Practice Makes Perfect

Banana Walnut Pancakes with Fried Potatoes and Applewood Smoked Sausage

Thanks ,Christine, from Christine Can Cook blog.  I think you must have infected me with your pancake mania post a few weeks back.  Who’da thunk an innocent blog could be so contagious that just by reading and looking at cool pictures that you could catch an infectious bug like pancake making?The past three Saturdays I have been making pancakes for breakfast!  Not that this is a bad thing.  I love to cook and I love a big breakfast on Saturday especially since we juice fast on Sunday.  It’s a good thing Katie always eats what’s put in front of her, but I don’t want her getting bored.  So like Christine, I have been trying out different pancake recipes. 

Last weekend I pulled one of my favorite vegan books down from my shelf of 130 cookbooks and started a search for some yummy pancakes.  Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson is a great cookbook.  I have tried many of her recipes and they have all been pretty good.  Out of a book of 400 recipes, she had three for pancakes.  Since I had all of the required ingredients in my kitchen, I decided on the Spiced Banana Pancakes.

There are only two of us in our household so I halved the recipe.  I was  a little disappointed in these pancakes.  They were a bit on the gummy side due to the amount of banana and a little too much soy milk.  Actually, I could only eat one as they were a bit on the heavy side.  They did have a nice flavor though.

Not being one to give up easily, especially where food is concerned, I decided to try these cakes again today.  I made some minor adjustments in the measurements and viola!  I made some really good vegan pancakes.

Vegan Banana Nut Pancakes

(Serves 2)

¾ cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar of choice

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 banana, cut in half, reserving half for garnishment

½ cup vanilla or plain soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup chopped nuts

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in medium bowl.  In a blender or food processor, blend ½ banana, soy milk and vanilla until smooth.  Stir liquid into the dry mix.  Mix in nuts.

Using a ladle or disher (my fave way), scoop batter onto hot, oiled griddle.  When the edges start to look a bit dry and the pancake has burst several bubbles, turn using a spatula.  Cook another minute or two until the bottom side is nice and brown. 

Place pancakes on plate, slice the remaining half of banana over the top, garnish with a few nuts and serve with warm maple syrup.

In keeping with the vegan breakfast theme, I served the pancakes paired with fried potatoes and Field Roast Applewood Smoked Vegan Sausage.  So good.  I love when the pure maple syrup mixes with the sausage and potato.

Even if you are not vegan (we’re vegetarian), you should give these pancakes a go.  I’m glad I did not dismiss this recipe the first time out.  Practice really does make perfect.

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Copy Cat, Dirty Rat………….sort of

I was reading the latest post on the Christine Can Cook blog (look for it on my blog roll located right over there —–>) two days ago and it was all about pancakes.  She had oodles of pictures of all of the pancakes she had recently made.  I love her honest response to  the variety of recipes that she tried.  She graded them from A+ to an actual F (you know that had to be one crappy pancake to earn an F!)  I’ve had pancakes on the brain ever since.  All that melting butter and syrup probably can’t be good for my mind, but I just had to give in and make pancakes for breakfast this morning. 

Cornmeal Griddle Cakes with pure maple syrup and Fried Potatoes & Soyrizo

There’s a restaurant here  in Portland (Vita Cafe on Alberta) that serves these yummy cornmeal cakes and I have been craving them.  Since it is Saturday and I like to stay in my PJ’s pretty much all weekend, I decided to attempt to re-create these breakfast treats in my own kitchen.  I think mine turned out better than Vita’s! 

I found a recipe for Indian Griddle Cakes in “Prairie Home Cooking ” by Judith M. Fertig.  These cakes are feather light and have a slight crunch to them due to the cornmeal.  Although the book pairs these treats with creamed chicken (really?), they are fantastic with sweet butter and pure maple syrup.

The breakfast preparation began with making fried potatoes:

Fried potatoes with soyrizo

I steamed one small Yukon gold potato, fried it up until crispy, added chopped onion, kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little soyrizo.  Soyrizo is vegetarian chorizo sold at Trader Joe’s and most upscale markets.  I love it in everything! 

Thin cornmeal batter ladled into hot, oiled skillet

I cooked the cakes until they bubbled a bit and were slightly dry on the edges, and when I flipped it over…………………………………….. 

Perfectly golden cornmeal griddle cake!

Wow!  The word “gorgeous” came to mind.  I think this was the most beautiful pancake I ever made. 

We sat down and proceeded to slather a bit of butter over the top and maple syrup was free poured like it was our birthday!  Oh, wait a minute, it still is our birth month, so I guess this was our final food celebration of the month as tomorrow is juice fast Sunday.  Way cool! 

Here is the adapted recipe from Judith M. Fertig’s  book: 

Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

Serves 2 – 3 people

 

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda 

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder 

1/4 cup flour 

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornmeal 

1 egg, beaten 

1 tablespoon corn oil 

1/2 cup buttermilk 

2 tablespoons – 1/4 cup half n half 

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Combine egg, oil, and buttermilk in a separate bowl.  Combine liquid with dry and stir to make a smooth batter.  Add enough half n half to make a thin batter.  Heat a griddle or skillet until very hot, brush with oil.  Ladle about 1/4 – 1/3 cup batter and cook until top is bubbly and the bottom turns light brown.  Flip and cook until the bottom turns light brown.  Keep pancakes warm until ready to serve.