Weekday breakfasts are usually solo affairs around here. I’m not a coffee drinker, so while Rich starts his day by grinding his beans and setting up his French press, I’m usually out the door with breakfast (sometimes leftovers from dinner, lately it’s been yogurt) in my sack to be eaten at my desk while checking emails. Weekends, however, are a different matter altogether.
We have a ritual for our Sundays mornings: Rich is the official breakfast maker at our house. Sometimes he’ll pile a platter high with French toast made with challah leftover from Shabbat, sometimes there are waffles, and sometimes, like this morning, there are pancakes. We eat our breakfast at the dining room table while listening to Will Shortz’s Sunday Puzzle on NPR’s Weekend Edition. When I stop and think about it, I realize we’ve listened to hundreds of puzzles together. We’ve never sent in a postcard to play on the air, but we always listen for the piano’s notes announcing the segment, and shout, “Puzzle!” when we do hear it.
This morning I made the executive decision to add some of the blueberries from this week’s CSA box to our pancakes. We had buttermilk in the house from making this cobbler, although we changed out the apricots, cherries and ginger for nectarines, blackberries and sage. The pancakes were something else. The heat of the griddle softened the berries into puddles of warm jam. Each bite was special.
Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Adapted, ever so slightly, from The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook, by Sharon Kramis & Julie Kramis Hearne
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
½ cup whole milk
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted, plush additional melted butter for serving
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more if needed
¼ cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, milk, and melted butter until well blended. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk just until combined. Fold in the berries.
Heat a 10-or 12-inch cast iron skillet or cast iron griddle over medium heat. Add 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil to the skillet. Pour the batter into the skillet, ¼ cup at a time, forming small pancakes. When bubbles start to form, turn the pancakes over and cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Continue until all the batter is used up, adding more vegetable oil as necessary. Serve with melted butter and warm maple syrup.
Great idea. Will Shortz’s Sunday Puzzle and pancakes. I love listening to the puzzles, and sometimes I do pretty well, but if I ever had to perform live, I’m sure I’d do a better job of polishing off your pancakes than answering a sequence of verbal mind-twisters (“Okay, today’s puzzle involve different things with the syllable ‘pan’ in them. If were to say, breakfast food?, you’d say ‘pancakes.’ Here we go. Instrument for cloven-hooved god?”).
Ken
Panflute!
I was thinking “panpipes,” but in the generous spirit of Will Shortz, I’ll take it.
These look absolutely killer! What a great way to start the day 🙂
Come and share your delicious goodies at this week’s CSA LInk party…http://inherchucks.com/2012/07/11/whats-in-the-box-34/. Looking forward to seeing you there!