Wild Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry-Maple Jam

Well, it looks like we are going to get back to work tomorrow. The roads were relatively clear near our condo, although there are still Kari-size piles of snow outside our doors:


Thankfully, before Snowmageddon 2.0 struck on Tuesday night, Chris and I were able to dart to the grocery store and pick up some fixins. I had been craving blueberries--and not just blueberries, but the tiny, tart-sweet, antioxidant-rich wild blueberries that you can pick in Maine during the late summer--and I was thrilled to find a bag of them in the frozen aisle of our local Giant. After pondering between blueberry coffee cake, muffins, and pancakes, I settled on pancakes--mainly because I wanted to top my blueberry-studded, butter-glazed cakes with homemade blueberry-maple jam. Sadly, Giant was still out of eggs, so I grabbed a box of egg whites and tromped home with the idea that I would add a bit more fat to the batter to make up for the missing egg yolks. In the end, Chris and I didn't miss the yolks at all--but the extra half-and-half added to the batter probably helped.

Naked pancake--you can't see the blueberries studded into the batter, but they're covering the underside of the cake, lightly caramelized from the heat of the pan.

The pancakes are based off of Mark Bittman's basic pancake recipe, but the blueberry-maple jam ingredients miraculously popped into my head. I'm excited to report that I'm *finally* at the stage of cookery where I'm starting to riff off of recipes and even make things up--a couple years ago, I would have searched the internet tirelessly to find a recipe for blueberry syrup. Funnily enough, after I made the jam I found a similar recipe in my home copy of The Gourmet Cookbook. But I'm convinced my version is tastier.

The blueberry jam turned out blue-black, and we stained our lips and fingers through the greedy pancake-shoveling process.

Start the jam before you begin to assemble the pancakes. After about 15 minutes of simmering, it should be thickened enough to pour over. You can also hold the jam over low heat for as long as necessary.

Wild Blueberry Pancakes
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
Serves 2, generously, and the recipe is easily doubled

Ingredients
Frozen wild blueberries (about half a cup for 3 pancakes)
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 egg, or 1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4-1 cup milk (add a bit of half-and-half if using egg substitute)
1 tbsp melted and cooled butter (optional), plus unmelted butter for cooking (optional)

1. Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low to medium heat while you make the batter (I like to preheat over medium, and then lower the heat to medium-low once the first pancake has hit the griddle).

2. Mix together the dry ingredients. Beat the egg/egg substitute into 3/4 cup of the milk, then stir in the melted cooled butter, if you are using it. Gently stir this into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten the flour; don't worry about a few lumps. The batter will be quite thick, but add some more milk if you think it's needed.

3. If your skillet or griddle is non-stick, you can cook the pancakes without any butter. I used a nonstick pan, but still melted about 1/2 tsp of butter in the pan before adding the batter. When the butter foam subsides, ladle batter onto the griddle or skillet--I find adding a scant 1/2 cup of batter produces pancakes that are easy to flip. Scatter the frozen blueberries over the top of the batter, pressing them down with your fingers. Adjust the heat as necessary; usually, the first batch will require higher heat than subsequent batches. The idea is to brown the bottom in 2-4 minutes, without burning it. Flip when the pancakes are cooked on the bottom (my Dad taught me that you can flip once the air-bubbles that pop on the top of the pancake stop re-filling themselves with batter, and stay open).

4. Cook until the second side is lightly browned and serve, or hold on an ovenproof plate in a 200 degrees oven for up to 15 minutes.

Blueberry-Maple Jam
Produces enough jam for approximately 3 pancakes. Would also be very tasty spread on toast, English muffins, scones--you get the idea.

1 cup or more blueberries, as much as you wish
Cinnamon, maybe 1/2-1 tsp
Juice of half a lemon
Cointreau, optional
Grade A Maple Syrup, about 1/2 cup

1. In a small saucepan, add the blueberries, cinnamon, lemon juice, and a splash or two of Cointreau, if desired (you could also use other liqueurs, like Kirsch or Grand Marnier). Let everything bubble away for about 10-15 minutes, until some of the blueberries have burst, and you can see the bottom of the pan when you scrape at the sauce with a rubber ladle.

2. Add the Maple Syrup, and simmer for a couple minutes more. Taste for acidity and sweetness, and add sugar/syrup and/or lemon juice as needed. Let cool slightly, and serve.

Hakuna Matata Apple-Onion Frittata

When I wake up on Saturdays--particularly during the winter--without a brunch plan in mind, I get a little depressed. Before I even grind beans for my french press coffee, I pull on a hoodie and some thick wool or cashmere socks, and pad into the kitchen doggedly determined to whip up something tasty, plan or no plan.

On this particular Saturday, things weren't looking good. I had apples, onions, eggs, various cheeses, and bacon--and pantry essentials, like flour--but I wasn't in the mood for ANOTHER set of pancakes with maple syrup. I ran through the other options quickly in my mind--popovers with sauteed apples, caramelized bacon (again??), an omelette (boring), or perhaps some eggs in purgatory--but I wanted something special. I also knew that I could do a frittata, but I've never been fond of the frittatas that I've had in restaurants. They tasted like quiche, sadly separated from their buttery crust, and seemed to overcompensate with butter and too much cheese.

