Act 3 – Shakespeare In A Globe

When creating a recipe to commemorate my Pop-up Globe adventure there were two things I wanted to reference – Pop-up and Globe. For the globe I immediately thought of globe artichokes. As marinated artichokes are one of my favourites things, I had plenty of ideas. For the pop-up bit I thought of popcorn, popcorn chicken, jalapeño poppers, pop tarts, cake pops and popsicles. While flicking through a few American cookbooks one recipe popped out at me – popovers!

Popovers are an American version of Yorkshire puddings. They are baked in special popover tins or muffin tins and are called popovers as the batter rises and “pops over” the tins. Popovers are the perfect expression for my Shakespearean adventures. Their name fits with pop-up, they are linked to Shakespeare and England and they are American. Smother them in globe artichoke butter and you have popover globes!

Popover Globes

Ingredients
vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions
Preheat oven to 230C / 450F.
Brush the cups of a 12-hole muffin pan with with vegetable oil.
Place in the oven while you make the batter.
Beat together the eggs and milk with a wire whisk until combined.
Add the flour and salt and whisk until combined. Do not overbeat.
Transfer the batter to a pouring jug.
Using oven gloves, remove the tray from the oven.
Pour the batter evenly between 6 – 8 muffin cups about 3/4 full.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Reduce heat to 180C / 350F.
Bake for a further 10 – 15 minutes or until the sides of the popovers are firm.
Best eaten immediately.
Serve with artichoke butter.

Marinated Artichoke Butter

Ingredients
60g (1/4 cup) cream cheese, room temperature
30g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
15g (1 tablespoon) freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 marinated whole artichoke hearts, drained and finely chopped (approximately 40g)
sea salt to taste

Instructions
Beat together the cream cheese and butter.
Stir in the cheese, lemon juice and artichokes until combined.
Add sea salt to taste.