Brunch at Bobby's (2010–…): Season 7, Episode 12 - It's the Brunch After Christmas - full transcript

All right, guys. It's
the day after Christmas.

The refrigerator is
packed with leftovers.

It was a late night.

We had a lot to drink,
but I still got to

feed people
brunch the next day.

It's amazing, you do
this big holiday dinner,

and then all of a sudden
the next meal comes
very, very quickly.

So, today I'm gonna make some
Gingerbread Dutch Baby Pancakes

with some poached pears,

and then a Sweet Potato Pancake
with some ham
and poached eggs...

and we're gonna continue
the cocktailing



with a Grapefruit Spritzer.

So a Dutch baby pancake,
I know it sounds like

a weird name,
but basically,
it's like a popover.

So we're gonna make a
batter, we're gonna put
it in a cast iron pan.

We're gonna put it in the
oven and it's gonna balloon,

and it will sort of
deflate as we take it out.

It's gonna be nice and light--
a little custardy, of course,

and because we're in
the holiday mode here,

we're gonna flavor it
with gingerbread flavor.

I love gingerbread cookies.

We're gonna start off
by poaching our pears.

I'm gonna create,
sort of,
a poaching liquid

that we're gonna, actually,
turn into a sauce
or a syrup at the end.

So, let's start
with some water,



and we're gonna
flavor the water

with about a cup of sugar,
and then uh...

a handful of cinnamon sticks
which we'll then take out,

'cause these aren't,
actually, edible,

but, you know, will flavor it
with the cinnamon.

And then, I'm gonna
take one vanilla bean,

and the way you actually
use vanilla beans

is you just take
a very sharp --

the tip of a small knife
and just go straight down

the vanilla bean
and open it up

'cause all the beans are
actually right in there.

And then I take the--
not the sharp end
of the knife,

but the dull end of
the knife, the top of it.

And just kind of
force the beans out.

And then, just drop them
right into the water,

and then take the bean and
put that in there as well,

cause there's definitely
some flavor left
in the beans

even though you've
taken the seeds out.

And then, when it, actually,
starts to simmer

the beans will start
to distribute on their own.

Okay.

And then, I'm also gonna
take an orange peel,

just a piece of the orange peel,
and drop it in there as well.

Okay.

And then, um...

I'm gonna peel our pears first.

You know, the skin on the
pears can be a little tough.

So, I think it's a
good idea to peel them.

And then I'm gonna core
them as well,

cut them in half,
and let them poach.

You know,
one of my earlier memories

is about a day or two
before Christmas,

finding a fire truck
that I could actually ride in

in my mother's
closet, and um...

My mom and dad
were in the living room,

just kinda like
watching the news or something
and I just--I came out like

driving the firetruck, like,
out of, you know,

two days before Christmas
and they were like,

appalled that I was, actually,
able to find it.

All right, so we're
gonna cut this in half.

I'm gonna take a melon baller
and just take out the core.

Drop that in.

The thing I like about
pears is you know, they can
really take on a lot of flavor.

Eating a raw pear is fine,

but I always find
that sometimes
they're a little bit bland.

And it's nice to cook them and
bring some flavor to them

just like we're doing today.

So we're gonna
let my pears simmer

for about 20 minutes
until they're soft.

Now I'm gonna make a little
bit of a sauce

to garnish
the Dutch baby pancakes.

So I'm gonna start with
some crème fraîche,
which is a soured cream.

It's a little bit tart.

It's very, very silky.

Then some vanilla extract...

...and then a vanilla bean.

In this case, we're not going
to actually put the bean
in there, but just the seeds.

And then a little
bit of orange zest.

We're just gonna stir this up.

The vanilla, the
orange and the vanilla.

Ha, there's two kinds of
vanilla--the vanilla extract
and the vanilla bean.

Mm.

Nice.

And, you know with the
sweetness of the pears

and also the pancakes,
it's nice to have
a little bit of tart,

sort of, citrus flavor
working against it.

All right, now we're
going to make the batter.

So, basically,
what we want to do

is we want to make these
really nice and light

and the first thing
we're going to do is,

actually, whip some
air into these eggs.

So we're going to let them
go for a little while.

Okay, so then we're going to
add some flour,

1/3 cup...

just a splash of molasses...

a tablespoon of brown sugar...

1 1/2 teaspoons of some
pumpkin spice, cinnamon,
nutmeg, allspice--

that gingerbread
flavor, 1 1/2 teaspoons,

and then a 1/3 cup of milk.

