Who Wants Seconds?

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins

One of my favourite cookbooks ever is Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family by Ken Haedrich. From soup to nuts, it's really an amazing resource for vegetarians, of course, but also for those of us that like to dip our toe (or maybe even all the way up to our hip?) into meatless meals.

At least once a month, we make our version of Ken's fantastic muffins. Nobody around here likes poppy seeds, and frozen blueberries are easier (and cheaper, natch) to have on hand, but otherwise we follow it to a T. If you're looking for a not-too-sweet, fairly healthy and easy-peasy recipe that will fast become a fave, look no further. And if you want to knock them out really quickly (on a Sunday morning, say?), set up the dry ingredients in a bowl the night before and whip the wet ingredients up and in as the oven's warming. And the Pretty-Good-For-You Butterless Streusel? Make a double batch and throw it in the freezer, 'cuz you're going to want to use it ON EVERYTHING. I kid, of course, but it is pretty awesome. Without further ado:

Stina's Blueberry-Cornmeal Muffins

1 1/2 large very ripe bananas
1 large egg
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1/4 flavorless vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 c. yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. poppy seeds (optional)
1 c. fresh blueberries

Butter or lightly oil 12 muffin cups and dust them with flour (I oftentimes use liners instead). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the banana, egg, and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process to a smooth puree. Blend in the oil and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the poppy seeds if you're using them. Make a well in the dry mixture, add the liquid, and stir until the batter is uniformly mixed, folding in the blueberries at the end.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups and sprinkle each one with a little of the toppping if you're using it. Bake the muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, until done; the tops will be resistant to gentle finger pressure. Cool the muffins in the cups for 3 to 4 minutes, then remove them and transfer to a cooling rack. Serve at any temperature.

Pretty-Good-For-You Butterless Streusel

1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. instant or noninstant rolled oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c. walnuts
1 1/2 tbsp. flavorless vegetable or canola oil

Put the brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and process for about 10 seconds to chop up the oats. Add the walnuts and process for 5 to 10 seconds, until finely chopped but not clumpy. Finally, pulse the machine several times as your drizzle in the oil; don't overmix. Transfer the mixture to a plastic bag and freeze until needed.

EoMEoTE#7: Breakfast Burrito with Chipotle Ketchup

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Once a month an event draws a crowd
If you cook with eggs and carbs, you’re allowed
Cook Sister! holds sway
Send your entry, don’t delay
Spark a flame, snap a shot...she'll be proud!

After missing the last two installments of the EoMEoTE, you can bet the hen house that I wasn't going to slack when this one came around. I've missed two months' worth of bad puns (no eggxageration- are there any other kind with EoMEoTE?) and questionable haikus (not an alleggation, I swear) fer God's sake, so I just had to step up to the egg cup this month...especially when the henchanting Jeanne asked for limericks! It was eggceptionally difficult to get the word 'Nantucket' out of my head, so I hope you all appreciate my efforts.

We almost always have a huge breakfast on Sunday mornings, skip lunch, and have a light dinner. What fits the bill when pancakes and french toast seem too heavy (yet strangely, not enough), but you still want your brekkie to pack a whallop? Why, a breakfast burrito of course! Home fries, scrambled eggs, cheddar, sour cream, chipotle ketchup, sour cream, avocado and fresh cilantro...all wrapped in a big flour tortilla...now THAT'S what I'm talking about.

I've become completely hooked on chipotle ketchup lately, but I'm not very fond of the price- L2.90/270g bottle! I always experiment with barbeques sauces during the summer anyway, shirrly I could come up with a ketchup as well! What's the difference between the two? As far as I can tell from online sources, not much. Some barbeques sauces (commercial and homemade) are sweeter and some are hotter, while most commercial ketchups (or catsups, if you prefer) are bog-standard concoctions of tomatoes, sugar, and not very spicy "spices". I like bottled ketchup on fries, but that's about it. For anything else, from eggs to steaks (blasphemy!), I want something with more of a presence.

As a matter of fact, this recipe isn't really very different from the sauce I made for the ribs we had last night; use it as you see fit, adjusting the heat level to your own tastes. I would say that this sauce has a heat level of about 4.5/10.

CHIPOTLE KETCHUP

2 tablespoons BUTTER
1 medium ONION, minced
2 cloves GARLIC, minced
1 tablespoon GROUND CUMIN
1 tablespoon DARK BROWN SUGAR
2 CHIPOTLE PEPPERS in ADOBO SAUCE, minced
1 tablespoon ADOBO SAUCE
1 tablespoon VINEGAR
1 tablespoon WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
4 tablespoons TOMATO PUREE (TOMATO PASTE)
2 cups WATER
1/2 teaspoon SALT, optional
2 teaspoons SMOKED HOT PAPRIKA, optional

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When the foam subsides, add onion and garlic and saute until soft.
2. Add the cumin and brown sugar, stir to combine, and cook for ~1 minute.
3. Add the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, and tomato puree, stir to combine, and cook for ~2 minutes.
4. Incorporate the water 1/2 cup at a time, reducing the sauce before each addition (this should take 20-30 minutes total).
5. Taste the sauce and decide whether you need/would like to add salt and/or smoked paprika. If so, add the spices and cook for a further few minutes. If not, remove the pan from the heat and either use the sauce/ketchup as is, or blitz in a food processor or chopper to make smoother.
6. Cool and use immediately, or refrigerate and use within one week.

