Two Versions of Blue Cornmeal Pancakes.

Even though we (four of us in total) all had an extremely disappointing dinner at the Comb Ridge Espresso Bistro, we were all willing to go back and try the breakfast, especially their "renowned" Blue Corn Pancakes.  However, the owner, Andrea Martin (aka Andrea C. on Yelp), attacked each one of us that wrote up a review on Yelp, Urbanspoon (now Zomato) and Trip Advisor; saying we came "at a bad time", or that it was some sort of conspiracy against them. We are not gluttons for punishment, and being abused by a business owner is definitely not on our to-do list!!!

Since I am interested in the cultural cuisines of the Southwest, it's no wonder that I own cookbooks on Southwestern, Mexican and Native American recipes.  In fact, I just purchased four new cookbooks; one on Arizona, two on Native American, one on Utah Pioneers; my friend Amy also gave me a cookbook on Utah, so five total new books!

Not going for those pancakes at that overly pretentious restaurant, so the only other course was to get out the Native cookbooks and make my own from scratch.  Blue corn, now this is something I’ve not seen before.  Oh yes, in the fall putting up dried cornstalks and ears of multicolored Indian corn was a tradition, but blue corn?  Thumbing through my cookbooks, not only did I find several recipes, but knowledge on the grinding process itself.  No, this isn’t something I’m going to try; that’s what Blue Mountain Meats here in Monticello is for, to provide me with my needs, like blue corn flour.  Doesn’t mean I won’t be sharing the information with you though. 

The first book I used for my experimenting was “Hopi Cookery” by Juanita Tiger Kavena; “Blue Cornmeal Hotcakes”, page 19.  She explains there are two methods of drying corn in the Hopi culture; one is simply stacking the ears on shelves, in a dry area, occasionally turning them until all the moisture is drawn out from the kernels.  The kernels are removed and processed using traditional grinding stones.  The second method is to bake the corn on the cobs in a mud enclosed ground oven which keeps the steam inside, producing sweeter corn.  The steamed cobs are hung to dry; the kernels eventually ground whether as flour, or coarser texture for various recipes.

Blue Cornmeal Hotcakes

 

Ingredients:

1 cup blue cornmeal
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. melted shortening
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk (or ¼ cup powdered plus 1+1/4 cups water)

Preparation:
 

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (including powdered milk if using it); stir.


 

Add shortening, eggs (water if using); mix well.

Drop by spoonful on lightly greased griddle; turning once as cakes brown.

Makes 12 three inch pancakes.

A look inside.

The batter is thin and runny, much like a crepe batter; I was worried I’d not followed the directions or ingredient amounts correctly.  However, my husband and I devoured these pancakes; thin, light, crispy edges with a slight chewiness; minimal grainy texture, and they melted in the mouth.  The corn flavor was not strong, definitely delicious with the added flavors of butter, maple syrup or wild huckleberry syrup.  Oh, these pancakes didn't make us feel blue at all; the opposite, very happy!

My next trial recipe came from “Healthy Traditions: Recipes of Our Ancestors” by Janice Goodwin and Judy Hall; it included the use of all-purpose white flour and comes from the Navajo Nation.  Now my friend down in Monument Valley related to me that “ashes” may be mixed in with the blue corn flour and is related to the time of the “Long Walks”.

 

Pancake/Griddle Cake

 Ingredients:

2 ½ cups blue cornmeal

1 tsp. salt
½ cup white enriched flour
1 cup water
1+½ cup canned milk
1 tsp. baking powder

 Preparation:

 

Mix the blue cornmeal, salt, baking powder together in a large bowl.

  

Mix water and milk together. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix together but don’t over mix.

 

Grease a large skillet and heat. Pour batter on skillet to make a very thin pancake; cook until brown on both sides.

 

Makes 10 pancakes

 

This batter is thicker than the Hopi recipe, much like any traditional pancake recipe; the pancakes were thicker, dense, took longer to brown on both sides.  The taste of the white flour was strong and we simply missed the light flavor of the blue corn.  Comparing the two styles, we could definitely say that the Hopi won this round of the recipe challenge., so will be using that recipe whenever I make blue corn pancakes. 

 
 
Variety, experimenting with recipes and food items from other cultures; this is what makes cooking an adventure! 

Mary Cokenour   

 

Grilled Cheese Upgraded?