Pinch of salt.

All right, then we're
just gonna blend this
just 'til we combine it.

So then, I'm going to
take a hot cast iron pan,

and it's very important
that it's hot,

because as soon as the
batter hits the pan

we want it to get
a little crusty

on the bottom
and it creates the rise.

We set our oven
to 400 degrees preheated,

we're going to let it
cook for about 15 to 20 minutes
until we think it's done.

Make sure you butter the
walls of the pan as well,

and the batter goes right in.

You can see it's
starting to cook.

This is actually the way
I cook cornbread as well.

Get that nice crust
on the bottom.

Okay, 400 degrees.

15 to 20 minutes.

All right, so we have
the Dutch baby pancake

in the oven 15 to 20 minutes,
and while that's baking,

we're gonna let the pears
keep cooking.

They're still a little
bit firm, so I'm going to let
these cook a little bit longer.

When they get a little soft,
we'll take them out

and we'll let
this beautiful liquid that
it's been cooking in reduce

and create a syrup, and give
us a delicious sauce.

All right. It's starting
to smell like gingerbread in
here, so definitely come back.

All right, we're back
here--the day after Christmas.

You know last night, big
meal--doesn't matter.

Today's a new day and
we have to have a big brunch
for the day after Christmas.

Oh yeah, check this out.

Gingerbread Dutch Baby Pancakes.

Mm. Smalls so good--
I love that gingerbread.

You see how nice
and light that is?

And it's nice and custardy
on the inside.

Okay, so I'm going to take
the pears out of
the poaching liquid

because they're nice
and soft now and I'm going to
let the syrup,

the flavored syrup,
continue to cook

and reduce down and get
that syrupy consistency.

But I'm gonna take all the,
sort of, inedible ingredients

that are sort of flavoring this,

um, this beautiful syrup
out first.

So it's the cinnamon sticks,
the beans from the vanilla

and of course,
the orange peel.

And I'm going to put this
back on the heat,

and I'm going to add
just a little bit
of maple syrup to it.

And I'm going to take
my pears and just slice them
up just a little bit.

I think just, like,
in wedges.

And these are going to
go on top of the Dutch baby.

Great flavor.

That's what I was saying.

The pears are really
a great canvas
for lots of flavors.

All right, so let those cook
for another minute or so,

so they'll get the nice
syrupy maple glaze on them.

Now, I'm gonna take my Dutch
baby pancake--

it should be cool enough now
and it should come right out.

Beautiful look at that.

I'm going to slather this
with a little bit
of that crème fraîche

we made earlier--
crème fraîche,
vanilla and orange.

And then some of our pears...

a little bit of that syrup...

a little confectioner's sugar.

I mean, look how
beautiful that is.

That's a pancake.

Okay, so to me,
this is almost
like an individual size,

especially the morning
after Christmas--

you want a big hearty brunch.

But you could also cut a
piece out, as well, and just
put a slice on the plate.

Let's give it a try.

You know, at one of my
restaurants, Gato,

we do something called
The Feast of
the Seven Fishes which is,

actually an Italian
Christmas holiday

the night before
Christmas, and it has typically

seven different
kinds of fish or shellfish,

and one of the things
I do is a big giant paella

with all this fish
and shellfish in it,

and it's a great way to,
kind of, share Christmas.

Same thing with this
Dutch Baby Pancake,

you can make them
individually, or you can make

a big one
to share with everybody.

I love the spices
from the gingerbread.

Those autumnal spices
with a little bit
of molasses

really makes it
a gingerbread-flavored pancake

and a little maple syrup,
cinnamon, vanilla,

orange, lots of good winter

holiday-like flavors.

The thing I like
about the Dutch baby pancake

is it's kinda crispy
around the edges and nice
and silky on the inside.

All right, so I'm going
to put this aside

and let's make a cocktail.

So, I have some
grapefruit juice here.

I'm a huge grapefruit lover.

It's really one of
my favorite fruits.

Once I start eating grapefruit--

I can just cut open
a handful of grapefruits

and just kinda take
the sections out
and eat them constantly.

I just love it.

Because it's not too
sweet, obviously it's got
a little tartness to it.

And the ruby red ones are

obviously, are just
so beautiful,

and also taste amazing.

We're going to take some
grapefruit juice
and put it in this pitcher.

This is mostly a grapefruit
juice drink,

but we're going to add
some Campari.

