Garlic Parmesan Popovers

This has not turned out to be the weekend I thought it would be. My beloved kitten, Huxley, had jumped off the bed and hit his back paw wrong and then refused to walk. He's had little sprains like this before but as he's getting up there (9! Yikes) I figured we should rule out anything bad. So that night it was off to the vet.

$528 later they had ruled out any diabetes, kidney, liver, worms, ticks/fleas, upper respiratory, hydration problems and most importantly, paw issues (not even a sprain, better than I expected). Which was a relief. And the vet was amazing. I was also in and out in less than an hour, which helped stress levels for both myself and the Hux. My goodness though... I was not expecting that kind of bill. But this is what savings is for, right? And so, for the next 2 months I'm pretty much broke. Which pretty much put my weekend plans on immediate hold.

So I decided to hunker down and watch some Olympics. And use my sadly unused popover pan to make some garlic parmesan popovers that I thought would go great with my new favorite budget meal, Italian chicken sausage and peppers. I figured it would make a pretty typical meal a little special, something nice for a Sunday night.

Garlic Parmesan Popovers
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1 Tbl. butter
1/2 Tbl. salt
3 eggs
1/4 c. grated Parmesan
2 Tbl. minced garlic
Pinch of freshly ground pepper
1 popover pan

1. Preheat oven to 400. In a sauce pan heat the milk on low, add the butter in to melt it. Combine eggs in a bowl and whip until frothy- about 2 minutes. Add the salt to the eggs. Place the popover pan in the oven to heat.

2. Put a little of the milk/butter mixture in the eggs and whip, to temper them so they don't scramble. Add the rest of the mixture into the bowl as well as the minced garlic and half the parmesan. Working in 3's, add a 1/2 cup of the flour to the batter and mix until just combined. Then do another 1/2 and another. It should look like pancake batter and any lumps will bake out. Spray the popover pan with a nonstick spray and fill almost to the top with the batter.

3. Top each popover with the rest of the Parmesan. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Turn 180 degrees and bake for 30 more minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN after you've turned them. Once done, remove and serve immediately, maybe shave a little more Parmesan over the top.

A few tips that have helped me get big, fluffy popovers.

• Use a popover pan. I've never tried it with a muffin tin, though people say you can, but I've also never had a problem getting height with my popovers. You've got to have 1 baking friend or someone who put this on their registry on a whim. And if I know you, you can borrow mine
• Really whisk those eggs until frothy
• Warm the pan before you put the batter in
• Warm the batter (via the warm milk and butter)
• DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN after you've turned them