Pancakes have always been a frustrating and disappointing experience for me. Most of my life I have been completely unable to cook them without burning the outsides or leaving them raw in the middle. After making pancakes every Saturday for three months, I can honestly say everything I knew about pancakes was wrong.  If you are like me, you grew up making pancakes from a box, not a recipe. Box pancakes are generally easy to make because there is only one way to make them; but as soon as you enter the world of personal, customized recipes everything changes. All the tricks (like, don’t flip it until the bubbles stop closing) lead me astray the more creative I got with my cooking, to the point where I nearly abandoned pancakes entirely. I think it actually took me three months of regular pancake making to gain any confidence in making or adapting them. So, let me first share a few of tips about making pancakes, then go over 3 of my favorite pancake recipes.

• You don’t need bubbles to form if you are making thick cake-like pancakes, and you need the top of the pancake to be almost dry and dotted with tons of holes if you are making incredibly thin pancakes.
• “too hot” doesn’t make the pancakes look weird, too much grease does. Having your pan too hot just burns the pancakes. This explains why the first pancake always looks weird. I’ve found the best way to handle that problem is to use well seasoned iron skillets, seasoned to the point where you don’t need to add additional grease (there is butter in the batter for these recipes). If you must add oil to the pan, try to towel most of it away, leaving the thinnest coating possible.
• sugar AND butter are used in the recipes to help caramelize the pancakes, making them a nice golden brown. If you want to remove or adjust one of these you will need to compensate with the other or your pancakes will be pretty gross (over cooked on the inside, or underdone on the outside)
• you don’t have to line everyone up and serve them right away. Put them on a plate in the oven on the lowest temperature and they will be fine for at least a couple hours (I promise!)
• I strongly, strongly recommend serving your pancakes with sour cream and real maple syrup. The combination is incredible.

Basic Pancake Recipe: (this is an unsweetened, slightly salty pancake recipe, fluffy and wonderfully golden)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached white flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) melted butter

Method:

• sift dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl
• in a small bowl, beat 1 egg and mix in 2 cups of milk and the melted butter
• add all the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and quickly mix them together well (it can be lumpy, just make sure there are no pockets of dry ingredients hugging the bowl)
• using a ladle measure about a half cups worth of batter into a hot well seasoned pan. Flip when it fluffs up a little and the pancake seems a little stiffer. You can lift a corner and peak underneath if you are uncertain when to flip it.

NOTE: for thinner crepe-like pancakes add about a 1/4 cup more milk, mix well and flip when the tops are dry.

Chocolate Corn Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup corn flour (do not use polenta or coarse cornmeal)
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 oz of unsweetened chocolate, cut coarsely
• 1 egg
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) melted butter

Method:

• sift dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl then add the 2 oz of chocolate
• in a small bowl, beat 1 egg and mix in 2 cups of milk and the melted butter
• add all the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and quickly mix them together well (it can be lumpy, just make sure there are no pockets of dry ingredients hugging the bowl)
• using a ladle measure about a half cups worth of batter into a hot well seasoned pan. Flip when it fluffs up a little and the pancake seems a little stiffer. You can lift a corner and peak underneath if you are uncertain when to flip it.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 Tablespoons of molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) melted butter

Method:

• sift dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl then add the 2 oz of chocolate
• in a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 3 Tablespoons of molasses before mixing in 2 cups of milk and the melted butter
• add all the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and quickly mix them together well (it can be lumpy, just make sure there are no pockets of dry ingredients hugging the bowl)
• using a ladle measure about a half cups worth of batter into a hot well seasoned pan. Flip when it fluffs up a little and the pancake seems a little stiffer. You can lift a corner and peak underneath if you are uncertain when to flip it.

NOTE: Because of the molasses these pancakes will cook faster than most pancakes. Flip them a little earlier than you think you need to, they burn quickly. Also, be careful about adapting the quantity of buckwheat. Too much will make the pancakes sandy and bitter. Buckwheat also absorbs a liquid quickly, meaning you might need to add extra milk if you add extra buckwheat.

