Tag Archives: Recipes

Breakfast in Bed: Buttermilk Pancakes

Post by Alison Hein

Traditional buttermilk is liquid that remains after churning butter. (You can read about butter-making in a prior post.) It has a high lactic acid content that makes it tart and thick. When acidic buttermilk is mixed with baking powder it produces carbon dioxide, which facilitates rising and produces a light, airy dough in biscuits, breads and baked goods.

While I often create a “faux” buttermilk using regular milk and a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice, the real deal has a unique character and flavor that produces classic, fluffy pancakes. These griddled delights have a pure, simple taste that doesn’t require a lot of adornment – you can start to nibble on them straight from the pan.

And if you think a quart of buttermilk is more than you want to buy just to make pancakes, try making homemade salad dressing. Ranch dressing is easy and fresh. Use about a cup of buttermilk, a touch of sour cream and mayonnaise, fresh chopped herbs, and a smidgen of garlic and mustard. Shake it all together. Now you’ve got a tastier product than store-bought, and your friends and family will be impressed with your creativity.

But I got sidetracked from our pancakes. Just take my word for it. Buttermilk is the new / old product of the day. Pick some up and start cooking. Start with these Buttermilk Pancakes for a classic, fluffy breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
4 ounces (one half stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus additional for cooking

Preparation
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Gradually whisk in buttermilk, then the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly add melted butter to batter. The batter should be thick, smooth and creamy.

Place a pan or griddle on the stove over medium to medium high heat. Melt a small amount of butter in the pan for the first pancake. Ladle batter into pan and cook until small bubbles appear throughout pancake, about 1 minute. Flip once with spatula and continue cooking until golden brown, another minute or so. Serve hot with real maple syrup.

Makes 8 to 10 4-inch pancakes.

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Breakfast in Bed – Peach Vodka Muffins

Post by Alison Hein.

I was planning on making muffins, and had picked up some local fragrant, ripe peaches for the job. While preparing my mise en place, I realized there was no milk in the fridge. Hmmm. What to do? And then I thought, vodka! After all, the most searched and viewed recipe on my food blog MixerUpper is Peach-Infused Vodka (http://mixerupper.com/2012/07/08/homemade-peach-infused-vodka/). And so I followed one of my favorite bits of cooking wisdom – when in doubt, use booze. 😉

Even though you can’t taste the vodka in the baked muffins, I like to think it added a deep smoothness to the batter. Be advised that one pound of fresh, juicy peaches is a lot, so the muffins will be slightly dense and moist at the base. If you like, sprinkle the muffin tops with cinnamon sugar before baking for a sweeter, spiced adaptation. Just don’t omit the vodka in your boozy, summery breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
4 to 5 ripe peaches, about 1 pound
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons vodka
1¾ cups white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sour cream

Preparation
Peel, slice, and chop peaches*. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and vodka and mix well.

In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Combine dry ingredients with butter mixture. Stir in sour cream and mix gently until just smooth. Fold in peaches. Spoon into lined muffin tin and bake at 350° for 40 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool slightly on rack before removing muffins from tin.

*      To easily peel peaches, cut a small “x” in the bottom of the fruit. Carefully drop into boiling water and blanch for up to one minute. Remove peaches from pot and immerse in ice water. Peel off peach skin starting at the “x’. Slice peach by cutting lengthwise to the pit, and pulling slices away from pit. Chop slices into smaller pieces.

Makes 12 muffins.

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Breakfast in Bed: Independence Day Aebelskiver (Danish Filled Pancakes)

Post by Alison Hein.

One of my favorite pastimes is browsing the discount shops. I’m not looking for splashy, red-heeled Christian Louboutins, or even a chic Balenciaga bag. Rather, I’m searching for the new and unexpected. The inspirational and one-of-a-kind. Like pepper-shaped grill racks, old-timey cast iron cornbread pans, and even Pacman oven mitts! Imagine my delight when I recently stumbled upon the perfect aebelskiver pan, at a fraction of the retail cost.

Aebelskiver means “apple slices” in Danish. With our usual laissez faire regarding foreign languages, Americans apply this term to all little spherical pancakes, whether filled with sweet and creamy apple middles or not.

Back to the pan. Usually made from cast iron, the heavy pan contains seven small, rounded wells. The pan is heated, batter poured, and the aebelskiver are carefully flipped. Instructions suggest using two skewers, but I asked my Danish friend Helen for the real low-down: “Some use apple pieces, which are added after they are baked a little time on the first side, and a lot like them with prunes .. and I use knitting needles to turn them ;-)which I learned from my mom … we normally eat them at Christmastime, with a little sugar or marmalade alongside.”

My Chinese-American friend Yane weighed in saying she uses chopsticks to flip her aebelskiver. Eureka! We’re a cultural melting pot that allows us to prepare Danish cuisine with Asian cooking utensils, and then serve it up for America’s big birthday breakfast in bed.

Happy Fourth of July!

