FLIPPING OUT OVER VEGGIE PANCAKES
Rumor has it this week the Norse God, Ullr, and Mother Nature got together over a simple supper of salad, farçous and grog to decide if it was finally time to usher Springtime into the Rockies. In Norse mythology Ullr (pronounced ooul-er), the handsome stepson of Thor of thunder fame, was the god of snowshoes, hunting, the bow and the shield. Swift on his skis, it was his mission each winter to cover the earth’s landscape to protect it from harm. Americans being Americans, we have enthusiastically adopted Ullr as our personal Snow God…… not such a stretch. Plus, it’s fun.
ULLR, a mythical Norse god
drawing by npaganism.org
Last Monday, Winter’s last gasp brought heavy snows, continuing avalanche danger and record cold temperatures to the West. While this round after round of late-season snow has been frustrating, it’s tamped down the wild fire danger considerably. We need the moisture.
But the buds of spring are peeking through the soil, the ski mountains are weary from their winters work and the bears have had enough of this hibernating mumbo-jumbo. Yesterday, I shared Independence Pass road with a humongous (but harmless) black bear. If the bears are back, it’s a sign that Ullr and Mother Nature came to terms. Whoopee and Hooray.
Big-leafed Red Swiss Chard
It’s ironic, isn’t it, that this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe of choice also is farçous, the same dinner dish chosen by MN and Ullr. (To answer your question, neither had I.) Dorie explains that this is a staple throughout Southwest France, their version of a crepe or galette. What makes this unique is that it’s made from a batter loaded with greens, in particular, swiss chard. (Keep reading, it’s delicious.) In her Around My French Table Cookbook she calls them Swiss Chard Pancakes.
You will find the recipe here. Since I made pancakes of the silver dollar size, it was prudent to halve the ingredients. Although these freeze well, there are just so many pancakes one can eat, whether large or small.
The batter is made entirely in the food processor with the swiss chard being added last, bit by bit. If you are making the full recipe you might need to do this process twice. Pour your batter into a hot skillet of grapeseed oil. About 1/3 cup of batter for the silver-dollar size and 3/4 cup batter for a full-sized pancake. I cooked my little guys for 4 minutes before flipping them over for another 3 minutes. After transferring them to a paper-lined plate and patting-off the excess oil, I placed them on a foil-lined cookie sheet in the oven. In my opinion, they are only delicious when served warm.
You can embellish these pancakes with a topping of your choice and then garnish that topping for a pretty finish. I chose sour cream because that’s what I had on hand but crème fraîche would have been better. Notice that I didn’t garnish my topping with minced chives or another herb because the flavors in my accompanying salad were major.
Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds from Ottolenghi & Tamini’s cookbook “Jerusalem”
I paired these pancakes with a Baby Spinach Salad with Dates & Almonds, a recipe from Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s brilliant new cookbook, Jerusalem. Eileen, whose blog is cookbookimmmersionproject, raved about it in a recent post. It is absolutely delicious albeit totally different from any salad I’ve made. When serving it to dinner guests this week-end I plan to reduce the two teaspoons of the spice, sumac, to just one. Middle Eastern spices seem to “bite back” and I need to develop my taste buds a bit more (as will my guests.)
Again this week, the pancakes are more delicious than photogenic.
To see how my other FFWD colleagues flipped their yummy pancakes this week, go to our link. And, please, Think Spring.