meet in your kitchen | Dutch Baby for a late Breakfast with Marta Greber — Meike Peters

This smile! This woman has the most beautiful and infectious smile! I met Marta Greber from the blog What Should I Eat For Beakfast Today in her kitchen and her charm and positivity impressed me as much as the dish she pulled out of the oven, her delicious Dutch Baby!

Marta came to Berlin three years ago after traveling the continents, she lived in Australia, in Asia and in various countries in South America. She grew up in Poland and started studying law before she spent some time in Barcelona, San Francisco and Amsterdam. This lady is restless and blessed, she always comes back home with the most exciting stories, food experiences and memories. In her husband Tomasz, she found a great travel partner but also a handsome hand model for her blog. Many of the delicious morning goodies that she shares on What Should I Eat For Beakfast Today are presented (and enjoyed!) by Tomasz. Both of them have a weak spot for traditions, especially the ones in the morning. The two get up early to start every day with a little walk through their neighborhood, a good coffee from one of their favourite cafes in hand followed by Marta's amazing breakfast creations that she writes about. Her love for the culinary celebration of the new day and her passion for photography led to the beautiful blog that she started in 2011. What started as a passion became her profession, she's now a full time photographer. Her artistic work is just stunning and everybody wants to see what Marta and Tomasz have for breakfast! When I asked Marta why this time of the day is so important to her to devote a blog to it, she said that it's the only time of the day she can plan and control as you never know what the day will bring. That's not a surprise for someone who is as restless as she is!

The two of us almost chatted the afternoon away but when Marta pulled her Dutch Baby out of the oven topped with melted chocolate, fruit and nuts, I was speechless! It looked scrumptious but unfortunately both of us wanted to take pictures of her work so we had to wait, including Tomasz who came into the kitchen twice to see if we were finally done so that we could eat!

Marta's Dutch Baby with melted Chocolate, roasted Nuts and Plums

For 1 Dutch Baby in a small heavy ovenproof pan or baking dish you need

butter 90g / 3 ounces
milk 110ml / 4 ounces
plain flour 120g / 4.5 ounces
eggs 2
a pinch of salt

For the topping

milk chocolate, melted, 100g / 3.5 ounces
mix of nuts, roasted, a handful
plums, sliced, 3
fresh mint 6 leaves
coconut flakes 1-2 tablespoons

Set the oven to 220°C / 430°F.

Put the butter in an iron pan or baking dish and place in the hot oven.

Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan or in a bain marie if you prefer. Take the pan off the heat as soon as the chocolate is melted. Roast the nuts in a pan (you can add a little coconut oil if you like). In a small bowl, mix the flour, eggs, milk and salt until combined.

When the butter is melted in the hot pan, gently pour the dough into the middle of the pan and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes or until golden.

When your Dutch Baby pancake is done, carefully remove the butter on top (with a spoon or pour it out) and cover with the toppings.

Your blog is called 'What Should I Eat For Breakfast Today', why does this specific meal play such an important role in your life? How did that start?

Morning is the only time during my day that I can control. If I get up earlier (and I usually do) I can prepare a great meal for me and my partner Tomasz, sit together over a nice cup of coffee, talk or simply enjoy food, morning light and silence. Later during the day it’s more complicated as we never know if we’ll be having other meals at home or not. I can also see how a good meal influences our frame of mind and day, so why not start in the morning.

You grew up in Poland, what are your food memories?

I was and still am addicted to polish racuchy - pancakes with apples. My grandma used to make them for me whenever I asked and I asked a lot. I could eat it for every meal. I can remember my grandma making great simple flavours that I loved like kogiel-mogiel (egg yolk bitten with sugar) or homemade pasta with milk and sugar. It was simple but delicious and I still prefer basic flavours.

How did your travels influence your cooking and eating habits?

