the REAL pancake tuesday

is today! 

If you've been following our Pancake Tuesdays, you might already have heard, but here is a link to a Wiki page that gives some history on the annual Pancake Tuesday (also called Shrove Tuesday).  Our tradition is a non-religious weekly event often - and at its most fun - with guests.  (Due to a travel-packed year, our regular schedule has sadly fallen, which we hope to resume this Spring, but even if it's just the two of us, if it's Tuesday, we instantly think pancakes and they go on the menu!)  Click the highlighted text 'Pancake Tuesdays' in the first sentence to see other posts of our Pancake Tuesdays which is essentially a fun, no-pressure cooking club.

We were inspired by Karl Pilkington (of the Ricky Gervais show) to start our Pancake Tuesday tradition. Read "why pancakes on Tuesdays" for a brief explanation on how that happened.  If you also connect with Karl Pilkington's 'wisdom' or just want some more of it, I recommend that you visit Pilkipedia.  Below is a video clip of Karl arguing with Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant about cleaning drains.

Get the griddle hot and have a Happy Pancake Tuesday!

oatmeal, semolina & frybread

Pancakes: keep 'em comin'

We've been traveling so much since last June, I haven't kept up with updates very well, but I'm not giving up.  Because of the crazy schedule, the regularity of Pancake Tuesdays came to a halt.  In early winter (or was it fall?) we had a 'reunion'. We went for the old standby of 'breakfast for dinner' and it was super faboo!    Here are some pictures, plus links to recipes from some previous Pancake nights.  

Breakfast for dinner. I highly recommend the Oatmeal Pancakes from Epicurious.  These were my favorite version of a traditional pancake so far.

Morrocan night we made Semolina Pancakes. The recipe makes 12 pancakes but we quadrupled it and had tons. Food & Wine magazine, May 2010.

American Indian. When we stopped at Mt. Rushmore this summer, we picked up some Frybread mix from Woodenknife.  It's the first mix we've used for a Pancake Tuesday.  Guess what? It was great!  I would use it again.

We have enough regulars that now we have to add another table.  I look forward to the day we spill over into the living room!  As always, the gang is fantastically creative with the sides and toppings for whatever the flavor of the night we've chosen.

Hopefully we'll squeeze in another Pancake Tuesday before the next trip!

days of greatness

Days of greatness is an expression my friend Dyna taught me.  The idea is like a birthday party extension. You get as many days of greatness as the years of your age.  Your days of greatness happen in the time around your birthday.  And you can even start them before the actual birthday if you like, but you only get that many days.  During that time, your friends and family are supposed to treat you with extra special kindness, affection and generosity.  Like a queen.

My 'days of greatness' have been especially rich and full this year. I'm just mentioning a few highlights here.

Emily took a picture of me wearing my new bike helmut hat.  B had to order it from England cause there isn't a retailer in the U.S. yet.  I can order more hat covers to change out for different fashion choices. It's absolutely great.

And then he made Hand Pies.

Just like it sounds, these are little pies that you can hold in your hand.  

It started with a recipe that I saw for Pie Lollipops.  He went for a larger size than the lollipops for a better pastry crust-to-filling ratio and abandoned the stick. An excellent decision. 

He made several kinds of filling: fruit compote, Nutella, apple, strawberry and combinations.

They were fun to make.

I helped with the details.

And they were so ridiculously cute as objects.

He was right-on with the proportions so every bite was a sweet and flakey balance.  They were a big hit at the party, of course, and saved us the stack of plates and forks to clean.  Plus, the informality encouraged everyone to help themselves. Because of the modest size you needn't feel guilty to go back for seconds or thirds, either. 

Since he made plenty, I enjoyed them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert for a few days.  That is definitely my idea of living like a queen.

The days of greatness are over now but I'm still feeling pretty damn lucky.

Savory Flatbread

Emily spearheaded our Pancake Tuesday with coriander and cilantro flatbreads.  She had a magazine clipping from Bon Appetit for inspiration.  They were fantastic. 

The main tricks seem to be keeping the dough rounds from sticking to each other during preparation and then not using too much oil and keeping your heat at medium when frying them, so pay extra attention to those instructions in the recipe.

It was a truly colorful and aromatic night with a pear, prosciutto, gorgonzola appetizer, sides of yogurt raita, chutney, shredded cheeses, and long grain white rice.

The house still smelled like Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry the next morning.  And of course, all the plates were wiped clean with the flatbreads.

Full English

Heather's suggestion to do a 'Full English' themed Pancake Tuesday was a blinding hit.

According to my research, a Full English Breakfast traditionally includes bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, fried eggs and fried bread. It can also have black pudding and blood sausage, but we skipped those (horses for courses) and just made the rest. Our clever mates also added some other English-inspired creations to the menu: bubble and squeak, lemon curd, clotted cream and berries. Plus, that cheeky Heather's send-up of English accents took the piss out of everyone. 

We did make fried bread using locally made Le Petit Outre Birdman bread and lemon pound cake from GFS, but where were the pancakes? 

