to hang out with The Buds (what he calls my dogs; one of whom cried and then peed on the ground when they heard Haley and Josh’s voices). Nigella doesn’t have a strawberry cake in her oeuvre and I had some recipes to test for an upcoming cookbook, so I had to wait 24 full hours after their arrival to make them something special to demonstrate my affection.
I opted for the dutch baby, a thing I was led to believe was fancy by a high school boyfriend, probably because it was literally the only thing he knew how to make.** It’s not! It’s so easy! I don’t know why I don’t make one every single day! Eggy and puffy and not very sweet, it can be whatever it needs to be. Nigella suggests doing it with berries and powdered sugar and I think it’d be sensational as a base for a more savory situation (maybe wilted greens, some lardons, and a runny egg?), but it’s autumn finally and I had made both apple butter and apple cider syrup*** so we went seasonal.
This was a treat for expected guests, but you probably have more than 90% of the things you need in your pantry right now, which is great for if you have unexpected guests, such as all the times Haley or I have fallen asleep at the other’s apartment over the years. It’s best eaten right away but we loved it. “Thanks for the D-Baby,” Josh said. “I…that…is not what I meant.” It’s called a D-Baby now.
*Last week was, yes, very bad.
** Hand to god, I had to teach him not how to boil pasta because he had on more than one occasion burned off all the water, leaving him with a scorched, glutinous mess. He dumped me two days before prom and is now a lawyer, I think. I have seen him only once in the intervening years, a story for another time. It was, I think, the greatest moment of my life so far.
***So what you do is, you bring apple cider to a simmer and just reduce it down down down down down very slowly for hours. I throw in a star anise, black cardamom pod, some whole cloves, and a cinnamon stick, but that’s not necessary if you like it less spicy.
Autumn Apple D-Baby
adapted from Simply Nigella
serves 2-3
Ingredients:
3 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup whole milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch or two of salt
a couple grinds of fresh nutmeg (or a pinch or two of pre-ground if you don’t have whole)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
To Serve:
apple butter
sliced apples
creme fraiche
apple cider syrup
To Do:
Preheat your oven to 425F/220C and place a cast iron skillet in there while it preheats. I think mine is about nine or ten inches, which was correct for this.
Beat the eggs until light and a little bit foamy (beater is fine, I used a stand mixer on medium, whatever). Turn down the mixer to low and add the milk, then flour, then vanilla, then some salt and nutmeg. The batter will be extremely thin and watery.
Pull the skillet out of the preheated oven and toss in the butter. Swirl it gently to coat the pan. Nigella makes a point of reminding cooks to use a decent oven mitt. I was considering not saying this, but you know, I don’t want to hear about you giving yourself burns so please use a nice thick oven mitt. Pour in the batter an put the whole thing into the oven for about 20 minutes. It will get puffy and deeply golden and the edges will sort of turn in on themselves.
Garnish as you like and serve right away, straight from the skillet.