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Sabrina's
Whole Grain, Buttermilk Triple Berry Pancakes
This past weekend played out like a
classic science fiction movie. I was hazy from sleep, and
It was not obvious at first. Late on Friday , a shiny
silver ship landed in front of my house. Unexpected bright
lights flashed inside my bedroom window. The wispy outline
of a human like creature passed without warning through
the landscaping in front of my house and headed toward my
front door. Surprised and breathing rapidly, I grabbed my
Machete, rushed into my living room hearing the alarm
sound and there before me was a young woman with long
blond hair, glowing with beauty and poise. At her feet lay
several piles of laundry. The young woman was my daughter.
Something seemed different, just like
all the parents raising children before me said it would
be. Sabrina, now 20 seemed concerned, loving and human
once again. After years of teen angst and non compliant
behavior, the aliens had finally returned her to me, a
delightful person, happy, appreciative and a joy to be
with. After the initial shock waned, I realized that all
the stories were indeed true. Sabrina passed through the
defiant years and has turned into a special person that
proved to be great company.
It's pay off time. We had a great
weekend cooking, dining and discussing life with my family
and friends. It was really rewarding for me as a single
parent to see such interest in food, ingredients and
cooking that Sabrina had developed at school. I see it as
a healthy obsession. In fact, she decided to combine a
degree in nutrition with her marketing degree plans as
well. She explained that she has become the unofficial
food counselor in her apartment complex up in Gainesville.
We laughed about how far she has come regarding her
cooking expertise. She shared a story about when she first
tried to make a hard boiled egg, she needed at least one
dozen eggs to yield 2 that could be eaten. Each time she
would drop an egg in the water, they would crack and leak
out. Now she makes picatta with capers and lemon zest,
home made sauces and composed salads that any restaurant
would be proud to serve. We spent part of the weekend
learning cooking techniques and dining out with my bothers
family, culminating in a Sunday brunch that would be hard
to find in any one place in S. Florida. My brother Howie
and his wife Wendy are avid cooks as well, we obviously
all share the family food gene. We discussed the
techniques of Asian cooking and how much we enjoy tasting
sweet, sour, salty and spicy in one bite. In fact, we
glanced at each other and immediately knew that we had to
have Vietnamese food, so we hopped in the car and headed
out to roll vegetable pancakes in lettuce, pluck basil
leaves and slurp noodles. As we ate, we planned a brunch
for 15 people the next morning. It was going to be a
special event. Quite a group was shaping up. My immediate
family and my sister in laws family, my aunt and uncle and
a very special guest. The owner of the Kerhonkson hotel in
the Catskill Mountains, Sadie Friedman, a livi ng legend
to the Petusevsky clan was coming. My brothers and I
worked for Sadie for generations and she was literally
responsible for molding much of our adolescent
personalities. We were all excited as we had not seen her
in over 20 years. It was a wonderful opportunity for her
to see what had become of some of her young waiters and
busboys, now grown with our own children. I couldn't wait
to spin stories about all the behind the scenes, Borscht
belt goings on.
We planned a traditional Catskill
Mountain buffet with few modern twists. Yes, we had to
serve piles of smoked fish, bagels, cream cheese, paper
thin sliced onions, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers. But there
would also be gingered fresh haricot verte ( fresh tiny
green beans), smoked paprika potato salad, Dijon egg salad
and Asian Cole slaw. Sabrina was craving home made
pancakes, so I dug deep back into the recipes that I had
from the Woodstock Inn in Vermont for my whole grain,
buttermilk triple berry pancakes. They were amazing served
with organic maple syrup. It was such an incredible, heart
warming afternoon full of old hotel stories, great food
and great people chemistry. Here is a recipe for some of
the greatest pancakes ever eaten. Please enjoy them with
those closest to you this weekend.
Sabrina's Whole Grain, Buttermilk Triple Berry Pancakes
Serves 6
You can substitute any chopped dried
fruit but the sweet dried blueberries go so well with the
tart raspberries. You can add chopped nuts or even
chocolate if you like.
