Overnight yeast-risen pancakes with orange honey butter

 

There are snowflakes flitting around in the air. I mean, I know it's still March and all, and it's not supposed to amount to anything. But still, enough already. It drove us to make reservations for next winter's getaway, so we set our vacation time before we overbook ourselves with concert tickets like we did this year. I know, first-world problems extraordinaire.

But at any rate, it's still comfort food weather, and we had some maple breakfast sausages from Hilltop in the freezer, so pancakes it is.

Overnight yeast-risen pancakes with orange-honey butter

Adapted from Kitchn.com's "Christmas morning pancakes"

Ingredients

2 cups warm milk (about 105 F)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for the griddle

2½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

For butter:

8 tablespoons room temperature butter

2 tablespoons honey

Zest of 1 orange

Method

Combine milk, sugar and yeast in a medium bowl. Let set about 10 minutes until foamy. Whisk in the melted butter.

Whisk flour and salt in a large bowl. (A glass bowl is handy so you can see from the side how much the dough rises later.) Pour the milk mixture over the top and stir to blend. You can expect (and tolerate) lumps.

Cover the bowl loosely and place in a warmish place away from drafts. Let rise until doubled. The original recipe says this takes 30 minutes, but definitely not in my cold Minnesota kitchen. An hour and a half did the trick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

In the morning, stir in the eggs and let set at room temperature for a half hour. Lightly grease a griddle or large skillet and heat over medium to medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles on the surface. Pour a scant ¼ cup of batter for each pancake and cook in batches until done. Serve with orange honey butter. Makes 14-16.

For orange butter mix butter, honey and orange zest. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before breakfast (or dinner). Can be made well ahead, and tastes better if it’s had at least a few hours to blend the flavors.

Rating: Nice and reasonably fluffy. The orange butter is tasty, as you might expect.  Good for breakfast or supper if you plan ahead.

Pasta with tuna, lemon and caper sauce

 

Some meals are pantry friendly. This one adores your pantry.

Orecchiette with tuna, lemon and caper sauce

From “The Essential Pasta Cookbook”by Whitecap Books. This compilation has a truly staggering number of pasta recipes, every one of which I've tried over the years has been a keeper. For a pre-Instagram era cookbook,this 1998 gem is amazingly photo-driven. It's also refreshingly celebrity-chef free, only listing the recipe developers and testers in the credits in the back of the book.

Note: The recipe calls for tuna in brine, which doesn't tend to be on your standard American grocery store shelf, much less in my pantry. I added just a smidge of the caper brine to the sauce to compensate for that flavor note. It was spot-on.

 Ingredients

1 pound orecchiette

1 ounce butter

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 onion, finely chopped

14 ounces canned tuna in brine, drained

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided

1 tablespoons capers, drained (but add a touch of brine if you're not using brined tuna)

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large skillet. Cook garlic and onion for 2 minutes. Add tuna, lemon juice, cream, half the parsley, capers and cayenne. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with cooked orecchiette. Serve garnished with remaining parsley.

Rating: Really quite tasty, and so simple and fast to fix. Perfect pantry-friendly meal. This hits all the right flavor notes and prep points. As Dave noted, it's like really, really good tuna and noodles that don't seem at all the same as the glop we witnessed as children.

Arugula and fennel salad

The calendar claims it's spring, so I opted for something a little fresher tasting, although it will be a while before we see actual baby greens grown anywhere outside of a greenhouse.

Arugula and fennel salad

From “Earth to Table Every Day” by Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann

Ingredients

3 tablespoons chopped red onion

⅔ cup olive oil

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon coarse Dijon mustard

6 cups baby arugula

1 small fennel bulb (core only), thinly shaved

Zest of 1 lemon

Shaved Parmesan for garnish

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Buttermilk dressing for optional garnish (see below)

Method

In a food processor or blender, combine red onion, olive and canola oils, vinegar, sugar, mustard and a pinch of coarse salt and black pepper. Puree until creamy. (Can be made ahead and brought to room temperature before using). Note that you’ll only be using part of this dressing for the salad, but it keeps fairly well.

Toss arugula and fennel together in a bowl with about ⅓ cup of the dressing or to taste. Divide among 4 plates. Garnish with lemon zest, Parmesan shavings, pine nuts, and a dollop of buttermilk dressing, if desired. (To make buttermilk dressing mix equal parts buttermilk, sour cream and mayonnaise and season with black pepper.)

Rating: Nice flavor combo, and it comes together pretty quickly. The vinaigrette has definite potential to join the house stable of rotating salad dressings. It stays emulsified quite nicely.

Gorgonzola pasta

In winter, I get in ruts, whether it's in the ice kind in the alley or turning to the same cookbook. But when it's comfort food weather, that will happen.

As Dave said, "I was sick of this winter four years ago. I'm sick of next winter already. I've been sick of next winter for five years now."

So once more to "Lorenza's Pasta," this time with a nice coating pasta sauce that gave us enough heft to shovel that last blast of snow. Now if only that could be the last of the season.

Penne al Gorgonzola
From "Lorenza's Pasta" by Lorenza de'Medici

Ingredients
1 pound penne
6 ounces gorgonzola cheese
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Method
Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the cheese, butter, cream, lemon zest, nutmeg and a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Drain pasta and toss with cream sauce. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.

Rating: Super simple and basic, but like many elemental sauces, super tasty.