Featherlight Yogurt Pancakes

I'm not generally someone who craves a pancake in the morning. Oh, don't act all shocked. It's not that I don't like pancakes. It's just that many times I feel that pancakes are too heavy and have no substance besides bread.

However, last time I was home visiting my parents I discovered a pancake recipe that works for me. I could tell immediately that these pancakes were lighter than the average pancake. They were thick and airy, and the blueberries and bananas gave them more substance.

My mom got this recipe from a Breyers mailing advertising their yogurt. That's right, these pancakes have yogurt in them! I think it's the combination of the yogurt and a ton of baking soda/powder that makes them thick and fluffy.

One reason that I'm glad I discovered this recipe is that it makes me want to give pancakes another chance. I generally shy away from making pancakes because I expect them to be a certain way. This recipe reminded me that there are a ton of variations to experiment with, and many of them may be lighter and more complex than the average pancake.

One modification to this recipe that I'd like to explore next time is to add bananas and chocolate chips, instead of blueberries and bananas.

This is what it looks like:


And here is the recipe:

Featherlight Yogurt Pancakes
(makes about 9 4.5-inch pancakes)

1 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup yogurt, about 4 ounces
1/2 to 2/3 cup milk, start with 1/2 cup and add more as necessary to thin batter
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 small package of fresh blueberries, about 1 cup
1 banana, cut into slices, then quarter each slice.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.

In a separate bowl combine yogurt, milk (start with 1/2 cup), egg, and vanilla extract. Stir in melted butter.

Pour liquids into flour mixture, mixing just until dampened. Do not over mix or the pancakes will be tough. If there are still some lumps in the batter don't worry, they will disappear during cooking.

Add blueberries and bananas. Alternatively, if you want to make sure that the fruit is evenly spread between the pancakes, you can add the fruit to each pancake after pouring the batter onto the griddle (a tip from this post).

Heat a pan or griddle on medium heat. No butter is necessary as long as your pan is non-stick. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. You want a thick batter consistency so that it only spreads out a little when it hits the pan, but not so thick that it's difficult to pour out of the 1/4 cup measure. If the batter is too thick, add some more milk.

After a few minutes, when the top begins to bubble, flip to the other side. Let it cook on this side for a couple more minutes before removing.

Moroccan Style Chicken and Chickpeas

I love this dish because it's so easy to make, but so flavorful and satisfying. It's actually pretty healthy, too, aside from the olive oil used to brown the chicken. One of my favorite parts is the spice combination: cinnamon contrasts with ginger, and chili pepper adds a little heat. The aromas from these spices are just amazing.

I know what you are thinking - "cinnamon??". It may seem odd to use this spice in anything except for dessert. However, cinnamon is actually commonly used in savory dishes in middle eastern cooking. It's the kind of thing that you may never think about trying, but once you do, you'll love it. The key to cooking savory food with cinnamon is to keep it as a background flavor so that it doesn't overpower the rest of the spices in the dish.

This recipe is based on a recipe from The Joy of Cooking called "Chicken Tagine With Chickpeas". However, it isn't actually cooked in a tagine, nor is it slow cooked, so I've changed the name here. (More about tagines in a future post - I actually do have my very own tagine and I love cooking with it.)

The technique used in this recipe is to brown the ingredients in layers, and then combine everything in the pot with some liquid and spices. In this case, the meat is browned first and then removed from the pan, to make room for the onions. After softening the onions and scallions, the meat is added back to the pan, with chickpeas, spices and water, to form a spicy broth. Simmering the broth for a few minutes allows the flavors to combine and keeps the meat really tender.

I've modified the original recipe to use cubes of chicken breast, instead of whole chicken parts. I've also added some thinly sliced zucchini mid-way through cooking. The zucchini maintains some of it's crunch and compliments the other flavors in the dish nicely.

I like to serve this over a bed of white rice mixed with cilantro. The cilantro in the rice compliments the garnish and makes the rice a little less plain. In fact, you can use this trick any time you want to spice up your white rice.

I think it would be pretty straightforward to make a vegetarian version of this dish. You could substitute tofu for the chicken, or just leave it out altogether.

This is what it looks like:



And here is the recipe:

Moroccan Style Chicken and Chickpeas
(serves 2-3)

2 Tbsp olive oil, or 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil for extra flavor
1 chicken breast, about .5-.75 pounds
1 onion, small to medium, chopped
1 bunch of scallions, chopped (I like to use both the green part, as well as the white part, except for the bulb at the very bottom.)
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I like to rinse them right in the can, using the lid as an aid to drain.)
3/4 cup of water, or broth, but be sure to adjust the seasoning if you use broth
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3/4 tsp ground ginger (I don't think that substituting fresh ginger would give quite the same flavor but let me know if you try it!)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8-1/4 tsp chili pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper, several generous grinds
1 zucchini, medium size, cut in half once lengthwise and thinly sliced, about 1.5-2 cups chopped zucchini
cilantro
1 cup uncooked white rice

Cut the chicken breast into 1 inch cubes. Add the olive oil to a large pot and heat up over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown just until no longer pink on all sides. The chicken shouldn't be cooked through at this stage - it will finish cooking later. Remove the chicken.

Add the onions and cook for a couple of minutes, adding more olive oil if the pan begins to dry out. Add the scallions and cook until the onions are softened and translucent.

Add the chickpeas, water, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and chili pepper. Return the chicken to the pan and stir everything together until well combined.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and then simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Add the zucchini, with a little more salt and pepper. Cover again and simmer for 5 more minutes.

