Harvest Apple Pancakes

Ahhhh, Sunday morning pancakes. I have become known for this occasion over time. Whether they are at home for just the two of us, served to overnight guests or with family and friends up in VT you can usually expect me to make pancakes on Sunday morning. And they are never just plain old pancakes!

A few weeks back a posted the recipe for Candied Bacon Mancakes and got a lot of humorous and curious feedback. This morning as I kicked around recipe ideas I went back to using beer in the pancakes, but what kind, and what other flavors should I add to them? I came up with Harvest Apple pancakes.

Harvest Apple Pancakes

2 cups Bisquick Lite
2 eggs
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp dark maple syrup
1 bottle Sam Adams Oktoberfest
1 large apple

Mix all ingredients except the apple, and only as much of the beer to get the right texture, together and set aside for 10 minutes. Peel and chop the apple into small bites. Incorporate into the batter.

Portion the pancakes on to a hot greased griddle in 1/3 cup-fulls. Cook on both sides until golden brown. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

( Look at the piece of apple snugly nestled in there! )

The hints of spice and maple flavors with the slightly crunchy apple reminded me of pie in the autumn in New England. The malty, harvest essences to the beer provided just enough of a foundation, but didn’t make them taste of beer.

Cheers!

Jason

The Simple Life - Pan Roasted Potatoes

Sometimes the over-complication of our lives can seep into our cooking and eating. Recipes that have a mile long ingredients list and require every cooking utensil you own. Life is hectic enough in this multi-tasking world why do we let it invade the sanctuary of our kitchen?

It took some small red potatoes from our CSA vegetable share and some fresh garden basil to snap me out of it and give that reminder to slow down a bit. Indeed less can be more. Jay and I are really enjoying the CSA and we have enjoyed many different fresh vegetables, cooking them in various ways. Two weeks in a row now we were received the most lovely small red potatoes. Ideas abound and in the past I have loved the standard “smashed” potatoes throwing everything available into them to add some flavor.

The difference this time is that the CSA has made me realize the joy of tasting my vegetables, not the sauce, not the seasoning, the actual vegetable. I decided to de-clutter my food and knowing that we had fresh basil from the garden I made the following.

Pan Roasted Basil Potatoes

1 lb small organic red potatoes
One large handful of fresh basil leaves
3 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Cut the red potatoes down to the size of the smallest potato so that they cook evenly. Place the ½ of the olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan then add the potatoes. Add the remaining olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Place the basil leaves evenly over the top of the potatoes. Roast in the oven for about 35 minutes, turning once, until golden and cooked through.

Easy, simple, delicious, zen…..

Mangia,

Margot