Food Nasty turned 2 on May 25th! So we
are celebrating with some birthday pancakes inspired by a breakfast that my
dearest friend Flora’s mother (my Brazilian mother) Helena had made for me. I
can only say that these are probably the best pancakes I have ever had, and
that the mix of a warm spice and fruit is a fabulous way to give a classic
recipe a kick in the rear.
So happy belated birthday Food Nasty!! Enjoy
these strawberry curry pancakes; they are a wonderful summer brunch item that
you must add to your weekend.
Ingredients: Makes 12-15
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil + extra tablespoon
for skillet
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon yellow curry powder
½ cup diced strawberries
In a medium bowl mix together wet ingredients,
only using two tablespoons of oil. In a small bowl whisk together dry
ingredients. Add the dry to wet, and mix together, making sure you don’t over mix.
Add in the diced strawberries, mix.
Heat a large skillet on medium heat, and lightly
oil with the extra tablespoon of oil. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, or a ice
cream scooper (or whatever you think will be equivalent), scoop batter, and
pour. Try to get them as round as possible, and make 2-3 depending on space.
Pancakes will be ready to flip after about 2
minutes, you will see bubbles start to form. Flip, and bake for another two
minutes.
If you are not serving immediately, you can
heat the oven to 200 degrees, and place pancakes in there on a foil covered
baking sheet to keep warm.
Drizzle with syrup and dig in!
Happy Mother’s Day! Michael and I are
lucky to have very loving and caring mothers. My mother Nancy loves crepes, and
Michael’s mother Shira loves a specific kind of crepe known as crepe Suzette.
This type of crepe is boozy, sweet, and perfect for that woman you love to call
Mom.
Crepe Suzette is a crepe that is
typically flambéed with either Grand Marnier, or in our case Triple Sec. It is
a sweet crepe served in a thick citrus sauce with a little bit of rind, some
like to serve it with vanilla ice cream, but I like it as is.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Ingredients: serves 4
Crepe Batter:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons Triple Sec
Extra butter for pan
Tangerine Butter Sauce:
3 large tangerines
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
10 tbsp. sugar
½ cup Triple Sec
What a glorious time of year this is!
Today is the second day of Hanukkah and Michael and I celebrate both Hanukkah
and Christmas so we get to be super festive the whole month. Every year
Hanukkah falls on a different date, because it follows the Jewish calendar.
Last year Hanukkah and Christmas overlapped, but this year it falls earlier on
in the month.
It is a wonderful thing that Michael can
teach me his family traditions, and I can teach him mine, and now we can share
both together…and twice the amount of awesome food!!
That being said, we are making potato
and leek latkes for the holiday with a sweet apple chutney to accompany it. An
interesting fact about why latkes are a holiday staple and are loved in the
Jewish community (besides being tasty), is that the oil used to fry the latkes
is representative of the oil used to provide light miraculously for eight days!
The glorious thing about this dish,
whether you call them latkes or potato pancakes, is that they are marvelous
year round and are so unbelievably delicious I am hungry just typing this! So
enjoy and happy holidays!
Ingredients:
Latkes: 4 medium sized ones
2 large russet potatoes
1 large leek
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup olive oil
Apple Chutney:
3 granny smith apples
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup apple juice
2 Tablespoons
unsalted butter
We start with making the apple chutney
because it is best served at room temperature, so start by peeling and dicing
the apple into same sized pieces depending on how large or small you would like
your pieces. Melt butter in a sauté pan, and then add apples. Cook until apples
soften, then add apple juice and cinnamon and cook until all the liquid is
absorbed. Remove from pan, and let sit at room temperature.
To make the latkes, peel the potatoes,
and using a cheese grater with the largest size holes grate both of them. Place
the shreds of potato into a bowl of water. Now take your leek, cut the end off
where it forms a bulb, and then cute where the white starts to turn into green.
Next cut in half length wise, take the outer two leaves off, and rinse the
stalk under flowing water. Now laying the cut side down, thinly slice the whole
leek into small strips.
Take the potato, and place in a strainer
and run cold water over until all the foamy starch washes off. Lay a towel out,
and place potato on top and ring out as much of the water as you possibly can.
Place potatoes back in a large mixing bowl, mix in leeks, salt and the egg
(lightly beaten). Be sure to mix thoroughly so all the parts are coated in egg because
this is your binder.
In a large sauté pan heat your olive oil
until it sizzles when you put a drop of water in it. Take about 3-4 Tablespoons
of your latke mix and place in a circle in the pan, using a spatula push down
to spread it out evenly. Put as many as you can in the pan, and flips them when
one side becomes golden brown. When they are done, they should be golden brown
on both sides, take them out and let them sit on a plate with a piece of paper
towel on it to absorb excess oil.
When they cool serve with the apple
chutney and any other toppings you like! Don’t just make these for the
holidays, you can make these year round!
Happy Holidays!
Michael has always loved a
great breakfast, so we make this in honor of him. This is perfect to eat
Halloween morning. You get the spices of the season, pumpkin for Halloween, and
that sweetness getting you ready for all the candy you will be consuming!
*You can use whatever kind of
chip you want, but we specifically used cinnamon chips by Hershey.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup Hershey Cinnamon chips
In a large bowl, mix together
all of your dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of your dry mix and pour
in milk a quarter cup at a time.
Next mix in the two eggs, and
then your pumpkin puree. Mix until almost completely smooth, but still a bit
lumpy. Now for the finale add in your caramel chips.
To make the pancakes you will
want to use butter or a cooking spray to grease a frying pan. Use one large
enough so you are able to make two pancakes at a time. Heat the pan on a medium
high heat and pour about a ¼ cup of mix for each pancake. You will know to flip
when little bubbles start to form, and then check the opposite side to make
sure it reaches the same golden brown color.
Pile as many as you can on
one plate and eat! You will love the warm pumpkin and melting cinnamon chips,
smothered in syrup. Yum
