Sourdough pancakes

I briefly considered calling these "one pancake to rule them all." Seriously, I have only had pancakes this nice from one place before this: Johnny's Luncheonette in Newton, MA. (Their pancakes have become more variable in quality since the early 2000s.)

These delicate, crepe-like pancakes are out of this world. Thin, soft, just a hint of sourness to balance the sweet, with the caramel notes of the seared exterior--incredible.

This is basically this recipe, halved, with a couple of minor modifications. (I mean, olive oil? Seriously?) Also, I took my sourdough starter directly out of the fridge and it was fine. Finally, I used baking powder instead of soda and I think it was better.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 tbsp. butter, melted
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp warm water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine baking powder and warm water. Set aside.
2. Gently mix all other ingredients in a small mixing bowl
3. Add the baking powder mixture and gently combine.
4. Allow mixture to stand while heating a skillet to medium-high.
5. Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook for 60-90 seconds per side. (The pancake is ready to flip the first time when a number of small holes have appeared on the top.)

Serve immediately. Discard leftover batter.

New England Feijoada

This is my take on the succulent Portuguese bean stew of the same name. Being a New Englander, I could not resist making it slightly sweet, but the spirit of the authentic thing shines through. I would have loved to use some tawny port instead of sherry, but that was all I had.

Initially, I made the stew in a slow cooker; but this dried out the linguica. I have not yet tried it out on range-top, but I have a very good idea of how it should come out. All in all, I am quite pleased with this excellent winter stew.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. dry black beans, soaked overnight
  
• 2 lbs oxtail, trimmed
  
• 1 lb. linguica, cut on a bias into 1/3" rounds
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup pitted prunes
• 1/4 cup tawny port or sherry
  
• 7 cups water
• Olive oil for sauté

DIRECTIONS

1. In a heavy pot, brown the oxtail over medium-high heat until seared on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
   
2. Reduce heat to medium-low; add olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic until caramelized, about 10 minutes, turning frequently.
   
3. Add the port and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula. (If using a nonstick pot, be sure to use a plastic spatula.) This should free up all browned bits from the oxtail and the onions.
   
4. Add all remaining ingredients to the pot, and simmer on medium-low for 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.

Serve with white rice.

Sweet potato latkes revisited

I wish I had written down what I did for my sweet potato latkes, as they were a smashing success this year. Alas, I failed to do it at the time, so the best I can do is try to remember a few points about what worked.

• Use olive oil. It tasted immeasurably better than the canola stuff you usually get. Light olive oil is available in big jugs on the cheap (I got a 38 oz monster for $10.99) and that's more than enough to get you through a lot of latkes. Note that olive oil has a lower smoke point than canola oil, so watch the heat or you'll be scrubbing.
• Use one egg and at least three tbsp. flour for every pound of sweet potatoes. You may need even more flour than that. I found that with this much egg and flour kicking around, I didn't have nearly as much trouble getting them to hold together.
• Sweet potatoes don't cast off nearly as much water as regular potatoes do, but they are also less starchy and therefore don't want to stick together.
• Lots of onion. Maybe one medium onion for every 1.5-2 sweet potatoes.I was hesitant to use a lot of onion at first--they're sweet potatoes, after all!--but they really added a fantastic dimension that played right off the olive oil in spectacular fashion. With less onion, the taste was a bit sweet and insipid.
• Careful with the salt. I used the guidelines for normal latkes (about 1/2 tsp. per pound) and it seemed like a lot.

I can't remember if I used any baking soda in the sweets. Too bad; otherwise I'd write up a guestimate of the recipe.

I'm very interested in shredding one beet and tossing that in with the sweet potatoes next year. It would add a lot of pizazz.

Apple cranberry sauce

Adjust the proportions here according to taste; they can vary pretty widely. Mine comes out quite tart and not too sweet.

Note that applesauce requires almost no water; you just add enough to allow the apples to steam themselves into a sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs granny smith or other sour apple, peeled, cored and quartered
  
• 1 lb. fresh cranberries, rinsed
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
  
• 4 cloves, whole
  
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Mix thoroughly and turn heat to low. Let cook for 8-10 hours, stirring occasionally. Mash before serving. Refrigerate unused portion.