The name really does say it all. Bread pudding is literally a baked custard dish with chunks of stale bread, dried fruit and spices.  It’s history is not that dissimilar to mincemeat, originating as a filling and frugal way to use left over food.  Because of this, a traditional bread pudding recipe uses incredibly dry, stale bread, soaked overnight in a milk or egg batter, squeezed dry then baked with spices and fruit. But in these days of plastic bags and refrigerators I find myself more often with moist molding bread than dry stale bread, while as a food service worker with lots of friends working in cafes bakeries and restaurants, many different types of bread to boot.  I also have a very very small refrigerator.  So, a good bread pudding recipe for me needs to be flexible and quick without creating a stale sticky mess.  This is one I’ve developed and tested with multiple types of bread (including croissants and muffins) at various stages of staleness. Sweet and tender.

Ingredients:
2 cups of milk
¼ cup (1 stick) of melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 cups of bread torn or cut into small pieces
½ cup of raisins

1.    Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F
2.    In a large bowl whisk together milk, butter, sugar, eggs cinnamon and vanilla (Fig 2).
3.    Add bread and soak until well absorbed (5-10 minutes depending on the bread) (Fig 3).
4.    Mix in raisins and add to a 9×5″ loaf pan.
5.    Bake at 350 degrees F until sizzling and golden (about 45 minutes) (Fig 4-5).
6.    Serve warm with milk or cold with a sweet syrup.

Mulled Wine: Warm and Spicy

Mulled wine is another frugal favorite of mine. Made in many countries by many different names, it is a very old tradition especially popular in winter. Invented to make bad wine drinkable (in this case, bad meaning cheap), it is the perfect inexpensive punch for any winter party, as well as an excellent after dinner drink.

Ingredients*:
1 gallon of cheap wine
2 c. orange juice
1 c. muscovado or dark brown sugar
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced
6 whole cloves
4 long cinnamon sticks (about 6 inches each)
4 whole star anise
1 T. of whole black peppercorns
½ t. of cayenne pepper

1. In a large stock pot combine all ingredients and heat just below a simmer for at least 10 minutes.
2. Serve immediately from the pot, or in a Crock-pot on low as a warm party punch. Garnish with an orange slice.
* you can spike this recipe with a cup of vodka after heating if you want it a little stronger

View previous holiday recipes

Mincemeat pies have been made for nearly a thousand years, and yes, they did used to have meat in them.  They are among the first of many food items made popular by the heavy amount of spices used to make something probably very gross into something actually very palatable.  Like many old peasant recipes, mincemeat pies were valued for being flexible, filling, and long lasting.  They were traditionally made with any type or part of meat as a way of preserving meat without loads of salt or drying, instead using alcohol, vinegar, and spices.  Originally more meat than fruit and more of a main course than a dessert, over the years it has evolved into a dish more fruit than meat, more sweet than savory, making the journey from a preserved meat dish to a basic chutney.  In fact, most modern mincemeat recipes only use suet (beef fat) if they use any meat at all, and suet is easily substituted for vegetable shortening.  You should feel free to play with this recipe, using what you have at your disposal when it comes to the fruits, vinegars, and alcohols; however, keep in mind that in order for it to keep the traditional flavor of a true mincemeat, you should always include a vinegar, an alcohol, a shortning, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon.

Ingredients:

1 c. dried fruit, minced
1 c. raisins
4 c. apples, peeled, cored, diced
zest and juice of 1 orange
½ c. sugar
½ c. apple cider vinegar
1 c. apple jack, brandy, wine, or port
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. ginger
¼ t. nutmeg
pinch of cloves
¼ c. vegetable shortening (I use Crisco, which is the most like suet and has the least additives)

1. Choose a selection of your favorite dried fruits, mincing the larger fruits onto raisin sized pieces.  I use cranberries, dates, figs, and prunes.
2. Peel core and dice the apples (fig 2-3) into quarter inch pieces.
3. Combine all ingredients in a 4-quart heavy bottomed or non-stick pan.  Cook until apples disintegrate forming a saucy paste around the dried fruits (fig 4).
4. Serve warm with a meal or use as pie filling.  Mincemeat will last refrigerated for several months.  If you are experienced in canning, you can also can this recipe processing for 15 minutes in a waterbath canner.

Before we get started, I want to give you a couple of tips on picking and handling root vegetables.