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 eggs, separated
Cooking spray (or melted butter)
8 ounces (1/2 cup) strawberry jam
Confectioner’s sugar
1 cup mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)

Special Equipment

Aebelskiver pan

Preparation

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. In separate small bowl, mix together milk, cider vinegar and egg yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter.

Place aebelskiver pan on burner over medium heat. Spray each well of the pan liberally with cooking spray (or brush with melted butter). Spoon about 1½ teaspoons of batter into each well. Then place about ½ teaspoon of strawberry jam in the center of each aebelskiver. Finally, pour another 1½ teaspoons of batter on top, being sure to entirely cover jam.

Cook for about 2 minutes, until bottom of aebelskiver is dark golden brown. Carefully flip using two skewers, or a knife and spoon, or knitting needles as is common in Denmark, or chopsticks. Continue cooking until flipped side is also golden brown, another one to two minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm while making the remainder of pancakes. Adjust heat and regrease pan as necessary while cooking. Sprinkle aebelskiver with confectioner’s sugar, garnish with berries and serve immediately.

Makes 20 to 30 aebelskiver

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Breakfast in Bed: Irish Wheaten Bread

Post by Alison Hein.

Irish wheaten bread, or brown bread, is one of the most simple and satisfying loaves you can make. And eat, of course. As a soda bread that requires no yeast (thus no messy kneading or lengthy rising time), this recipe takes little more than the 45 minutes required for baking.

Wheaten bread is one component of the large and complicated traditional Irish breakfast, which also may include bacon, sausage, eggs, black pudding, toast, fried tomato, sautéed mushrooms and baked beans! Maybe we’ll try that someday, but I prefer my wheaten bread all on its own. A thick slice of pure, earthy bread, lightly toasted and smeared with Irish butter, is enough breakfast for me.

The outer crust becomes thick and crusty in the hot oven, leaving the wheaten bread’s innards soft and tender – a lovely contrast and perfect first bite. With so few ingredients, the hearty wheat flavor shines through. Use stoneground organic wheat flour if you can find it. Then, try it out on your fussiest eaters. You may be surprised at how much they enjoy this simple, satisfying non-traditional Irish breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
3 cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ cups milk (or use buttermilk instead of the milk and vinegar)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°. Pour whole wheat flour into a large bowl. Sift in unbleached white flour, salt and baking soda and stir to mix. Pour milk and vinegar into flour mixture and stir to make a soft dough. Mix just enough so that dough holds together – overmixing will cause the bread to become tough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board. Shape dough into one large mounded round and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cut a thin cross in the top of the loaf, just enough so the loaf opens a little on top while baking.

Place wheaten loaf in oven and bake for about 45 minutes. When done, the bread will have a hollow sound when lightly tapped. Remove bread from oven and cool, wrapped in a light tea towel, for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf of bread.

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Breakfast in Bed: Traditional Japanese Breakfast

Post by Alison Hein.

If you order breakfast in Japan, don’t expect to see any eggs, bacon or hash browns. Traditional asagohan consists of soup and rice, usually served with broiled fish, and flanked by multiple side dishes, such as vegetables, pickles and fruit.

When I kindly asked my good friend Chiharu (I said pretty please!) to make breakfast for me, she came up with the following amazing menu:

Chiharu’s Traditional Japanese Breakfast Menu
Salmon Teriyaki
Shaved Bermuda Onion with Bonito Flakes and Ponzu Sauce
Spicy Chinese Daikon and Refreshing Japanese Cucumber Pickles
Miso Soup
Rice
Seasoned Seaweed with Soy Sauce
Just-Picked Bermuda Strawberries

The showcase of this fabulous meal was Chiharu’s Broiled Salmon Teriyaki. As simple as it is succulent, Chiharu broils the fish until almost cooked through, then coats it with homemade teriyaki sauce for the final minute or so. “Don’t add the teriyaki sauce too soon,” she advises, “or the sauce will burn and ruin the fish.”

Chiharu deftly pulled the fish out from under the broiler, removed the skin, added a few lemon slices and topped it with a sprinkling of yuzu shichimi, or “seven spices.” Like an artist, she sauced, plated, arranged and served a dazzling, traditional breakfast. Maybe next time I’ll tell you about Chiharu’s dessert menu. J

Broiled Salmon Teriyaki

Ingredients

2 pieces thin-cut salmon filet with skin on, about ¼ to ⅓ of a pound each
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
Lemon slices, for garnish
Yuzu shichimi (optional – available in Asian specialty stores)

Preparation

Preheat broiler. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Wash and dry salmon, and remove any remaining bones. Place salmon on foil, skin side down. Broil fish about 4 inches from heat for about 5 to 7 minutes until almost cooked. Remove salmon from broiler and pour teriyaki sauce evenly over the filets. Return to broiler and cook for another minute or so until fish is cooked through. Transfer salmon to plates, removing skin if you like, and garnish with lemon slices. Sprinkle with yuzu shichimi.

Makes 2 servings.

Chiharu’s Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup sake
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation

Add all ingredients to a heavy saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until sauce is thickened and has a glassy look. Cool, transfer to bottle and store in a cool, dry place.

Makes about 2 cups.

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