At this point, it's time to uncover, taste the sauce, and adjust the seasoning. You could add up to another 1/4 tsp each of ginger, salt and/or cinnamon, so adjust to your taste. If desired, you can also raise the heat and boil some of the extra liquid off to make the sauce thicker.

Cook the rice according to the directions on the package. After cooking and while the rice is still warm, stir in a handful of roughly chopped cilantro. The heat of the rice will wilt the cilantro.

Serve the chicken and chickpeas over a bed of the rice, and garnish with cilantro.

Magic Cookie Bars

My mom made these cookie bars many times when we were growing up, and when I moved away from home I made sure to take the recipe with me. There is one word to describe them: decadent. Ok maybe two words: simple and decadent.

This is not a difficult recipe. Even my friend who hates baking should be able to handle this one. Graham cracker crumbs, coconut, walnuts, chocolate chips, and the kicker... sweetened condensed milk. The sweetened condensed milk holds these crumbly ingredients together, caramelizing a bit around the sides of the pan to make a chewy edge (my favorite part).

You could definitely use this same technique and modify the recipe to accommodate your favorite ingredients. For example, it would be great with a different kind of nut, or white chocolate. For even more variety, marshmallows or dried fruit would impart a totally different flavor.

I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe from, but I'm guessing it was from the side of a jar of sweetened condensed milk, since I was able to find a suspiciously similar recipe over on the Nestle website. While I was making these cookie bars for a friend's barbecue recently, it occurred to me that I didn't really know what sweetened condensed milk is, nor how it is different from its commonly used counterpart, evaporated milk.

I did a little research and it turns out that both sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk were developed in the mid 1800s as a way to preserve milk for long periods of time. Both products consist of milk that has had some water removed. However, evaporated milk requires more processing to preserve the milk, since the sugar in sweetened condensed milk acts as a preservative.

These days both ingredients are found most commonly in baking applications. For example, tres leches contains both condensed milk and evaporated milk. But that is for another post...

Here is what it looks like:



And here is the recipe:

Magic Cookie Bars

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (You can buy graham cracker crumbs, or put graham crackers in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. About 11 graham crackers make 1 1/2 cups crumbs.)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup coursely chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Measure graham cracker crumbs and sugar into a 13x9x2 inch pan and mix together. Pour the melted butter on top and combine with the crumbs. With the back of a spoon, press mixture firmly and evenly in the bottom of the pan to form a crust.

Sprinkle walnuts evenly over crust. Scatter chocolate bits over walnuts. Sprinkle coconut evenly over chocolate bits. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over coconut.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges.

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into bars.

My Favorite Burger

When I first started experimenting with burgers, I began by using the spices that I always cook with, like ginger, coriander, and cumin. I discovered that burgers really stand up well to a vast variety of ingredients. In fact, I even threw red wine vinegar in my burgers a few times and it still turned out great!

My favorite burger doesn't involve eggs or breadcrumbs - that's just filler. If you are careful to cut the onions finely, you really don't need any extra ingredients to hold the burger together. I like to compliment the meat with some spices, garlic, and onion, but otherwise let the meat speak for itself. One of my favorite flavor combinations is cumin and paprika for a smoky flavor and chili pepper for heat.

Recently, I picked up a book called Build a Better Burger. This book covers everything from your standard beef burger to ahi tuni burgers and lamb burgers. There are a ton of great new ideas for toppings and ingredients. I can't wait to try some of the more eccentric recipes, but this time around I decided to stick to my favorite burger, with a new topping from this book.

The topping that I chose to try is caramelized chipotle onions. The recipe for these onions includes chipotle tabasco sauce for some kick and brown sugar for sweetness. I also added a dash of cumin to compliment the spice in the burger.

One new ingredient for me in this recipe was the chipotle tabasco sauce. I discovered that it is slightly less spicy than the normal tabasco hot sauce, and I thought it added great flavor to the onions.

I am a sucker for spicy/sweet flavor combinations and this was no exception. I thought the onions turned out great and would definitely make them again in the future.

Here is what it looks like:


And here is the recipe:

My Favorite Burger
(makes 4 burgers)

Burger:

1 1/4 lbs ground beef (I like my burgers to be just over a quarter pound, but feel free to adjust as you like)
1/4 cup onion, chopped finely
couple of garlic cloves, chopped finely, about 1 Tbsp.
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin (sometimes for a mellower flavor I use coriander instead)
1/4 tsp. chile pepper, or more if you like heat
1/2 tsp. salt
several generous pepper grinds
splash of red wine, about 2 Tbsp.

Caramelized Chipotle Onions (adapted from Build a Better Burger):
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp TABASCO Chipotle Pepper Sauce
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
couple of garlic cloves, chopped finely, about 1 Tbsp.
1 Tbsp brown sugar
couple dashes of cumin (or coriander, if that's what you put in the burger)

whole wheat buns
toppings (I like avocado, tomato, and bleu cheese with this burger)

For the burger, mix all ingredients together until well blended. Split the mixture into four equal parts and make thin patties. Make them thinner than you actually want the final burger to turn out, as they will fatten during cooking.

For the onions, combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until onions are caramelized and golden brown.

Cook the burgers on the grill until cooked to desired doneness (I like about 5 minutes on each side, about medium rare). Grill the buns for a few seconds and then stack with the burger, the onions, and your favorite toppings.