Whole Grain Pancakes Tasty And Fun

Even though it's summer , you still can make a hot breakfast.One of the most popular and easiest is a plate of pancakes. On their own or paired with bacon and eggs, they make a great start to a beach  day or a jaunt in the woods. Add . whole grains and they're even better.

Melissa Clark wrote about them  in her column, A Good Appetite, in yesterday's New York Times Food section. She reminisces when her mother made them - for them a rare occasion.The elder added cottage cheese(!) to give the pancakes a tang . The texture was airy thanks to the eggs being separated and the whites being beaten into a frothy meringue.Ms. Clark's are the opposite  - dense and buttery, hearty and rich in flavor. This comes from combining whole grains such as whole wheat flour, cornmeal and and oat. Regular white flour anchors the whole recipe. Like any other pancake recipe, add ins are welcome. Use the fruits of the season, blueberries and strawberries. Chocolate chips can also be added in.Ms Clark recommends waiting until the cakes are semi cooked before to toss in the extras, as opposed to putting them in the batter.Wait until tiny bubbles appear on the surface and then drop the fruit or chips on to cakes before flipping. They'll set without running.It also allows the home chef  to create neat smiley faces on them without any smears.

The recipe is the basic pancake one. The batter is adaptable. Home chefs can adjust the ratios of flours being used. You can also sub in rye or buckwheat flour for the whole wheat. The liquid is buttermilk or plain yogurt (Ms Clark advises against using the Greek kind). It can be made with coconut milk and oil for vegetarians and the lactose intolerant. Three large eggs give it body and fullness.They don't have to be separated. What really makes it rich is the quarter cup of melted butter.along with the tablespoon of honey (for an earthier flavor use the dark variety.Also try sage , orange blossom, or wildflower honey to infuse their flavor). Use a griddle or cast iron pan for cooking them - although a regular one will do just fine. Cook the cakes in butter, flipping them when bubbles appear on the surface and start to burst. Flip and then cook for three more minutes, util the surface is golden brown. Go old school with a stack graced by a large pat of melting and a puddle of maple syrup.

A hot breakfast is still a desirable one despite the temps. Nothing beats a stack of buttery , whole grain pancakes. They're the perfect way to start a summer's day.

I Do Love Wedding Food

One of the most important components of a wedding is the food. The dress may get tongues wagging but a sumptuous and delicious meal will get mouths watering.  It's the meal that's the most memorable - not the bride  -not the groom but what they'll eat.

Karen Stabiner,  author of Generation Chef wrote about it in today's New York Times Food section. Millennials don't want their parents or grandparents' celebratory dinners that usually consisted of filet, mignon , chicken and fish.A fancy baked potato and a sprig of overcooked broccoli rounded out this meal celebrating love. Everything is changing, from hors d'ouevres to the cake. Thanks to Instagram, the wedding is n't about the traditional, it's about one upping other couples with culinary spectacles. The meal doesn't start off with cocktail weinies or mini rounds of Italian bread topped with bruschetta. It's much more artistic and elaborate , especially in the way the food is served. Carla Ruben, founder of Creative Edge parties catered the wedding reception of Serena Williams and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. One of their nibbles was short ribs inside a latticed pastry dome that seemed to defy gravity. Another planner, T.G.  Girard of Pinch Food  Designs has designed 3-D printed trays with spikes to hold bites and a wall hanging of  pipettes holding just enough wine for a cheese and charcuterie tidbit.

