Buckwheat Pancakes, Blueberry Compote

Buckwheat can go both ways: from adding a sublime depth of flavor to being overly heavy hippie food that's more focused on whole grains than good taste. I've had buckwheat pancakes that fall into both categories, but I think I've found a recipe that's worth sharing.

From the Anson Mills website, their buckwheat buttermilk pancakes with lemon butter and blueberry compote is worth the effort. The three parts of the recipe- lemon compound butter, blueberry compote and pancakes- too me a total of 45 minutes to prepare, and I'll be (happily) eating leftovers of the first two parts for the next couple of days.

Compound butters are a simple way of adding a little extra flavor in an unexpected way. Here, you add lemon zest, juice and a small amount of powdered sugar to soft butter and refrigerate it. The variations can be endless. At Eve restaurant, for example, they serve three compound butters with their bread at each table- an herb, a salmon, and a sweet one that I think is honey and cinnamon, though my memory could be mistaken.

I particularly liked this recipe for blueberry compote because the end result has blueberries of different textures- some cooked into a sauce and some that are added right before the end and allowed only to warm up, thus remaining their plump integrity. It calls for cinnamon, but star anise or cardamom would also be welcome substitutions.

The buckwheat buttermilk pancakes call for a slightly different preparation than what I'm used to seeing. The butter is melted, and some of the ghee is reserved for the cast iron skillet- nothing new there- but adding the buttermilk to the warm butter and warming them together slightly was a different approach. It could have the potential to separate if it got too hot, but a little whisking brought it back together, and it never got so hot that it would have scrambled the egg you whisk it into. With both baking soda and baking powder in the mix, the cakes puffed up beautifully.

Overall it was a fantastic Sunday morning breakfast, with a pot of nilgiri tea with cream and sugar nearby, some orange juice and Dr. Arwulf Arwulf providing the soundtrack on 89.1.

3.14....

I've been immersed in all things pie lately.

The third annual 'Pie Lover's Unite' event was this past Saturday- it was a success, the pies were beautiful and plentiful- and I keep coming across articles about pies in magazines and other blogs. Sheryl Julian, writing for boston.com, wrote a great introduction about crusts, and there are links abound. I decided to tackle the oil based crust first, since it's new to me and reported to be so deliciously, deceptively easy.

I'm directly quoting here:

The crust is as follows-

1/2	cup vegetable oil
1/4	cup milk
2	cups flour
1/2	teaspoon salt

1. Set the oven at 425 degrees. Have on hand a deep 9-inch pie pan.

2. In a 1-cup measure, pour the oil just over the 1/2 cup line. Add the milk to make a good 3/4 cup of liquid.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the oil mixture (do not stir while pouring). When it is all added, use a rubber spatula to stir the oil in gently. The mixture looks very wet; it’s OK.

4. With a wet paper towel, wet the counter. Spread waxed paper on it. Add 2/3 of the dough. Set another piece of waxed paper on top.

5. Roll the dough into a round about 1/8-inch thick. Gently remove the top waxed paper, working from the edges to the center. Set the pie pan near you. In one steady motion, pick up the paper under the dough and quickly flip it over into the pie pan. Gently remove the remaining waxed paper sheet, working from the edges to the center.

The recipe for blueberry filling associated with this crust was good, and I made it as stated, but I think I'd play around with Alice Water's recipe a bit. She uses a little more sugar (1/4 cup), a dash of salt, lemon zest, and substitutes the flour with 4 T quick-cooking tapioca, pulverized in a mortar. I am encouraged by the tapioca because of it's slight sweetness, and despite the smaller quantity than flour, it would thicken it up just the same without the flour taste.

My pie looks very similar to the one in the link, which makes me wonder if either they were making it look really homey or there is little room for personal flourishes with this type of crust. I'll play around with it some more. The texture was nice and flaky, and (thanks to baking it with a collar around the edges for the first 25 minutes) it browned evenly on top and underneath.

Blueberry-Orange pancakes

It's blueberry season in Michigan. A friend is about to deliver 10#'s picked across the state in Holland, which has prompted a revival of memories relating to all things blueberry.

One of my favorite recipes is for blueberry-orange pancakes, which I used to make often many years ago in my little college apartment on Park St. I can't think about them without recalling Ella Fitzgerald, mornings fueled with NPR, Simon, and my cat, Bugonia.

The primary liquid is orange juice, which is enhanced by fresh zest, though I've found that store-bought orange juice works best (ie Tropicana) rather than freshly squeezed. Maybe it's just my palate, but I found the freshly squeezed juice to be a little too acidic. I also found it to be too difficult not to drink all of the freshly squeezed juice before using it in the batter.