Dried Ingredients
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk ( you may substitute 1 cup of low fat
plain yogurt diluted with 1 cup 2 % milk )
2 tablespoons melted Smart Balance or other butter product
or use canola oil
1 pint raspberries, well washed
1/2 pint blueberries, well washed
1/2 cup sun dried blueberries
pinch salt
Vegetable oil for spraying skillet
In a medium bowl, combine all the
dried ingredients. In a large mixing bowl add the eggs.
Alternatively add the dry ingredients with the buttermilk
and stir until just combined. Do not over mix the batter.
Ad the melted butter, all the berries
and salt. Toss just to combine. Adjust the thickness if
you must with additional buttermilk.
Heat a large non stick pan or skillet
and spray with oil. Make pancakes any size you want.
Additional batter can be stored in a plastic container for
up to 3 days.
Click here to download a printable PDF.
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Cupcake
Adventure In NYC
Sometimes, I start thinking about a
particular food and it becomes an obsession. I can't seem
to get the ingredient or particular dish out of my head.
It could be something as simple as a great arugula salad.
For weeks I have been craving a crisp, nutty fresh arugula
salad with sun dried tomatoes, olives, capers and grilled
vegetables piled up over the salad. I can clearly see this
salad image in my thoughts and time permitting, after it
really gets to me, I will make it for dinner. The other
night, it finally caught up with me. I have been traveling
incessantly for over a month and simply haven't had the
time to cook at home. You can't even get a great arugula
salad on the road anymore. On the way home from the
airport, I stopped and bought a huge bag of fresh arugula
and all the necessary ingredients to make this salad for
Sabrina and I, which has been invading my brain for weeks.
I mixed up a simple vinaigrette with black olive paste,
extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and tossed the
crisp arugula before placing on a huge plate. I know
vertical food is out, however this salad must have been 12
inches high. Piled high over the arugula were yellow
roasted peppers, plump sun dried tomatoes and capers. It
was a beautiful thing, I sat at the table and enjoyed
every bite.
This is only where this story begins
however. As you can imagine, there is more than arugula on
my mind. I have had cupcakes in my food psyche for several
months. I've been seeing commercialized cupcakes pop up in
a in a few chain concepts lately and started wondering,
what ever happened to these little hand held desserts that
were served by every mom from my generation ? Leave it to
Beaver, Dennis the Menace and Happy Days episodes all some
how had cupcakes in more than one show. Even my mom used
to make them for my dads luncheonette. I remember the
plates, stacked with cupcakes covered with a large clear
glass cover which at up on the counter of the "Brunch and
Munch" deli. Some had sprinkles dotting the top and others
chocolate jimmies. Occasionally I would actually unwrap
the little gems and chew on the paper to extract the last
bits of vanilla or chocolate essence before disposing the
papers. Hey, I was a kid. The bigger question is where did
these iconic pastries from the 60's and 70's go, and why
are they now making a comeback as retro food, with some
places charging upwards of 3 dollars for one ?
While in New York City this week, I
heard that several of the hip bakeries especially in the
Village were making cupcakes to die for. This was of
course enough for me to put on my khaki bush shirt and
camouflage jeans on , sort of like a modern day crocodile
hunter, in order to forage through the city in search of
the perfect cupcake. Summer in the city is rough, It was
95 degrees out with humidity to match. Intermittent rare,
violent storms were hitting the city, but I didn't care. I
was on a mission with only 2 nights to find a real
cupcake. I left my hotel room and walked straight through
the center of the city from the upper west side determined
to find my cupcake. I hit Time Square and it was still so
exciting to see, being transformed into a huge tourist
attraction from the seedy adult club Mecca it once was.