Have you seen the new commercials for Sonic Drive-In for their Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwiches?  One of the men in the car states, "grilled cheese upgraded" while holding a sandwich that has the ingredients for a Philly Cheesesteak.  The other has the "BLT" which stands for bacon, lettuce and tomato, if you didn't know.  So what exactly is the upgrade?  Well instead of using a sub roll for the Philly and regular sliced bread for the BLT, Sonic uses Texas Toast style bread.  Texas Toast  is very thick slices of bread that are normally used for making garlic toast or french toast.  I'm sure its used to make sandwiches also, but the other uses seem to be the more popular.

So again I ask, "What exactly is the upgrade?"  Looking at the photos, the bread makes the sandwich look thick, but you don't see much in between those slices; maybe a bit of lettuce, perhaps a hint of tomato or peppers, and is that brownish color the meat?  Maybe the BLT is upgraded because cheese is now incorporated, but you cannot upgrade a Philly Cheesesteak by changing from a roll to sliced bread.  That seems more like an insulting downgrade in my opinion.

The Grilled Cheese sandwich is an ultimate comfort food of its own. No matter what your age, toasted bread with gooey cheese brings out warm childhood memories, especially when it is nasty weather outside. When you add another ingredient inbetween the gooey cheese, isn't that an "upgrade" in itself? Consider the Tuna Melt or the Patty Melt; both made the same way as a grilled cheese, but with the inclusion of either tuna or a hamburger patty. What about when tomato and bacon are added to a grilled cheese? Just add lettuce and there's your BLT right there.

Well I'm going to give you my "upgraded" version of a Grilled Cheese BLT; packed with filling, messy, gooey and oh so, disgustingly good.   While you can use any bread you like, I'm going to be using English Muffin bread; same airiness as the muffins to get those nooks and crannies, just in a sliced bread form.  This bread looks like typical white bread, but with a firmer texture. 

I'm also going to use mayonnaise as my frying oil, instead of traditional butter for a grilled cheese.  If you're a fan of flavored mayonnaise such as avocado, wasabi, chipotle or sweet chili, spread those on the insides of your bread slices; use regular mayonnaise for the frying.

Time to make the sandwich...

Besides the mayonnaise, you'll need four slices of thick cut bacon (or double up with thin bacon), slices of tomato (2 to 3 depending on the size of the tomato) and Romaine lettuce (try to use the  stems inside the head, they're crispier).

Slather mayonnaise on both sides of each slice of bread, don't be cheap about it!  Heat your stovetop griddle or skillet on medium-high heat, place the slices down onto it and put one slice of American cheese, then cover that with a slice of Cheddar.  The American will melt into ooey-gooeyness while the Cheddar will form an enclosure, or seal, to keep the cheese from oozing out. 

 

When you see the Cheddar start to form its enclosure, place the bacon, then the tomato on one slice of bread. Here's the tricky part, the mayonnaise browns the bread much faster than regular butter, so check the slice with just the cheese on it. If it is browned the way you like it, put the lettuce on top of the tomato, top with the other cheesy slice of bread, press down to help seal it together and remove to a plate.

 

...and there my readers is my version of the upgraded Grilled Cheese sandwich, or the Grilled Cheese BLT. It is messy; you will get it all over your face and fingers; you will laugh; you will enjoy yourself.   Then again, enjoying your food, isn't that what you should be doing anyway?

Mary Cokenour

It's Beefy, Eggy and Good Anytime.

Recently I enjoyed an adventure in making a Prime Rib for the first time. Then I did a bit of thinking, yes I do that on occasion, and wondered if the roasting technique I used on the prime rib could be done with other types of beef roasts. Instead of buying cold cuts at the supermarket, I usually roast my turkey and chicken breasts, glazed ham or roast beef; then thin slice them for sandwiches or chopped up for salads.

This time I had a lovely, lean eyeround roast waiting for its turn in the roasting pan.  Leaving out the rosemary and thyme, I only seasoned the meat with the salt, ground black pepper, garlic and onion powders; but cooked it the same way as I had done with the prime rib.  Again, I relied on my meat thermometer to tell me when it reached medium-rare.



Now one morning hubby wanted breakfast and he was thinking along the lines of eggs, bacon and cheese on a toasted roll.  Well he got more than he bargained for, as I like to think and cook outside the box.  You see, I had forgotten to take the bacon out of the freezer for defrosting, but the container holding that lovely roast caught my eye....and the cheddar cheese slices, and the mayonnaise, and the butter.  I never said this was going to be a heart healthy sandwich, but you can always tweak what I'm telling you here to your own needs.  Back to the story....

