Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: Cooking with cast iron

One-pan meals are all the rage these days, and while sheet pans are fantastic, my assortment of cast iron skillets are in constant use in my kitchen for everything from cooking blistered flatbreads to baking fruit crisps and roasting chickens.

Cast iron can go from your kitchen to your barbecue to your fire pit. It can go camping or be used as a baking dish, pie plate, and even a deep-dish pizza pan in lieu of a pizza stone.

It's perfect for shallow frying and so useful when you want that direct heat to get a nice brown crust on meat, veggies, fish and even cheese on your stovetop, and then finished in the oven.

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It's the combination of heat and fat that creates that wonderfully smooth, seasoned nonstick surface that both makes cast iron so appealing and intimidating to so many.

Cast iron is nearly indestructible, so yes, it can be washed and with soap if you need to, or even scrubbed when necessary — though soaking cooked-on food can be more effective and less damaging.

Some advise using kosher salt as a scrubbing material, which works very well, but is also an expensive way to keep your pans clean.

Because iron can rust, just make sure it's dry when you put it away. Some people dry them over heat on the stovetop, and some rub the surface with a bit of oil each time, which isn't necessary, but it will keep your cast iron looking nice.

If you buy a new cast iron pan, they most often come "pre-seasoned" these days, but you'll still need to season it a little more first.

To season cast iron, rub it with some fat — shortening, lard and flax oil work particularly well, but any will do — and stick it in your oven while you go about making dinner and baking things.

Some put their pan upside-down to prevent any fat from pooling in the bottom, and you could also use your barbecue, but I like taking advantage of the heat of the oven while it's on for other things.

While you're trying to create a nonstick surface, it helps to cook fatty things. Roasting chickens works particularly well, and you don't need to worry about it sticking.

If you find a rusted, damaged cast iron pan, it can always be revived. Scrub it with steel wool or an SOS pad to remove as much of the rust and flaking as you can, or use spray-on oven cleaner (or put it in your oven when it's on the self-cleaning function), and then start re-seasoning it with fat plus heat until it develops that wonderful dark, smooth surface.

And when it's good to go, are a few things you may not have thought to use your cast iron pan for.

Fruit Baked Under an Oatmeal Cookie Lid

I've always believed flexibility is key when it comes to fruit crisps, cobblers and the like.

You can easily make this smaller or larger depending on the size of your skillet, the quantity of fruit you happen to have and the number of people who will be eating it.

I don't usually add flour to fruit crisps made with apples, but if you're using lots of berries or juicy stone fruits you may want to stir a spoonful of flour into your sugar to thicken the juices a bit.

For the crumble topping, you could blend equal parts flour, brown sugar, oats and butter for a buttery crumb, or add a bit of syrup to help it brown and spread even more.

I use 1/2 cup of each (plus a drizzle of syrup sometimes) for 4 cups of fruit in an 8-inch skillet, but feel free to make a larger batch, or enough to stash away in the freezer to crumble over fruit whenever a craving hits.

Ingredients for fruit:

4-6 cups chopped peeled apples, rhubarb or stone fruit, and/or fresh or frozen berries
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste

Ingredients for cookie lid:

1/2 cup all-purpose, whole wheat or barley flour (or gluten-free flour)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. maple or Roger's Golden syrup or honey (optional)
a shake of cinnamon (if you like)
pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Toss the fruit (keep any frozen fruit frozen) with the sugar and spread into a cast iron skillet, pie plate or other baking dish.

In a bowl — or the bowl of a food processor — blend or pulse the flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, syrup, cinnamon and salt until well combined and crumbly.

(If you use a food processor, it may look dry. Fear not, you'll find it squeezes together well with your hands.)

Crumble the oatmeal mixture over the fruit, pressing down a bit to encourage it to spread as it bakes into a cookie lid.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling around the edge and the cookie is golden on top.

Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream, or cold for breakfast with yogurt.

Serves about 4.

Dutch baby

If you struggle to get your Yorkshire puddings to dramatically rise, you likely won't run into the same challenges with a Dutch baby.

The same principles apply: whisk the thin batter of eggs, flour and milk, pour it into a hot pan and slide into a hot oven, then try not to peek for at least 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. butter (approximately)

1 Tbsp. (approximately) canola or vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

freshly grated Grana Padano or parmesan cheese + freshly ground black pepper (for Cacio e Pepe Dutch baby—optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Put the butter and oil into an 8-inch ovenproof skillet, and heat it on the stovetop.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, flour, milk and salt.

Pour the batter into the hot pan and immediately slide it into the oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pancake is puffed and golden.

If you want a Cacio e Pepe Dutch baby, grate plenty of Grana Padano or parmesan cheese overtop and grind over with lots of pepper, then return to the oven for a few minutes to melt.

Otherwise, serve it with butter and syrup, or filled with berries and topped with whipped cream.

Serves 4.

Skillet Blueberry-Rhubarb (or any berry) Galette

Of course you can make a free-form galette on a baking sheet, or use a pie plate or cast iron skillet to contain it a bit, and reinforce the sides.

If you want to add a crumble topping, blend about equal parts (1/4 to 1/3 cup would be good for this size) flour, brown sugar, oats and butter and sprinkle overtop before baking.

Ingredients for pastry:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

1/4 cup cold water

Ingredients for filling:

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

3-4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries and chopped rhubarb extra butter bits beaten egg, for brushing (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

To make the pastry, combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl.

Add the butter and blend it in with a fork, pastry blender or your fingers, rubbing the fat into the flour until it's partially combined, with bigger pieces of fat about the size of a blueberry still remaining.

Add 1/4 cup of cold water and stir with a spatula just until the pastry comes together.

Gather into a disk and let rest on the countertop for 20 minutes, or wrap and refrigerate for up to five days.

When you're ready to bake, roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface into a 12 to 14-inch circle, and transfer to a nine or 10-inch cast iron skillet.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and cornstarch, add the rhubarb and berries and toss to coat.

Pour onto the pastry, shaking any excess sugar overtop, and spread out, then fold the edge of the pastry over the berries to contain them, pressing each fold a bit to reinforce it.

Drop small pieces of butter on top of the berries and if you like, beat an egg with a fork and brush the egg wash over the pastry.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbly, with thickened juices.

Cool slightly before serving.

Serves 8.

• Check out Julie Van Rosendaal's full interview on the Calgary Eyeopener below: