Woke up, it was a pancake morning...

Sunday morning is a time for sleeping in, staying in the PJ's, drinking too much coffee, and making delicious-beyond-belief-blow-your-mind breakfast!!!

Needless to say, this Sunday was delicious.  The menu: fluffier than air pancakes with maple-cinnamon yogurt topping (thanks go to Lily for this Swedish adaptation of the normal maple syrup topping) and oodles of medium roast Peruvian french press coffee.  The shameless eaters: myself, Dan, and Lily. (Side-note: LILY IS BACK AND WE ARE ALL VERY EXCITED, WOO!)

Behold:

Now make them:

Light and Fluffy Pancakes ( from Mark Bittman's recipe)

(makes 4 servings)

1 cup buttermilk

4 eggs, separated

1 cup all-purpose flour

Dash salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Butter as needed

Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium low heat and start the batter: beat together the milk and egg yolks.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Beat the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer (used my KitchenAid; thank you again, Nanc!!) until stiff but not dry.

Combine the dry ingredients and the buttermilk-yolk mixture, stirring to blend.  Gently fold in the beaten egg whites, only a little, so that they remain distinct within the batter.

Melt a pad of butter in the griddle or skillet and add the batter by the heaping spoonful (I used a small ladle), making sure to include some of the egg white in each spoonful.  Cook until lightly browned on the bottom, then turn and cook until the other side is brown.  Serve or hold in a 200 degree oven for up to 15 minutes.

Maple-Cinnamon Yogurt

(makes about 2 cups, enough for 4 servings of pancakes)

2 cups plain yogurt 

1/4 cup maple syrup, or to taste

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

pinch salt

Mix ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk until uniform.  Taste and adjust maple and cinnamon to your liking.  Generously spoon over hot pancakes.

A Serious Food Opera

Disclaimer: Any resemblance that the following scenes might have to objective reality is entirely circumstantial. Summer heat and humidity have been known to cause extreme thirst, hunger, depravity, and utter insanity. Thank you.

This is my sous chef. He's da boss.

He's usually pretty tame, but when he's overheated and hungry, he tends to become mildly delusional, and completely bonkers.
Oh, and this is me, your loyal chef. On corn.

Kids, corn is dangerous. Never say I didn't warn you.

It's even more dangerous than beer.

Anyway, we devoured all our food like ravenous, carnivorous bunnies...

...and still had room for dessert: homemade strawberry frozen yogurt (see recipe below)

Real Strawberry Frozen Yogurt - adapted from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz
(makes about 1 quart)

- 1 lb. organic fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vodka
- 1 cup plain (whole-milk or low-fat) yogurt

Slice the berries into small pieces and toss in a large bowl with the sugar and vodka. Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve and let stand covered at room temp for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Puree the macerated strawberries and the resulting liquid with the yogurt in a blender or food processor until totally smooth. If you want to remove the seeds, press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the machine's instructions.

** Cool addition: Boil down 1/2 cup good balsamic vinegar until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Cool completely. When the frozen yogurt is done, spoon in the balsamic reduction and continue churning for just a few more seconds (as in, 3 to 5) to swirl, then stop and transfer frozen yogurt to a container, and freeze before serving.

Sexy stracciatella

There is nothing sexier, in my opinion, than melted chocolate. And then to pour that deep, dark molten stuff into homemade vanilla frozen yogurt, made with the full-fat, tangy Greek stuff... well, that's definitely not for innocent eyes.

WARNING: Viewer discretion advised:

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Stracciatella
(makes 1 quart)

3 cups Greek yogurt
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 oz. dark chocolate (I used the Green & Black espresso varietal, it is insane), melted

1. Mix the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla well, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is completely uniform. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Churn in your ice-cream maker according to the instructions. When the frozen yogurt is just about finished, pour the melted chocolate in a steady, slow stream into the churning fro-yo. A liquid measuring cup does the job well.
3. Remove the frozen yogurt into the storage container and enjoy immediately, or store in the freezer until ready to enjoy.

It's positively sinful!

Oh my goodness, Guinness!

It all started with my obsessing over the ice cream maker I stupidly left at my parents' apartment when I moved out last fall. Sure, it had been the end of ice cream season, but still, how could I have overlooked such a crucial culinary instrument? Thankfully, we were happily reunited this past weekend, and thus another cycle of frozen wondermaking began!
Part two of this creation myth: Ever since I sampled Mario Batali's overpriced, but inexorably delicious, Guinness ice cream ($8 for a cup?? Sheesh.) from Otto in Greenwich Village, I've been yammering about making my own variation. So finally, I did. And of course, it has dark chocolate. And it's frozen yogurt rather than gelato because Dan is lactose-intolerant and I'm something of a lactobacillus junkie.

But enough talk. Here's a taste:


Chocolate Stout Frozen Yogurt
(makes 5 cups)

1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract1-1/2 cups half-and-half
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
12-oz. bottle Guinness Extra Stout
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
2 cups plain yogurt

1. If using the vanilla bean, split it in half and scrape out the seeds. Combine with the half-and-half, the chocolate, and half of the sugar in a saucepan, and heat while stirring until the chocolate is incorporated and steam rises (don't boil it). Remove from burner and set aside.

2. With a whisk or electric mixer, beat the rest of the sugar with the egg yolks until it thickens and becomes light yellow. Beat 1/2 cup of the half-and-half mixture into this, and then stir this back into the saucepan with the rest of the half-and-half mixture. Cook it over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened slightly. (It should thickly coat the back of a spoon.)

3. Meanwhile, boil the Guinness down in another saucepan with the cinnamon stick (if using) until about 1/4 cup remains. Remove cinnamon stick, pour into a mug or small bowl, and cool completely.

4. Strain the custard (that's the tempered egg and half-and-half mixture) into a glass bowl and cool to room temp. Stir in the reduced Guinness, the yogurt, and the vanilla extract, if you're using it.

5. Chill to 40 degrees, or for about 2 hours in the fridge, then churn in an ice cream maker for 30 minutes, or until it's reached the desired thickness. Serve immediately or store in the freezer -- if you do this, you'll have to "thaw" it in the fridge for a half and hour before serving.

** If you don't yet have one of these awesome ice cream makers, I would recommend getting the Cuisinart 1-1/2 Quart model, found here on Amazon. You won't regret it! Ok, that concludes the sales pitch :)