Asparagus Berry: July 2014

Have you heard about the newest pancake craze? Everywhere you look, you'll see this simple recipe for pancakes. The two major ingredients are Dani's favorites. So, I've been hoping for a few moments to whip these up for her. I was able to squeeze the time in this morning. This recipe calls for using cooking spray to fry up the pancakes. I used a little olive oil and butter.

These pancakes are obviously great for a quick and easy breakfast. I highly recommend using this recipe for a cooking lesson with the kids. They'll have fun and be proud of their little creations. Tip: make the pancakes very small, using 1/8th of a cup of pancake mixture. The pancakes are very thin and the smaller pancakes are easier to turn over.

Dani just got back from her run.

I foisted pancakes upon her.

Thanks to Dani for being a taste-tester! I got a big thumbs up and I have a feeling she'll be adding this recipe to her pancake making repertoire. I tried them as well and they were delicious. You might think they would taste eggy, but they do not, due to the sweetness of the banana. They would be good with savories added if you like. You could also serve these as an appetizer with a sweet or savory topping.

It all began with the idea of making a simple Greek Feta pancake with salad for dinner. This somehow morphed into a Mediterranean style feeding frenzy. At some point, I had to call in reinforcements to help with plowing through all the food!

The lovely crowd of reinforcements

enjoying dinner on the porch

The Feta Pancake (Tiganopita Me Feta) recipe came from the Lemon & Olives Greek Culture & Food Blog. I made a few changes, to include adding more olive oil, fresh oregano and parsley to the feta mixture that is scattered on top before baking. And, I used more for garnish. I have to say, no changes were needed! I just happen to have a little obsession with making any recipe my own. This dish was fun & easy to prepare-well worth the effort. And, it was a hit, and received a resounding YES on the teenager front. I plan on showing the kids how to make this themselves.

For sometime now, Hushwee has also been on my mind. Hushwee is a traditional and very popular Lebanese dish, that is a peasant food and also known as "poor man's dinner." It features Mediterranean spice flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. I substituted cardamom for the clove. And, as I do with many Mediterranean recipes, I subbed in toasted almonds for pine nuts, as they are much less expensive and are just as tasty. Here is the original recipe from The Lemon Bowl.

Hushwee pairs nicely with Mediterranean bread and salad. It is very commonly mixed in with rice that has been cooked in chicken broth. The version with rice is often used as a stuffing for chicken or turkey. And, it is delicious served over homemade hummus.

Hushwee

We had Patatosalata, a Greek Potato Salad. I added capers and lemon zest to the recipe. Also, this salad typically calls for peeling the potatoes and I kept them intact.

Here is the recipe from Greekfood.about.com.

Patatosalata

I roasted Romanesco Broccoli and carrot, which was mixed with roasted red pepper and topped with a Dark Cherry Balsamic vinegar from Cosimano e Ferrari, an olive oil and balsamic company from my hometown of Rochester, NY. The Romanesco broccoli was grown by Golonka Farm. They just started growing it this year. And, the carrots came from our CSA, Mountain View Farm.

Roasted Romanesco Broccoli & Carrot

with Roasted Red Peppers and Dark Cherry Balsamic

We also had a Mediterranean Salad of heirloom tomato, fresh mozzarella, cucumber, peppers and perilla. The Fresh Mozarella is made in Vermont and I get it regularly at The River Valley Market Co-op. I picked up the perilla at The Tuesday Farmer's Market in Northampton. I was so excited by the perilla as I have been trying to hunt it down for ages. Miraculously, my friend Christine just happened to get a tour at The Sawmill Collective, a culinary and medicinal herbs grower, and noticed that they were growing it on their farm. And, she pointed me to the Tuesday Market, where they sell their herbs. This lucky girl, got the one and only bunch they brought to market that day. Farmer Susan was excited that I was so interested in the perilla.