Couples  are also rethinking the main part of the wedding meal,It's no longer a sit down dinner but a movable feast.Pinch Food Designs  throws a roaming dinner in which guests can wander from once specially designed mobile unit to another. The concept is taken one stop further with what designers
call"pop-up"food. Servers appear with enough food for forty lucky guests.it goes on for the next forty , sort of like creating a flash mob or craze.T.G Girard's partner in Pinch Food Designs, Bob Speigel calls it a happening designed to create a buzz in the corner of the room. There are brides and grooms who do want a traditional dinner. It's then up to the chef to bring the wow factor. One, Los Angeles based Phillipe Martin makes a beef tartare, with an egg surrounded by chopped meat.A bouquet of flours tops it off. As for the cake, again tradition goes out the window. Gone are the elaborately frosted and decorated tiers. Naked or exposed cakes are big. This is just having the tiers filled with buttercream but leaving the sides unfrosted.Christine Tosi, pastry chef, of the famed Milk Bar bakery created the Milk ID program which allows customers to mix and match fillings and crumbs. Other alternatives are doughnuts on hooks and mini ice cream cones along with recreating the couple's  favorite child hood candy bars.

There will always be love and marriage. How it's celebrated is changing.Love is love but a wedding feast is now something special

Your Own Artisanal Ice Cream

One of the hottest summer trends right now is artisanal ice cream. This treat is a throwback to earlier variations our grandparents and great-grandparents ate. .Not only are they pure and free of any preservatives, they take the best of the season's fruit as flavoring. The best part - they can be made at home with just a minimum of fuss.

The first question in homemade ice cream making is do you really need an ice cream maker. The answer is no. While having one facilitates the process you can use a simple ice water bath  which is placing a bowl of just cooked cream mixture in a bigger bowl filled with ice water. The bowl is them placed isude the freezer part of the fridge. Another method is using the humble sandwich baggie, This is a fun activity for the kids.It's mixing all the ingredients in a small one, sealing it and them putting it into a gallon weight baggie. Fill the last with four cups and four tablespoons with ice cream salt and then wrap in a dish towel. Shake for five minutes to have a soft serve kind of treat. Another question is do you want to make it French or Philadelphia style? French style  is thick and custardy, usually using three to four egg yolks. If you want a rich, creamy mouthfeel go this route. Philadelphia or American style ice cream is made with just sugar, milk  and cream. Philadelphia style does have a tendency to crystilize quicker than the French, sometimes giving it a watery mouth feel.

Artisanal ice creams always use the best and the freshest get the best whole milk.If you want to have a richer. flavor add whole cream Raw cane sugar is used but you  can also use honey or maple syrup too. What is fun about artisanal ice cream is that flavors, both savory and sweet can be blended. Instead of a plain chocolate, turn it into a sweet, peppery mole with the addition of chili powder.Sea salt is a much used ingredient. Try a home made caramel spiked with nuggets of Celtic sea salt. Artisans like to pair vanilla with lavender.Two tablespoons of the dried flowers should be used in the French style recipe.This would make an elegant end to an outdoor dinner party. Roses are another flower , this new generation of ice cream makers are using. Use the petals just for decoration. Flavor the ice cream mixture with rose water.Fruit is big with the artisan set. Definitely use the best of the harvest right now. One delightful pairing is strawberry and rhubarb.  Use about a pound of cooked rhubarb to about eight ounces of strawberries. You can also just make it with just the rhubarb. Another cool and hip flavor is blackberry.It not only give the cream mixture a rich berry flavor but tints the cream a striking mauve hue.

Artisanal ice cream just isn;t for the trend makers.It can be a delicious part of anyone's summer diet. get creative with the variety of flavors and recipes.

When The In Season is Out

Like any other businesses  restaurants have in and out seasons. Of course the busy times are a boon to eateries. It means more of a food turnover as well as more cash flow coming in. It's a great time?Or is it?