The weather turned and I was forced to take a cab to the
village from 42nd street. Lightening, thunder and waves of
rain persisted and I had the cab dump me off on Bleeker
St. where the rumors of great cupcakes abounded. Through
the torrents of rain , one block ahead, I saw a long line
wrap around the corner of this tiny little funky bakery,
and I thought, this must be it. I have found the holy
cupcake grail. At this moment, the clouds parted, the
rains stopped for a few moments and rays of sunshine
peeked out over the awning of the little bakeshop. I'm not
religious, but I felt this was a message. I could see a
large man, draped in white, wearing a long flowing apron.
Another symbolic occurrence, who was allowing only 4 or 5
people to enter the tiny shop at once. I'm thinking,
enough with the religious overtones, what kind of bakeshop
has a bouncer anyway ? How good can these be and since
when do you have to have your name on a list to get a
cupcake. This was NYC after all, so I went with the flow.
I waited 30 minutes to get just the ok nod to enter and
entered slow ly, getting the lay of the land inside. This
bakery was about as big as my bedroom. How the system
worked, was you pick up your own box and fill it yourself
with cupcakes from bakery sheet pans lying on a small
shelf by the window of the bakery. There were 5 baking
pans lined with a mixture of either vanilla or chocolate
cupcakes, with a variety of colored icings. There were
either rainbow or chocolate sprinkles over each. The icing
was really thick and all I could smell was butter, butter
and more butter. I had a choice of 1 size box that would
hold up to 4 cupcakes and a larger one that holds a dozen.
A huge sign over head says, Sorry- one dozen limit !
Special orders are accepted for larger quantities. I
couldn't imagine what I would do if I hadn't called ahead
and needed like 14 cupcakes for a party. Perhaps I could
bribe the person ahead or behind me, this is NYC. I slowly
carried my 2 cupcakes past the line of heavily tattooed
bakers and icing specialists armed with spatulas and scary
looking body piercings, feeling much like a Seinfeld
episode of the soup Nazi and gently flipped open my box so
the cashier could verify my 2 cupcake purchase.I would be
on my way soon. I heard the red velvet cupcakes were great
but I didn't see any and frankly at this point I was to
intimidated to ask for them. You don't get a bag unless
you ask for one.
The experience was far greater than
the product, I hate to say. I couldn't understand what
people were raving about. The cupcakes were tiny and
although the icing was clearly made with pure butter, I
felt to guilty about eating all the icing- it was so thick
and disproportionate to the cake size. It was really
disappointing, and then I realized what was going one
here. I view this whole retro food thing as a sociological
issue. Most of the people that told me about the cupcakes
were in their twenties. These kids have never grown up
with home made mothering kinds of foods and as a result,
these cupcakes must be amazing. In fact, there is nothing
to compare them to. Sadly to say, this generation never
had the kind of foods which our parents, mostly mothers
had the time to make for us at home. I started playing
around with a cupcake recipe I had at home and wanted to
come up with a great cupcake that might also have the
benefit of being a bit better for our health. I wanted to
make a savory not sweet cupcake that kids might want as
well. I felt I could even put vegetables in them as well.
These are a great accompaniment to dinner. If you want to
get crazy, ice these cakes with nacho cheese sauce over
the top of sprinkle some additional cheese over the top,
the last 5 minutes of baking.
Broccoli- Cheddar Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
? cup melted butter
? canola oil
1-1/2 cups low fat shredded cheddar cheese
8 ounce package, corn muffin mix
1 head broccoli, chopped, cooked in boiling water and
drained (or 10 ounce package frozen, cooked and drained)
? cup frozen peas, defrosted
Vegetable oil for spraying muffin tins
Optional: any cheese spread, softened
to spread on cupcakes surface.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the eggs in a large mixing bowl and begin to beat
with an electric mixer on low.
Add butter, oil and cheese, mix on low.
Add muffin mix, broccoli and peas, mix on low speed for
another minute.
Spray muffin tins with cooking spray, line with wax paper
muffin liners and divide batter among muffin cups.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly
browned.
Cool on a rack before serving and if desired, spread with
prepared cheese spread, or nacho cheese sauce before
serving.
Click here to download a printable PDF. ^Top
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