It doesn’t help with finding my new small obsessions for sure. I try a lot of food but it doesn’t mean that I like everything. My fascination with breakfasts started in Sydney actually, where I had an amazing one in Bill’s Restaurant - ricotta pancakes with banana and it couldn’t be better. In Sydney I had a chance to try international cuisine and to figure out what I like. Then I traveled in Asia for almost a year and I understood that I could eat sticky rice with mango on an everyday basis and that Thai flavours are truly loved by my taste buds. There were some victims as well as after a long time of traveling on budget and eating mostly rice and asian soups, I still have a problem with eating them now. Ups.I travel quite a lot with Tomasz, we try to go to different countries for longer, like a few months and stay there, so we can truly experience the food culture and local flavours. I am lucky that my partner Tomasz is really interested in food, he likes to taste and try things and he’s much braver than I am. If he had a food blog, you’d love it. But for now he’s my hand model (laughs).It would take much too long to describe what made me happy in different cuisines, but I’ll mention that a cinnamon toast I had in San Francisco blew my mind, sobrassada served with a young Champagne in Barcelona is something I enjoy, cheese in Holland is amazing, chipa in Paraguay can make a perfect breakfast, coffee in Sydney tastes like it should.

What does traveling mean to you? What do you miss when you stay in one place for a long time?

I never thought of what it means to me, it’s a part of my life which I don’t want to change. I made a few sacrifices in my life to have this kind of lifestyle (which don’t feel like sacrifices anymore) and this is what I truly like. It goes with my nature. For instance I always had a problem with sitting on a beach - I walk around, run, swim, go to look for something, but can’t just sit there. Whenever we go I push Tomasz to walk a lot. We go hundreds of kilometres on foot and I love it. When I stay in one place I have the feeling that I’m missing something and sometimes I stop to appreciate a city I’m in. Nowadays I really like to go back to Berlin, because traveling helps me to remember how awesome this city is.

What effect did the move to Berlin have on your cooking?

I eat healthier, I use organic products, I learned a lot about grains, good flours, spices. I have this feeling that everyone over here is fascinated with food. I attend many events related to food and it influences my choices and stimulates curiosity.

What was the first dish you cooked on your own, what is your first cooking memory?

I don’t really remember but most probably racuchy.

What are your favourite places to buy and enjoy food in Berlin?

Local farmers markets, I like to walk around with my basket and collect veggies. I truly enjoy small shops with imported goods where I buy things without knowing how I can use them. But also Frischeparadies - I can walk around and look at beautiful sea food and veggies from all over the planet for long minutes and KADEWE, as they have an awesome stuff!

You are an internationally acclaimed photographer, your work has been featured in the media around the world, when did you first pick up the camera and why?

I don’t remember why, I always liked it. I was the annoying kid taking pictures at camps and trying to stage cool frames (usually it wasn’t as cool as I attempted it to be). But it really kicked in when I moved to Sydney and finally had time to improve it. Australia is crazy awesome and beautiful. For a Polish gal everything was very exciting and I am an emotional beast so for me it was double great. I took hundreds of pictures every day, always had a camera on me, bothering friends, people, animals and nature. But also I’m lucky as my partner Tomasz agrees with my ideas and he’s always happy to be my object, however I dress him up or even when he has to move around for an hour so I get a proper shot.

What are your upcoming projects?

The biggest one will be my baby. And for now this is the only project I’m concentrating on. You should ask me in a few months when I’m a mother already and know what it means to me.

Why did you choose Berlin as a place to live and work?

By accident really. We could choose any city in Europe thanks to Tomasz’ work. I voted for Barcelona as I learned some Spanish in South America and Tomasz chose Berlin (he says his German is poor, but believe me it’s really good). Then we decided to spend a year in Berlin and another one in Barcelona. Well, it didn’t work out as Berlin is most probably the best city in Europe to be in, so we stayed.

What did you choose to share on eat in my kitchen and why?

I chose Dutch Baby with melted chocolate, roasted nuts and plums. And the reason - it’s easy, fast, delicious and can’t go wrong (laughing).

If you could choose one person to cook a meal for you, who and what would it be?

Someone from The Growlers and obviously the rest of the band would be invited as well. I’ve been to their concert and I think it would be nice to hang out.

You're going to have ten friends over for a spontaneous dinner, what will be on the table?

Mushroom risotto prepared by Tomasz!

What was your childhood's culinary favourite and what is it now?

It used to be racuchy made by my grandma, nowadays racuchy made by myself.

Do you prefer to cook on your own or together with others?

Both, no preferences really.

Which meals do you prefer, improvised or planned?

Both, as both are a totally different experience.

Which meal would you never cook again?

Pumpkin gnocchi - I tried it three times and totally failed, never again!

Thank you Marta!