14 July 2011

lemon & rhubarb cornmeal pancakes

I just spent a lovely weekend in the Windy City with a dear friend (Who says 'dear friend'? What is this, my memoir from the 1850's?!) from college.  It was so great to catch up  together, but even better that we caught up while cooking up a storm! It's pretty special that that's all it took to make it an enjoyable weekend. We endeavored to make ourselves dessert my first night in town, and it turned out that was a very good call. Later we shared cake with some other pals from college on the beach. It was pretty danged ideal.

We even made dinner -- a vegan feast from a cookbook that has never let my friend down: hominy, tomatillo, and squash stew with ginger-lime tofu "cream" on top and lime-marinated cucumber spears served with tortilla chips. It was so good that I had to take a picture of it!
Apologies for the grainy photo; I only had our tiny old point and shoot with me.
But this post is about pancakes. I know, I know, I've posted pancake recipes before, but you should all know by now that pancake-making is serious biz in this home. This variation was a joint innovation by my husband and me. I think the texture of these pancakes were perfect and that's why I liked them so much. I also liked that it used up the rest of the cooked rhubarb that we had sitting around. I also liked eating them at room temperature on the 7AM bus to Chicago the next day. I think the guy sitting next to me had a hard time hiding the shocked look on his face when I pulled a bag of pancakes out of my purse. Be prepared, dude-man. I suppose he was never a scout.


Lemon & Rhubarb Cornmeal Pancakes
recipe by TofuSurprise

1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
3 T. corn starch
4 T. cornmeal
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. cooked & sweetened rhubarb (leftovers from making rhubarb syrup)
zest of one small lemon
1 egg
3/4 c. milk + 1 T. lemon juice, whisked together (or 3/4 c. buttermilk if you've got it)
2 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. milk

mascarpone cheese (optional)
fresh strawberries, sliced (optional)
maple syrup (THE REAL DEAL PEOPLE!)

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl, mix with zest.
2. Combine all wet ingredients in another bowl.
3. Add ~ 1 cup of wet ingredients to Magic Bullet and blend with the rhubarb. Return to the bowl with the rest of the wet ingredients.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Preheat oven to 200 F with a cookie sheet inside of it.
6. Preheat a griddle to medium heat.
7. Add ~1/4 to ~1/3 cup of batter to the griddle (should fit 4 pancakes). Cook until edges look a bit dry and popped bubbles do not refill with batter (no more than 2 minutes).
8. Flip pancakes, cook 45-60 seconds.
9. Place finished pancakes in the oven as they are ready to keep them warm. Now you can serve all of them at the same time! Yay!
10. Assemble pancakes with mascarpone cheese and sliced strawberries and drizzle with maple syrup. Or whatever suits your fancy I suppose. Pancakes!!!

4 comments:

  1. Great blog Val! I love food and recipe blogs with nice photo shots. Keep spreading the love...

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  2. Nice photos?! I'm flattered! :) Care to share any favorite food blogs that you follow? I'm always on the lookout for fun food blogs. I hope you enjoy some homemade pancakes soon!

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  3. Love these pancakes. I've made them several times!

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