I experienced this yesterday when visiting my favorite shore restaurant ,  the Atlatnic Highlands Bahr's and its' offshoot, Moby's Lobster Deck.  I was in need of some serious eats.after a beach day of walking and splashing about. I figured it wouldn;t be that crowded.Was I wrong.It was beyond packed. Thanks to the holiday and the high temps this shore hang out was crammed with customers and cars. It was a headache. This is start of the in season for many shore eateries. That means making reservations or waiting and fighting for everything from parking spaces to tables. It also means long lines and shortages.What to do? Think about packing your own meals. This saves on both eating out and waiting a ridiculously long time for a cup of clam chowder and fries. Pack a lot.Have plenty of extras such as water and snacks. You don;t want to make an extra stops, especially if you're in a steady line of traffic. That  will delay more time at the beach. If you do want to eat afterwards, then head inland. There are some cute and often well rated cafes a mile or two from the sand and sea. Check them out on  line.You may even find one that will become a family favorite.

With warmer weather more people spend dinner time out and about. Again this means making reservations at places that you normally wouldn't. Another idea is eating at an earlier time. Many Yelp reviews list the most popular times. Follow this when you''re planning a night out and go for an early hour.  Another idea is take out dinners .It's really the best of both worlds. You eat your favorite dishes in the quiet of your backyard patio. Ask for dessert as well to complete the experience. You could also recreate then at home. It could be a fun challenge to  whip up a dish even better than your favorite chef could. What happens if the restaurant becomes too popular and crowded? Again, like with the beach front places , look to other ones. Take advantage of Groupon and Val-Pac which introduce the newest eateries to the local  population.. Newer restaurants do not have a following as the older, more established ones. They will not only be grateful for the business but also accommodating.

An in season place is going to usually be overcrowded and rife with shortages and sell outs. Go to it in the off season. Take this time to discover new eateries and quiet dinners on the back patio.

Reinterpreting Francis Lam

Spoiler alert - this about the recipe in tomorrow's New York Times Sunday magazine.

There's nothing like an interesting recipe to get a home chef's creative juices going. That what it was today when I happened upon Francis Lam's recipe using red peppers. It was inspired by his two year old's love and constant demand of red peppers. Unfortunately the kid sometimes gets tired of them, leaving a fridge of bright red spears quickly aging. Mr. Lam who also is the host of  The  Splendid Host. on American Public Media looked to Justin Smillies cookbook, "Slow Fires" a book he edited. It is a kind of a red pepper jelly, made flavorful with onions and thyme and garlic -lots and lots of garlic.

Of course I put my own spin on it. I used four colors of peppers and two huge onions.

The onions were minced in my mini-chopper and I also added chopped tomatoes for more of a ratatouille vibe.

About four cups of chopped onions were added to a quarter of a cup of olive oil. The amount of oil was just not enough. I increased it to one half cup which worked very well. 

The peppers were cut into sticks as per Mr. Lam's recipe.

The onions were cooked down first with the tomatoess and garlic in the olive oil. As per directions four large pinches of sea salt were added to sweat out the juices. Thyme was in the original recipe but I felt oregano was more suitable and flavorful.

Mr. Lam used old  peppers however I used fresh ones that took about twenty minutes to cook down.

The end result was tasty. Mr. Lam served his over toasted slices of artisanal bread with a large dollop of  ricotta slathered on each. I'm not a big ricotta person and soft bread wouldn't work . I used Italian bread cut into four cubes. The peppers were poured over them in a large bowl.

The bread perfectly sopped up the juices and it proved to be very delicious.A plus is that there was so much left over I'll create a second meal with flavored rice for it.

 I plan on making this again with definitely less onions and definitely more peppers. I do want to keep in the tomato.It added more flavor and color.

Celebrating Versailles

Desserts had their renaissance and glory days during the last days of the Bourbons. They were creamy, and elegant, sculpted and delicious. Now thanks to a modern day pastry chef , home bakers and chefs can recreate them for their summer parties.