Well, Bruce and I had been wanting to make crumpets since I had been inspired by a new Twitter friend boasting their buttery goodness. After being knackered with other recipes, we tried one (recommended by said friend) and successfully substituted totally brill crumpets for pancakes. They might not look like much in the photo (I can't tell, since I fell arse over elbow for them), but I am certain that all of us would recommend these fresh home-made crumpets. Quite.  

The Master Griddler 

Warm-the-soul perfect crumpets.

Scrummy bacon arrives.

If you have recipe suggestions for our Pancake Tuesdays, just give us a bell!

Asian Inspired Crepes

We had an Asian inspired Pancake Tuesday.  The idea started when Julie gave us some smoked huckleberry salsa.  (Julie is super generous and frequently drops off Thank You gifts.  Not because we are frequently spectacular to deserve it, but because she is kind and appreciative.  Maybe it's also because of her Southern upbringing.  Anyway, it's suuuuper great.) So, in her note, she suggested using the salsa with pork crepes. Well, salsa lasts about 30 seconds in this house, but her pork crepe idea lingered.  When we returned from vacation, I wasn't organized on a theme plan for the next Pancake Tuesday. I sent the Pancake Crew email entitled 'Asian-Inspired'. I didn't list any dish requests and my only marching orders were 'Get creative.' 

We did. We had lots and lots of relishes.  Spicy peanuts, wasabi peas, spicy edamame dip (from the GFS deli), thai pepper sauces, rock salt plums, plum sauce, sliced chili, jicama, daikon and radishes.  Bruce and I made pork.  Basically: saute some pork, let it cool, slice it, mix it with two-three parts Hoisin sauce and one-part honey.  And go to town on it.  

By now, Bruce is a master crepe-maker.  These crepes were perfectly light yet strong.  I'll get him to post a link to the recipe for them on here. In fact, maybe we can get Dean and Emily to contribute theirs as well.

Dean's banana topping was a big hit and offered a healthy sweet to the menu.  Like myself, I doubt Emily weds herself to any recipe but even so she really goes to town mixing ingredients.  Her inventions are very creative, complex and always tasty. This time it was a chicken combination.  She also mixed some vegetables  into a salad-like relish that came in very handy to cool the mouth or clear the palate for the next flavor combination. (Em, what was in there?) I know that I'm forgetting all of the dishes, but the point is that we had lots of variety to combine flavors, test our individual limits with chili spices, and everything was delicious. And you can't go wrong with mix at the table meals. It's fun and everyone makes what they want.

Long-grain brown rice accompanied everything, of course. We washed it all down with either sake or tequila & lime cocktails.  Okay, so tequila isn't asian but hey, we were in the mood for tequila and my email said to get creative, eh?  Unfortunately, Julie missed the Asian-inspired crepe night which could also be titled Julie-inspired, so we'll have to do these again!  Gladly.

Oh, and as a P.S.
After dinner, Emily pitched in again, combining the leftovers into an excellent filling for lunch wraps that we enjoyed the next day.  Yeah, this Pancake Tuesday totally rocked all the way around.

Baked Pancake Island Mystery

Ordered and (half) eaten at The Five Palms, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii.  The "Plantation Apple-Banana Baked Pancake" appears just like it sounds: a cake baked in a skillet (filled with the apple-banana fruit), popped onto a plate and served with poha berry butter (which is like apple butter but made with poha berries) and Tahitian vanilla bean maple syrup. It's a huge breakfast for one person.  Even two.  But irresistable.


Apparently Apple-Banana is a kind of banana called Musa Manzano. Poha Berries (Physalis peruviana) are a Cape Gooseberry native to Brazil, naturalized in Peru and Chile, and cultivated in Hawaii.  All of the photos of Poha Berries that I found were of a yellow fruit but what we had were definitely purple.  Even jars of Poha Berry Jam are yellow/orange.  And I looked up baked pancake recipes but they all look eggy or like a thin fallen souffle.  None like this one.  


If you find clues or answers to either, let me know!

Why Pancakes on Tuesdays

#pancakeday is a popular topic on Twitter right now.

In the Christian Anglican calendar, today is Shrove Tuesday also known as Pancake Day. It is customary to eat pancakes on the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs (such as eggs, milk, and sugar) before the 40 day fast. (Feb. 16)

So that's the world news version apparently, but ours began with Bruce listening to Ricky Gervais podcasts and was inspired by Karl Pilkington talking about Pancake Tuesday.  You'll have to ask him to get the fun details and hear how great Karl is since he's a big fan.

As for Pancake Tuesday updates, we are taking a hiatus to spend time at the Big Sky Doc Film Fest and to travel a bit.  Ciao!

Pancake Tuesdays

Pancake Tuesdays continue even if my posts are sporadic.  The last two were very successful recipes, creative toppings and fun friends!  I took photos on Potato Pancake night and sometimes used the flash and sometimes didn't.  And my trigger finger was fast and slow, always catching someone in the frame when they weren't ready.  Ai ai ai!