Campari has sort of
a bitter flavor,

even though it looks
like it's going to be sweet

'cause it's this beautiful
red color,

and then some
Elderflower liqueur

which is,
sort of, perfumy.

So I'm just gonna put
a little bit in there.

Then mix this up.

One of my favorite sorbets
that you get in Italy

is grapefruit and Campari,
a wonderful combination.

And just of a splash
of simple syrup,

which is equal parts
sugar and water.

So I'm going to put a couple
of ice cubes in here,

and I'm actually going to grab

a little sparkling wine.

Champagne, Cava, or you know,

an American sparkling is fine,

or even a Prosecco from
Italy would work, of course.

Let's pop the cord as they say.

And a good rule of thumb
is to keep your thumb
on top of it

even though it's sort of
caged in here,

'cause it could easily
just come off.

All right.

Then we just want to slowly...

...we want to hear that sound.

Okay, so I'm gonna pour
some of the grapefruit,

Campari, and elderflower
mixture in there.

And then finish it off
with some sparkling wine.

And that's a
Grapefruit Spritzer.

Some people who don't like ice
cubes with their sparkling wine.

That's a personal preference.

I'm good with it.

I like my cocktails cold,
look how beautiful that is.

Mm...just the hint
of the simple syrup

just brings out the
flavor of the grapefruit.

You don't want it to be sweet.

You just want it to
enhance the natural flavor
of the grapefruit itself.

And that Campari--
you know how you have
things that are sweet,

and tart, and robust,
and then the um,

the Campari just kind of
balances it out.

That's a good day
after Christmas brunch
cocktail right there.

So I'm just going to
continue enjoying my, uh,

day after holiday cocktail.

When we come back
it's going to be all about
Sweet Potato Pancake,

but a savory one.

Maybe there'll be an egg.
Maybe there'll be some ham.

All right, so uh,
day after Christmas.

We're making this big
holiday brunch, so the
day after holiday brunch.

Now, I'm going to move on to
some Sweet Potato Pancakes.

I love this.

In the Jewish culture, there's
something called latkes.

My business partner, Laurence,

um, it's like one of the things

he makes every year are these
potato pancakes called latkes,

but those are with
white potatoes.

Today we're gonna use
sweet potatoes

because I have
some sweet potatoes
left over, so why not?

And I'm gonna put
a poached egg on them

and I'm gonna, actually,
slice some of the ham

that I had the night before,
so it's gonna

be a good way to, sort of,
utilize some things

from last night's
Christmas dinner,

but also stay
in the holiday spirit.

So, I'm gonna take
this sweet potato.

This sweet potato has been
grated and I've soaked it

in salted water for about
15 to 20 minutes,

and now I'm gonna drain it
out in the colander.

There's gonna be a
lot of water in here.

Okay.

So--and then I'm gonna take
some cheesecloth, as well,

which is sort of the old
school way to strain things.

It's great for, like, um

straining yogurt if you
wanna thicken your yogurt,

um, or ricotta cheese,
you know, things like that

where it's a very slow strain.

So I'm gonna take some of
our sweet potatoes

and actually
drain them even more.

Watch how much water
comes out of there.

I'm gonna dry out these sweet
potatoes as much as possible.

All right. I'm gonna
crack two eggs.

All right. So let's
see, some egg in there,

a little bit of flour,

and if you want the
exact recipe just go to

and you'll get all
the perfect measurements.

I'm just kinda eyeballing
this, right now.

Gonna grate a little
bit of onion in there.

And then some green
onions, as well.

Salt and pepper.

All right. Let's see
what this looks like.

A touch more flour.

All right--
these look good.

Now, we're going to use
a cast iron pan,

or you can use
a nonstick pan, as well.

And then some butter...

The great thing about these,
these are actually really,

you know, great vehicles
to put different kinds
of toppings on.

You know, like, the classic
potato pancake with a
little bit of apple sauce.

You can put preserves
or jelly on top.

Um, even like barbecue duck
on top of potato pancakes.

I think that works
really nicely.

I'm going to actually put
a poached egg on top of these

as opposed to putting it
on some toast,

and then we're gonna slice
some of that baked ham

that we had the night before.

A little canola oil.

So the butter is gonna give it
that, sort of, nice nutty flavor

as the butter
browns in the pan,
and the canola oil

has a higher burning point
than say butter.

All right, take a little
batch and then press it down

in the pan to form the pancake
so it's nice and level.

You don't want to
crowd the pan.