I grumpily narrowed down our options. "Frittata or pancakes?," I hollered at Chris, still underenthused. "Frittata!" was the answer from the living room couch, where Chris was ensconced in multiple blankets, eyes and hands peeking out for the purpose of internet perusing. I sighingly turned to my trusty Bittman cookbook, flipped to the frittata section, and was immediately hooked. Sauteed apples and onions? In a frittata? With bacon? With that mix of fillings, I knew I wouldn't miss the pastry crust.


Now that I've made my first frittata, I've come to love how versatile they are--as long as you follow the general formula of 5-6 eggs for every 1-2 cups of filling, you should be golden. I prefer my frittatas with cheese in the filling as well as on top (parmigiano or gruyere to grate for the filling, and then another cheese to grate or scatter over), and with some sort of breakfast meat in the filling (bacon, ham, canadian bacon). If you fill your frittata with veggies, keep an easy hand with the cheese, and use some egg whites, you can easily make it light, as well.

Sweet Apple-Onion Frittata with Bacon and Goat Cheese (serves 4 or more as part of a larger breakfast spread, or 3 alone)

Ingredients
1 apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 sweet onion, or 1 one regular onion with 1-2 tsp sugar, sliced very thinly
Bacon, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 cup, chopped, optional
Goat cheese, 2-4 ounces (or gruyere, if preferred)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano or other cheese
5-6 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp butter or olive oil, if not using bacon, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Saute the bacon in a large, preferably nonstick skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan onto a plate lined with paper towels. Drain off all but 1-2 tbsp of the fat (if not using bacon, heat the butter or olive oil in the pan at this point), and keep it over medium heat.

3. Add the onions to the pan, and saute until tender and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the apples and continue cooking til tender, about another 3-4 minutes. Take the pan off the heat to cool slightly.

4. Beat together the eggs, parmigiano, salt, and pepper. Once the apple-onion filling has cooled slightly, add the filling to the beaten eggs along with the bacon, mixing gently. Return the pan to medium-low heat, and pour the egg mixture into the skillet. Cook, undisturbed, for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom of the frittata is firm.

5. Scatter the goat cheese (or whatever cheese your prefer) over the frittata.

6. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake, checking every 5 minutes or so, just until the top of the frittata is no longer runny, 10-20 minutes more. Served hot or at room temperature.

Spicy Orange Margaritas

Hello, dear friends. It's been a very long time since I last blogged, I know--life was crazy with graduate school applications and general post-wedding madness. But now I'm back, and armed with creations whipped together during the DC Snowmageddon. I've got a yummy frittata and wild blueberry pancakes with homemade maple-blueberry jam to share--and later, 16-hour slow-cooked carnitas--but first, *alcohol*!


It being so cold and all, I began craving a winter cocktail that would help me imagine myself on a beach somewhere, toes buried in delicate white sand, and also be somehow seasonally appropriate. I think this spicy orange margarita is a perfect blend of seasonality and tropicality--the heat from the chilis makes it tough enough to combat the winter doldrums, while the orange and tequila put me squarely in the vacation mindset. It doesn't hurt that oranges and tangerines are in season in the dead of winter! The first time that I made these, I used slightly underripe tangerines from my parents' tree--the intense sourness was a nice counterpart to the chili heat. Since then, however, I've made them with regular OJ, with no complaints.

The best part of this drink is that it is so easy to make, and to make it bulk for a winter dinner party. All you need is regular tequila; tangerines, tangelos, oranges, or orange/tangerine juice; cointreau or triple sec; limes; and chilies to add heat. Oh, and at least a few hours to let the chilies steep in the tequila.

This recipe was inspired by the Spicy Margarita served at La Sandia restaurant in Tysons Corner, VA.

Ingredients
Tequila
Cointreau or Triple Sec
Citrus fruits (tangerines, oranges, tangelos--slightly underripe is okay) or tangerine/orange juice
Limes (I use regular, but I can imagine key limes being very tasty here as well)
Chilies (My favorites are serranos and habaneros, but jalapenos work in a pinch)

1. Steep 2-3 chilis, chopped crosswise, in 1-2 cups of tequila. There is no need to be precise here! Let the tequila steep for awhile, preferably for at least a few hours or overnight. The tequila keeps in the fridge for at least a few weeks--I'm still using tequila that was steeped 3 weeks ago.

2. Mix the chili tequila (without the chilies it was steeped with) with the Cointreau or Triple Sec and lime juice, in the approximate ratio: for one margarita, 1.5 oz tequila, .5 oz Cointreau or Triple Sec, and the juice of half a lime (perhaps a little less if the lime is very juicy. We don't get very juicy limes in DC). If I'm making just one or two servings, I mix right in the glass, since the tequila is already chilled anyway. For more servings, mix in a martini shaker or in a pitcher. If you like salt with your margaritas--I stay away from it because of the sodium content--wet the lip of your glass with water and use a saucer covered in salt to salt the rim.

3. Add ice to your liking, and garnish with a chili cross-section if desired.