Yottom Ottolenghi wrote about them the other day in Wednesday's New York Times Food section. He is hosting a night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the museum's Visitors To Versailles exhibit. It is a joint venture between the Met and the Chateau de Versailles, featuring every aspect of court life from April to closing at the end of July. To celebrate his night there, Chef Ottolenghi has created two desserts worthy of any Versailles pastry chef. One is an elaborate apricot tart made with the heavenly frangipane cream and marzipan a must and luxury of Marie Antoinette. On top of the tart is a creme patisserie layer, a cooked cream that was becoming popular in the late 1700's. It's kind of like a sweet roux married to a sabayon thanks to the addition of  four egg yolks. The star of this though, is poached apricots. Lime and Sauternes, a sweet white  dessert wine are added to it for more flavor. The apricots are cooked again, this time baked when they 're added to the pie. The pie and all its' components is a bit to elaborate to make during these sweltering summer days. Unfortunately there are no short cuts here.

Luckily, there is an easier alternative which I wanted to try. This still has the poached apricots in Sauterne  but without all the fuss of crusts and layering different creams. It is still an elaborate make and will probably take me an entire afternoon. I do want to try this with the apricots but also want to try this with peaches and possibly nectarines.. Could berries be added, like strawberries or blackberries?. I was wondering if it's really necessary to add the Sauterne ttoo - can I just use water?. It's only a scant cup. Will the additional flavor really be missed? Maybe. The fruit slices are cooked twice, once poached, then briefly cooked over a high heat. The cream that goes with it is a marriage of mascarpone and heavy cream. Unsalted and toasted pistachios are added to it along with crushed amaretti cookies and sugar. Again I wonder if I can put in variations. Suppose salted pistachios are used for more depth and to cut the sweetness? As for amaretti cookies which are a rarity around here in the summer - can I switch in crushed biscotti? Both are flavored with anise, except the biscotti has a milder dose of it.  Then another interesting poser- can I freeze it to make a kind of semi freddo? That would make a neat dessert with the apricots.

The French patisserie chefs of Versailles made amazing desserts. It will be fun to emulate them and create these sweets. They are a salute to the glory of Gallic baking and cooking. Let's see if us commoners can recreate them,

The Start Of Barbecue Season

One of the best aspects about Flag Day is that it's the start of the barbecue season. Where else but to look to Germany where our barbecue staples originated. Stick with the standards or try some modern twists.

Of course there are hamburgers, originally from the northern port city Hamburg, located on the Elbe River. These are always tasty and over the years have had been changed with all sorts of spices and extras thrown into the original recipe. It calls for onion which gives the chopped meat that distinctive flavor along with dried bread crumbs and parsley. Egg is used for binding. What many American home chefs don't realize is that there is another flavor - an undercurrent of spice. It is nutmeg, usually one quarter teaspoon. There may be a debate about this  of whether or not to use grated fresh or bottled. That's really up to you and if you can get fresh nutmeg or not. (most farmer's markets do sell the nuts, they're about the size of chestnuts). A good dose of fresh ground pepper and a teaspoon of sea salt is also added. The onion must be cooked until translucent in a foam of butter (use a knob of butter and cook until a pale golden brown foam forms).Let the onions cool and add them and the other ingredients to the chopped beef. Cook until nicely browned on both sides.

Hot dogs or frankfurters are another German contribution. Unfortunately, they can't be made at home yet you can easily buy those that taste like the first dogs.Frankfurter Wurtzschen can be bought at German butchers in your area, This may take an extensive Google search  (although should it should be easier in the Chicago area) however if you're in the Bergen County area of New Jersey , then go to the Swiss Pork Store in Fair Lawn.. They make the most original frankfurters along with weisswurst, the creamy  , ivory colored wurst.  If you don't have one nearby then look into The Wurst Haus which comes out of Hermann, Missouri. They may be able to sell them to you. If not , then go for Nathan's which has the best flavor and texture. Another barbecue must have is bratwurst. These are delicious just grilled  and served with mustard  and sauerkraut. If you can make the last then do so, It is fermentation but it's one of the easiest ferments to do at home.

It's the start of the barbecue season. Go for the wursts , bratwursts and Hamburg steaks.Enjoy the originals.