I think you can do, like, maybe
three of these at a time.

One of my favorite gifts that
I get every year for Christmas.

Marc Vetri who is, like,
one of the best Italian
chefs in the country--

every year he gives his friends
Panettone which is sweet bread,

and it's amazing.

So I kinda look forward to it
every year and when

it's like a week
before Christmas

and I don't get my Panettone
from Marc Vetri,

I send him a text
and say "Hey, Happy Holidays
by the way",

and he says "Don't worry,
it's in the mail."

So you don't want to make
the latkes too thick

because you want them
to get crispy

but you also want the potatoes
to cook through,

and then...

basically you only
want to turn them one time.

So, we're gonna wait
until they get, sort of,

crusty around the edges
before we start thinking
about given them a turn.

But you can see, you know,
the starchiness of the potatoes,

and of course the flour
and the egg

are actually
keeping them together.

Look at that--that's perfect!
Nice and crispy.

Mm.

All right, so we're gonna
put this in the oven and
make a couple of more.

And they don't have to be
perfectly round,

because this way, people know
that they're homemade.

That's what I like to
say "That rustic look."

They look great.

We're gonna finish
cooking these
on both sides,

then I'm going to put them
in the oven--

a very low oven
just to make sure they are
cooked all the way through.

It keeps them warm as I start
to gather my other ingredients.

I'm gonna start poaching some
eggs, and oh yeah,

I'm gonna get my baked ham
from last night and
start slicing that up.

And I'm going to take a look
through my stocking.

The one with my name on it,
and see if there's
anything in there

I might wanna use,
cause you never know.

All right between making
Christmas dinner

and day after Christmas brunch,

I forgot to open up my stocking,
so let's do that now.

I know this is mine.

Oh, hot pepper jelly!

Mm...you can smell the chilies
as soon as you open it up.

Mm.

Let's see what else is in here.

Is it like, spices,
or diamonds or what?

Just a pin.

I have to put that on.

Nacho will be very happy
I'm flying his colors.

I'm excited about
the hot pepper jelly.

I could actually use that
in the sweet potato pancakes

because I have some
ham in here.

Hot pepper jelly ham and eggs
on the sweet potato pancakes

sounds pretty good, right?

You could also use some
bacon or some smoked salmon.

I was going to put some,
like, grainy mustard
on the sweet potato pancakes

which you could do, as well,
but now that I have the jelly
I'm gonna use that instead.

All right, I'm going
to poach an egg or two.

A lot of people ask me the key
to poaching eggs properly.

Um, basically, it's one
ingredient--vinegar,

and that's gonna, actually,
help the egg coagulate

so that it will actually
come together as opposed to,

like, the white
and the yellow separating
while that actually cooks.

So, some thin slices of ham,

and I really want to slice this
very thinly

because we want to taste
the sweet potato pancake,

we don't want the ham
to overwhelm it.

All right,
that should do it.

Now, if somebody gonna show you
how to properly poach an egg,

they'll show you how to kinda
make a whirlpool around the eggs

so that it actually
holds its shape,

but you don't necessarily
have to do that
and stand over the water.

As long as you have vinegar in
there, the egg will come
together and be poached nicely.

It's a little soft.

I mean, you still want
the yolk to be nice and runny,

but you just want
the egg whites to cook
a tiny bit more,

maybe like another 20 seconds
or so, and we'll be good.

Let me grab my sweet
potato pancakes.

Let's drop them right there,

and then what I like to do
with my poached eggs,

is I want to get the water out,
so I just put it

on a paper towel
and let them drain

just for a second
and we can start plating.

Gonna start by taking my
sweet potato pancakes,
put them on a plate.

Gonna take some of the ham,

and then some of my jelly.

My newly found hot pepper jelly.

Just spread a little bit
on top of the ham,

and then our poached egg.

Put a little fresh
cracked pepper,

a little salt
and if you want to,

you can actually make some
sweet potato sandwiches
out of it.

I think that kinda
looks pretty good.

You really taste the sweet
potato pancake this way.

All right, let's
give it a taste.

Mm...you know what?

The hot pepper jelly
has sweetness in it, as well,

and it actually brings out
the natural sweetness
of the sweet potatoes.

I think it really enhances
the flavor of the ham,

so that was a really good find
in my stocking

that I actually forget to open
yesterday during Christmas.

This is a good brunch.

Christmas might only be
one day,

but when it comes to cooking
and eating it goes on for days.

Happy holidays, everybody.