1. Root vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fiber. Roots absorb nutrients from the soil and store them for the plant distributing them as a supplement to photosynthesis, energizing the plant and keeping it healthy. However, roots are sometimes such excellent sponges that they can also hold many of the toxins and harsh chemicals associated with commercial fertilizers. The skins of root vegetables are often the healthiest part, but if you don’t know where your vegetables are coming from, they can also be the least healthy. Knowing this, I recommend you peel them if you plan to use conventionally grown root vegetables. If you grow them yourself or buy them from small farms, organic farms, or any farmer you trust, I highly recommend you don’t peel them, the flavor and texture is greatly improved with the skins on, not to mention the nutrients.

2. Many root vegetables have usable tops. Carrots and beets in particular have excellent greens. Carrot tops can be used in juicing (which I have to admit I’m not a fan of, but if you love wheat grass you’ll love juiced carrot tops) or in vegetable stock, while beet tops are nothing more than ugly looking chard (fig 2). You can use beet tops for a variety of things, cooking them like you would spinach or collards, using them in soups, quiche, sautéed side dishes, or stock. This is true for other root vegetables, like radishes, turnips and daikon. If you can get any of these with their tops, it’s worth it, and if you aren’t sure how to cook them, ask the person selling them. They sell them with the tops for a reason, and most farmers are more than happy to explain why they think they are delicious.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of carrots
1 bunch of beets
1 bunch of parsnips
1/4 c. Bourbon
2 t. Sea Salt
2 T. Olive Oil
Black Pepper
9×13 baking pan

1. Wash and prepare vegetables by trimming the ends and cutting them lengthwise into finger sized pieces. If the beets are small, you can quarter them. Keeping the beets separate, place them into large bowls.

2. Drizzle olive oil over the cut pieces, using about 2 Tablespoons. In the bowl with the parsnips and carrots, add the 1/4 cup of bourbon and heavily salt them, using at least 2 teaspoons. Stir them well evenly coating them as best as possible. Bourbon, in this case, is used to aid the caramelization process. If you don’t have any handy, you can substitute 2 teaspoons of sugar, honey, or maple syrup.

3. Place the beets into the baking pan first, distributing them evenly. Allowing the beets to cook a little before stirring them in with the other vegetables will preserve the colors of the parsnips and carrots, resulting in a much prettier dish. Carefully distribute the remaining vegetables on top, and pepper them to taste. Even if you don’t like a lot of pepper, I recommend peppering them well. The small amount of spice will aid the in the flavor contrast of the sweet and savory dish. I use freshly ground pepper on a somewhat coarse grind.

4. Preheating the oven. What makes this dish especially appealing is how versatile the cooking temperature is. I find it’s best if you can get it in the oven with a lower temperature dish, around 300-325F, and let it cook for a couple of hours. But, I very often cook it in a rush at 375F or even 425F, which cuts the cooking time down to a half hour to an hour, and allows me to cook it with a variety of different main dishes. Keeping that in mind, if they are the only thing in the oven, start them early and use a low temperature. If you have other dishes on the menu, just toss them in with whatever else you are making, and adjust the cooking time accordingly.

5. After the first 15 minutes, stir the vegetables around, coating them evenly with the juices collecting on the bottom. Do this every 10-15 minutes until the vegetables look withered and are extremely soft on the inside. They should remain slightly chewy and salty on the outside. You can adjust the salt at the end if need to. When finished, serve them in a decorative bowl.

Mashed Celeriac:

Keep in mind that one celeriac will comfortably feed 2-3 people depending on how large the servings are. You can easily multiply this recipe based on how many people you plan to feed and how much food you are already providing.

Ingredients:

1 celeriac or celery root

1 small clove of garlic

1 whole nutmeg or a pinch of ground nutmeg

cream, water, or anything in between

salt

Equipment:

Food processor

• Take one celeriac (fig. 1) and rinse it to remove any loose dirt
• Using a knife trim away any roots (fig. 2)
• With a vegetable peeler peel away the tough outer skin revealing the white inner flesh. Use a pairing knife to remove any difficult spots (fig. 3). Celeriac trimmings are a great addition to stock if you would like to save them for future use.
• Cut the celeriac into ½ inch pieces (fig. 4)
• Boil the celeriac in water until tender, as if they were potatoes (5-6 minutes)
• Strain the celeriac and add to the food processor with 1 small clove of garlic. If your garlic is large, cut off a small piece of it. As a garlic lover I know the temptation to add more, but trust me, too much will over power the mash and destroy the flavor of the Celeriac. You can always add more later, you can’t always take it back…
• Using a sharp pairing knife or zester, scrape a small amount of nutmeg over the celeriac. You want enough to equal a pinch. If you don’t have whole nutmeg, use a pinch of ground nutmeg instead.
• Salt to taste. You can add more later, and I recommend pushing this limit a bit. After you blend the celeriac you might find it seeming a little flavorless. Try adding more salt before anything else, the saltier it is the tastier it gets
• Add a dash of cream, milk, water, or your liquid of choice, and blend it until smooth stopping occasionally to add more liquid or to push the edges down. If you choose, you can use the water you boiled the celeriac in.
• Taste a small amount and adjust the garlic, nutmeg, and salt, as needed
• The blending and addition of cool liquids should make the celeriac about room temperature. I prefer to serve it warm, but some like it hot, some cold. Whatever your pleasure, spoon it into a dish and its ready to serve!

Making stocks is such a simple practice I’m always amazed it’s not an everyday household habit. It really is as simple as throwing your waste vegetable and fruit bits into a pot or a jar instead of the trash or compost. The hardest thing about making a vegetable stock is learning what sorts of vegetables leave a good flavor when boiled into oblivion, and what constitutes something you don’t want to eat, but can still use, versus something is just plain bad. We can start with a list of the most commonly used vegetables in a stock; ones that are often used as a stock base. You should always use at least a little of these vegetables, and if you want to prepare a quick stock you can use any combination of them and end up with something fantastic. As for choosing what’s fair game and what’s trash, a good rule of thumb is something that doesn’t smell bad, but just doesn’t look good. So, rubbery or dried out is find, but molding is not.

• Celery: use trimmed off ends, wilted leaves or stalks, and the base
• Onion: use the skins and trimmed off base or edges, the skins impart flavor and color
• Carrots: use the skins and trimmed off ends, or whole carrots that have gone rubbery, you can even use the tops
• Potatoes: use the skins or whole potatoes that have started to sprout
• Sweet Potatoes: use the skins or whole potatoes that have started to sprout

Next, you will want to learn to improvise a little with vegetables that you might not use everyday, but will add excellent flavor. You can add as much or as little of these as you happen to use around the kitchen, but you don’t necessarily need them to create a good stock.

• Apples and Pears: cores, skins, or apples that are turning soft or browning
• Winter Squash: skins and seeds, or any part you would normally discard
• Garlic: skins, trimmings, whole pieces, old pieces
• Sweet Peppers: seeds, trimmings, old or rubbery peppers
• Mushrooms: any kind, trimmed off edges, older unsightly mushrooms
• Beets: skins, tops, trimmings
• Chard: leaves, stocks, trimmings, wilted or dried out leaves
• Corn: kernels, cores

Last are vegetables you will want to use somewhat sparingly. Many of these are in the mustard or cabbage family, and include things like broccoli, kale, collard greens, and cabbage. These vegetables can add a wonderful flavor to a stock when somewhat fresh, but the older they get the more sour they begin to taste, and the more of them you use the more they will overpower your stock. A quick list of common mustard and cabbage vegetables should help you out.

Kale, Broccoli, Collard Greens, Bok Choi, Mustard Greens, Cabbage, Radishes, Turnips, and daikon. I usually include green beans and peas in this list.

The process for collecting and cooking a stock is easiest part. When I know I will be doing a lot of cooking, or possibly making a lot of soup, I start a jar or bucket which I keep in the refrigerator and fill with trimmings as the week goes on. When it is full, I empty it into a pot and search around the refrigerator for old vegetables I’m not going to use for anything else, fill the pot with water and cook it up. It’s really that simple. You don’t need any particular amount of water, or any particular amount of vegetables, you really can just wing it. Any thing you cook will be tastier than plain water, right? I usually leave it on the stove for a while as I’m cooking other things, but you will want to cook it for a minimum of 10 minutes. When you’re finished, strain it with a mesh strainer or a few pieces of cheese cloth, ladle it into a jar, and keep it in the refrigerator until you need it again. That’s it!