This is a recipe of firsts.
1) The first recipe I base on a newly purchased cook book. Heidi Swanson's "Cook 1.0 - a fresh approach to the vegetarian kitchen" is not a book which I would normally immediately warm to. In fact, I went against my very own cookbook-purchase principles when I bought it, as I have a rule which says "Do not buy any cook book where there is not at least one picture per recipe". I disobeyed because HS used to have a foodblog of her own and I admire her for pulling it through and getting herself published in the more traditional way (ie on paper). And also because vegetarian cuisine is not in the spotlight enough (mainly because it's not as exciting as what Swanson proposes in her book). The book is VERY different from every other cookbook I own, but it's well thought through and I am sure will provide much inspiration.
2) Secondly, this is the first recipe with non-metric measurements which I used "converting" as I went along. More often than not, I right-out ignore recipes using imperial. It's so last-but-one century, and it's so inaccurate. How can 1 cup and 1 cup not be the same? How big is a tsp? What on earth is a stick of butter? But mainly I just struggle with the fact that it's unfamiliar. Once a year or so I find a recipe using imperial which is enticing enough for me to consult tables and convert into metric - beforehand. This time, I just used a jug giving everything in cups and ml and accepted the fact that it will NOT be accurate. I guess I must have been VERY hungry.
3) It's also the very first time I made pancakes. I first got to know them when I lived in Mexico - they're called "hotcakes" there - and they were a only-add-water batter-mix kind of thing... tasting of bicarbonate of soda more than anything else, drowned in a sea of maple-syrup (the industrial kind, not to confound with proper Canadian artisan sirop d'érable).
And we liked it. I would not instinctively prepare serve anything sweet with crispy bacon, but this here worked a treat. The pancakes were sufficiently fluffy, but the brie did not come out enough - for my liking. It's still a recipe I will use again (using my own (metric) notes and altered method from now on). You should have seen Max (who'll be celebrating his first birthday on New Year's Eve and has just only started to share some of our meals) devour it... if he's anything to go by, you can't afford not to try this!!!
Brie & apple pancakes with crispy pancetta
(serves 4)
265 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
70 g sugar (I am sure you could even cut down to 40 or 30)
1 pinch salt
½ tsp cinnamon
284 ml buttermilk
2 medium eggs
90 ml milk
60 g butter (melted)
150 g brie (rind removed and finely diced)
1 apple (peeled, cored and finely diced)
butter (to fry the pancakes in)
4 dollops crème fraîche
12 thin slices pancetta
Combine the dry ingredients, the add the buttermilk, milk, eggs and butter. Just beat with a fork until thoroughly combined, do not over-work. Fold in the apple and brie dice and heat a non-stick pan. Fry the pancetta in a pan or in the microwave and leave to rest on some kitchen towel to crisp up. Ladle a quarter of the batter into the pan, cook until browning underneath and setting on the upper side, then carefully flip over and cook until golden.
Serve immediately with a dollop of crème fraîche and three strips of pancetta each.
I also have Heidi's cookbook and like it very much. I made the banana macadamia pancakes last Sunday (omitting the coconut) and they turned out wonderful. I served them with "dulce de leche" (or milk jam), that was really good... I cannot wait to try other recipes from that book!
(by the way, one stick of butter=114 grams, you can find conversions here: http://www.donnahay.com.au/Section.jsp?sectionid=1160856)
Posted by: Estelle | Dec 22, 2004 at 04:57 PM