Blueberry-orange pancakes

1 c flour
2T sugar
1 ¼ t baking powder
¼ t baking soda
¼ t salt
½ t orange zest
1 c orange juice
2 T milk
2 T oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c blueberries, fresh or frozen

-combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
-in another bowl, combine the orange zest, juice, milk, oil and egg.
-add the liquids into the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
-heat a skillet and add either a touch of butter or spray it with oil (no need to do either if it’s non-stick)
-spoon about ¼ cup of the batter onto the hot skillet, and sprinkle some blueberries on top.
-when the edges of the pancake seem dry and small bubbles have formed on the surface, filp it. It should be done when you see a slight bit of steam coming from the skillet.

Missing You-

Since I was recently stripped from the delicious dulce de leche in my fridge (I don't forgive easily), I've been forced to improvise. It was my pleasure to discover that I could achieve a similar affect (creamy, caramely goodness) by combining maple syrup and cream. It's not nearly as thick, and feels like cheating since so much work goes into dulce de leche, but on top of ranier cherries, plums and strawberries, it tastes divine.

Worth getting up for in the morning-

I have only one thing to report: Michigan strawberries and raspberries with vanilla sugar is heavenly.

Ortiz

An abbreviated version of my write up on visiting with Ortiz is now up on the ZMO blog.
http://zmojournal.blogspot.com/2009/06/visiting-ortiz-in-spain.html

Pamplona, day 1

Flying north of Madrid you could see the grid-like patterns of olive groves dotting the countryside. Flying into Pamplona, it suddenly became hilly- the outermost hills partially excavated for gravel (I'm presuming) in beautiful steeped rows.

This town is very old. It's also very typically Spanish- narrow cobblestone streets with high colorful buildings on either sides. I forgot how beautiful the glass enclosed porches are on the second floors, with their plants and character.

As nervous as i was about not knowing anyone, i've already met some very interesting, friendly people from not only Spain but from the US, Cuba and Canada (and Dubai). It's mostly wine reps, though a couple of them are looking to branch out into 'gourmet' foods because they're hurting for business. Being here solely for food, i've been fielding a lot of questions about salt, olive oil, peppers, ham- whathave you. In exchange, they've been telling me what to drink. Not a bad trade off.

The Navarra Gourmet group has put together quite the itenary for this trip, intended to show off the best of what Pamplona and Navarra has to offer. Tonight was a group dinner at the restaurant of chef Alex Mugica (or Mujica, depending on what text you're reading) in the La Perla Hotel. There are about 60 people in our group from all over the world, so the restaurant was closed and fitted to hold us for the evening. Tables were arranged by language spoken.

We were served two local wines- the red was a blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot called Inurrieta 400 Crianza. It was fruity, a little sweet. The white was a chardonnay from Juan de Albert. Lots of apple and vanilla in the nose, and a buttery oak flavor.

First course was 'ensalada de esparragos naturales con sal maldon, aceite virgen y mayonesa de bonito'. White asparagus over mixed greens, with a syringe (disposable, individual serving) of olive oil, and a tuna foam on the side. It was delectable- i could have eaten two but it was the perfect amount to satiate me for a first course and whet my palate for what was coming.



In martini glasses they served a couple baked rolls of a mix of chorixo (txistorra in the local basque dialect) and queso. The wrap was made of bread, which was frozen, sliced thin on a meat slicer, wrapped around a spoonfull of the filling and then baked. A Cuban gentleman at my table couldn't get enough of them- his enjoyment was visible in all of the hand gestures for 'the best' and he managed to get the recipe from the chef (no doubt- i'll be on his menu at home soon).

Then, in my opinion, the best part of the meal: huevo estrellado, patatas y perrechicos. Poached eggs with the most brilliant deep orange yolk i've seen since I was last in Italy, on top of thinly sliced potatoes and 'perrechios,' the local mushrooms that are just coming up. They're small, white and very flavorful.



The main course was a choice of two options- lomito de merluza al horno con terrina de borrajas y jamon (hake with garlic, borrage and ham) or chuleta de ternera con patata nueva- veal with new potatoes and a roasted red pepper sauce. I opted for the veal. Again the serving size was satiatingly appropriate- just enough to savor the flavor but not too much to overwhelm you. The roasted red pepper sauce was creamy, not too spicy but full of that roasted-over-coals flavor that I love about good Spanish piquillos.

The desserts- i'm sorry, i didn't take copious notes here. Overall they were very sweet, and whereas the portions for everything else seemed right on, these were so rich that the abundance of three different ones on a plate was a bit overwhelming. It was a lactic romp of leche frita (fried milk cube, dusted with cinnamon), cremoso de queso (cheese creem), sopita de citricos y galleta rota de nuez, cerezas de Milagro (the cherries from Milagro were delicious) salteadas con helado de azafran y crujiente de remolacha. You'll have to translate all of that. The beets (remolacha) were shaved thin and oven dried, used as garnish.

More anon.