After slicing open the Kaiser roll, I buttered up the outside top and bottom of the roll, just like I was going to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Heating both my griddle pan and 8 inch skillet, I opened up 2 eggs which went into the 8 inch skillet.  The Kaiser roll went butter side down on the griddle pan with a smear of mayonnaise on both face up sides.  A slice of mild cheddar cheese also went down over the mayonnaise; while several very thin slices of beef sat on one roll half.  I flipped the eggs over as hubby likes them over easy, let them cook a bit before sliding them on top of the beef.  Now here's the important part, place the cheese only side of the roll over the eggs and press down lightly; you don't want to break the yokes.   Let the sandwich fry for about another minute before moving it to a plate.

 

...and there you have it, the Beef and Egg Anytime Sandwich. Why did I name it "Anytime"? Hubby enjoyed it so much, he wanted one for dinner that night; and then again for lunch on another day.

Be warned though, you will need lots of napkins for this sandwich. Pick it up whole, bite into it and you'll get a gush of egg yolk all over your face and hands. Cut it in half, pick it up and the egg yolks will still get on you. However, once you taste it, you won't care the slightest. The crunch of the butter fried roll, the smooth melty cheese, seasoned beef enriched with the mayonnaise intertwined with yolky goodness. Yes, you will think, this is nirvana!!!

Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour
January 3, 2013

These Saddlebags are for Eating.

While watching rerun episodes of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel, Adam Richman was at The Buff Restaurant of Boulder, Colorado.  One of their specialty items was a breakfast called "Saddlebag Pancakes".  Two giant pancakes, one with sausage, one with bacon; big deal you say?  The meat was inside the pancakes, not on the side; every forkful was a mixture of meat and pancake without having to root around on the plate.

Not being able to travel to Boulder to try the place out, I decided to make my own.  The first thing I had to decide was what type of pancake to use, so I let my hubby choose and he wanted honey wheat. While the restaurant braised their eggs, I did a simple over easy; mixed with the maple syrup, the egg yolks helped to create this rich, indulgent syrup for the meaty pancakes.

I used thick cut bacon and cooked it up till just crisp; I wanted a little remaining fat for when it was cooking up in the pancake batter.  Also, they would crumble up into small pieces if too crisp, but require being cut into bite sized ones. The sausages, however, were not the typical breakfast links you find in the supermarket.  Instead I used an all pork, fresh sausage without the additional seasonings you would find in breakfast sausage.  I love this type as it cooks up in the pan bubbling, squeaking and hopping around; the flavor is awesome and fun to watch, and listen to, cooking.  Reminded me so much of making the English dish "Bubble and Squeak", but that's for another blog post. I used an angle cut for the sausages for more surface texture.  For the six inch pancakes, I used 3 strips of bacon or 3 sausage links; but if you want both meats in your pancakes, then I would suggest just using 2 of each.

So lets get started, first I'll give you my recipe for the Honey Wheat Pancakes and then the construction of the actual Saddlebags.

 

Honey Wheat Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups old fashioned oatmeal (ground to flour or use oat flour)
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 ½ cups buttermilk
2 tsp canola oil
1 egg
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp honey

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients; slowly add to dry ingredient bowl, mixing together as added. Do not over mix batter; let rest 10 minutes while griddle (stove top or electric) heats up.

Lightly oil griddle before each batch if using nonstick appliance. Use a regular ladle (1 ½ ladles per pancake) to portion out batter; using bottom of ladle to smooth out batter to a 6 inch circle. Each pancake will take 2-4 minutes per side depending on type of griddle used.

Makes 8 pancakes.

The construction of the Saddlebags begins once the griddle is ready for the batter. Remember to have your bacon and sausage cut up and ready to go. First get the batter on the griddle for two pancakes.

Add bacon pieces to one pancake, sausage to the other. Depending on how your griddle browns up pancakes, you'll know when to flip them over. Once flipped, leave them alone and just let the batter brown up as usual. Remove to a plate once done.

 

It was that easy; now have your eggs going at the same time, so everything will be pipping hot. Maple syrup goes best with these beauties, and eat enough of these saddlebags, you'll develop your own.

Mary Cokenour