EOMEOTE#4: Scrambled Eggs, Pork Chipolatas, Home Fries & (of course) Toast

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"My wife and I tried to breakfast together, but we had to stop or our marriage would have been wrecked."  -Winston Churchill


I knew a month ago that I wanted to participate in the fourth edition of the End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza (kindly hosted by the meggnificent Jeanne of Cook Sister! ), but I wasn't sure that the style of eggs I normally eat would be eggxotic enough to keep company with the crowd of reggulars over there. We always tie on the diner feedbag on Sunday mornings around my house, but it just didn't seem eleggant enough to call to Jeanne's attention. I mean, we think scrambled eggs are deleggtable, but would the other EoMEoTEers think so, too?

Some might think this breakfast a bit eggstravagant, but not when you look at it as the kind of good old-fashioned gut-filler that silences any grumbles until dinner (at least). Organic pork sausages, home fries made from fingerlings and onions with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, scrambled eggs with cream and fresh thyme, and olive oil bread toasted and spread with butter. Add on some orange juice and a couple of cups of coffee, and you're set.

Fingers crossed, the deggxterous EoMEoTEers will find them just as begguiling as we do.

Pancake Day

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Here in the U.K. (as well as other places, I'm sure), Shrove Tuesday (the last day before the start of Lent) is also celebrated as Pancake Day. We've lived here for the last three years, and although British pancakes are tasty, we really enjoy American-style pancakes with maple syrup most of all. The recipe that I've used for quite a few years now is from The Best Recipe, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated. It is of the never-fail variety, and should you be searching for the Holy Grail of pancake recipes, you need not look any further.

Light and Fluffy Pancakes

Serves 3-4  (Makes about 8 3-inch pancakes)

This batter serves four perfectly for a light weekday breakfast. You may want to double the recipe for weekend pancake making, when appetites are larger. If you happen to be using salted butter or buttermilk, you may want to cut back a bit on the salt. If you don't have any buttermilk, mix three-quarters cup of room-temperature milk with one tablespoon of lemon juice and let it stand for five minutes. Substitute this "clabbered milk" for the three-quarters cup of buttermilk and one-quarter cup of milk in this recipe. Since this milk mixture is not as thick as buttermilk, the batter and resulting pancakes will not be as thick.

1 cup ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
2 teaspoons SUGAR
1/2 teaspoon SALT
1/2 teaspoon BAKING POWDER
1/4 teaspoon BAKING SODA
3/4 cup BUTTERMILK
1/4 cup MILK, plus a tablespoon or so extra if batter is too thick
1 large EGG, separated
2 tablespoons UNSALTED BUTTER, melted
VEGETABLE OIL, for brushing griddle

1. Whisk dry ingredients in medium bowl. Pour buttermilk and milk into 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Whisk egg white into milk mixture. Mix yolk with melted butter, then stir into milk mixture. Dump wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once; whisk until just mixed.

2. Meanwhile, heat griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat. Brush griddle generously with oil. When water splashed on surface sizzles, pour batter, about 1/4 cup at a time, onto griddle, making sure not to overcrowd. When pancake bottoms are brown and top surface starts to bubble, 2 or 3 minutes, flip cakes and cook until remaining side has browned, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Re-oil the skillet and repeat for the next batch of pancakes.

VARIATIONS

Blueberry Pancakes
Follow recipe for Light and Fluffy Pancakes, pouring a little less than 1/4 cup batter at a time onto griddle. Starting with 1/2 cup blueberries, drop about seven blueberries on top of each pancake. Proceed as directed in Master Recipe.

Whole Wheat Pancakes
Follow recipe for Light and Fluffy Pancakes, substituting 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour.

Toasted Pecan Pancakes
Heat pan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup pecans, chopped fairly fine; toast, shaking pan frequently, until nuts are fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Follow recipe for Light and Fluffy Pancakes, stirring pecans into dry ingredients along with wet ingredients.

Featherweight Pancakes
Whisking the egg whites gives pancakes an especially light texture. Don't bother with a hand mixer for beating one egg white. By the time you've assembled the mixer, you could be folding the hand-whipped egg white into the batter. Don't make the mistake of using too small a bowl, either. The egg needs space to aerate, so use a whisk and a large metal bowl.

Follow recipe for Light and Fluffy Pancakes, whisking egg white in large bowl to stiff peaks. Gently fold egg white into completed batter and continue with recipe, spooning rather than pouring batter onto griddle.

Reprinted with kind permission from the The Best Recipe Cookbook, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. Selected articles, recipes, books, and subscription information are available online at www.cooksillustrated.com.