Anyway I had avoided the potato pancake idea even though I have eaten yummy ones at restaurants, I still had it in my head that they would just be hash browns.  Now after making them, the key difference, I think, is draining the grated potatoes.  A simple, easy step with high return to get lighter texture and more flavor. We made recipes for traditional and spicy potato pancakes that I found on Epicurious.  Oh, and since we had a friend who is allergic to gluten, we substituted flour for cornmeal (polenta, actually) and they were fab!  

We had toppings of fresh cilantro, onions and a curried yogurt that I highly recommend.  Basically take a couple cups of yogurt and mix in a teaspoon or so of curry and the juice of half of a lime.  It was so yummy, I made it again the next week when we had Johnnycakes and used a recipe from my friend Nici at Dig This Chick! I'll definitely make more of both!

Heavenly Hotties

On this Pancake Tuesday we opted for traditional with breakfast sausages, Maple syrup, fruit compote and more. The growler from the Kettlehouse (the Dobblebock, I think) was very popular!

We had two kinds of cakes.  One was a holiday gift gingerbread mix

Betsy generously shared with us that was so nicely spiced that they stood on their own beautifully without any toppings.  Hey Bets, do you remember the brand on those if we wanted to get some more?

  

The other recipe '1987: Heavenly Hots' we read this month in The New York Times.  "As sturdy as wet tissue paper", Amanda Hesser is right!  Even as you make small ones as the recipe directs, they are super delicate to maneuver but so worth it.  Ahh. Creamy delicioso. Check out the recipe and pay attention to their flipping tips.  You'll need them.

Luckily Emily took lots of pictures and mixed up clever topping blends. Bruce, once again, performed magnificently as The Hotcakes Wrangler.

Like a Pancake

For Pancake Tuesday one week we made Ethiopian dishes to go with Injera which we all agreed is like a spongy pancake and therefore still in our party theme.  We had so much fun, I spaced taking any photos!

The first time we made Injera was for a festive Ethiopian dinner to help friends celebrate and share the anticipation of their adoption of a little boy from Ethiopia.  Already fans of the cuisine, we discovered that cooking our own was fun, not as hard as we imagined, and worth any extra effort.  And the little boy, a barrel of fun, has been worth all the hoopla, and then some.

My friend Tyler gave me the photocopy of this recipe he got from a friend now living in Amsterdam. So I'm not sure how many degrees of separation it travels from the motherland, but it's better than any of the others any of us have tried and I haven't seen one quite like it online yet.  I'm typing it out here, exactly as it is on the photocopy sheet.  My only adjustments are formatting with bullets to make it easier to read.  Read it all before you start making it, these bad boys take three days to get ready.

P.S. Hopefully the others will share posts of their chutney and lentil recipes here as well!

Injera                                                                        

In a large bowl, mix:                                                    

• 
  
  
  

  Let set in a large bowl covered, an hour or longer, until batter rises and becomes stretchy.  It can sit as long as 3-6 hours.  When ready stir batter if liquid is settled on bottom.  Whip in blender, 2 cups of batter at a time, thinning it with 1/2 - 2/3 C water.  Batter will be quite thin.                                                                       

• 
  
  
  

  Cook in a non-stick frypan WITHOUT OIL over medium or medium-high heat.  Use 1/2 C batter per Injera for a 12-inch pan or 1/3 C batter for a 10-inch pan.  Pour batter in heated pan and quickly swirl pan to spread batter as thin as possible.

• 
  
  
  

  Batter should be no thincker than 1/8 inch.  Do not turn over.  Injera does not easil stick or burn.  It is cooked through when bubbles apear all over the top.

-------

1 3/4 C Flour

1/2 C Self-rising flour

1/4 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 Pkt Dry Yeast

2 1/2 C Water, Warm

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

• 
  
  
  

  Combine the flours and yeast in a ceramic or glass bowl.  Add the warm water and mix into a fairly thin, smooth batter.  Let the mixture sit for three full days at room temperature.  Stir the mixture once a day.  It will bubble and rise.

• 
  
  
  

  When you are ready to make the Injera, add the baking soda and salt and let the bater sit for 10-15 minutes.  Heat a small, non-stick 9-inch skillet.  When a drop of water bounces on the pan's surface, take about 1/3 C of the batter and pour it in the skillet quickly, all at once.  Swirl the pan so that the entire bottom is coated, then return to heat.  The injera is cooked only on one side and the bottom should not brown.

• 
  
  
  

  When the moisture has evaporated and lots of "eyes" appear on the surface, remove the Injera.  Let each Injera cool and then stack them as you go along.  If the first Injera is undercooked, try using less of the mixture, perhaps 1/4 Cup, and maybe cook it a bit longer.  Be sure not to overcook it.  Injera should be soft and pliable so that it can be rolled or folded like a crepe.

Have a Pancake Tuesday

(photos © Toni Matlock)

Simply pancakes for dinner.  Sometimes crepes or ethiopian injera or other pancake-like goodness.  Add sweet and savory toppings and we have got a party!