Friday Food Finds

Edition 7

I posed a question recently: “Does anyone else eat a healthy dose of pancakes at this time of year?” It’s maple syrup season (doesn’t that have a nicer ring than mud season?) here in Vermont, and my kids and I have been reveling in pancakes and all things maple.

In that spirit, the first recipe I have to share with you today is for these Sourdough Pancakes by Deanna at Homestead and Chill. I picked this recipe because I’m never quite ahead of myself enough to prepare a pancake batter the night before I want to make pancakes — as many sourdough pancake recipes will have you do. Deanna designed this recipe to be flexible on timing, which for someone with foresight like mine, is ideal.

These pancakes were quite tasty. They’re on the denser side with a little more chew, but that exemplifies something I love about pancakes: different recipes can result in such unique textures. I appreciated how hearty these were and would certainly make them again.

Testing notes: I did make a few tweaks to the ingredient list (because I seemingly can’t help myself). I substituted 3/4 cup (about 85g) of sprouted wheat flour for the same amount of all-purpose, and I replaced the granulated sugar with maple sugar. I’m a big fan of sprouted wheat flour in pancakes — I think for these pancakes, it probably softened the chew just a little. And maple sugar, if you’re able to get it, is worth keeping on hand just to use in your pancakes. You’ll get a nice flavor boost without having to go too heavy on the syrup. Though going heavy on the syrup (too) is not a problem in my book.

Early in the week, my husband had a dinner to attend, so I found this recipe for Rice Noodle Bowls with Pork and Scallions (from the America’s Test Kitchen Kids Website via The Splendid Table) to try with the kids. I had grand hopes of getting them involved with the cooking, but those were quickly tabled when hangry meltdowns ensued.

I found the dish overall to lack a bit of punch. Maybe it was developed that way purposefully for younger palates, or maybe it was my unintended omissions (see below) that made the dish blander than it should have been. In any case, I would like to try this recipe again with tofu. When I do, I’ll see about boosting the flavor — or maybe I’ll just actually follow the recipe.

Testing notes: You may have noticed that the pork in the photo does not in any way resemble ground meat. We had a leftover grilled pork chop waiting for its second chance, so this was my attempt to give it that chance. I sliced the chop into thin pieces, sautéing them in a frying pan briefly before proceeding with the recipe. In my very rushed attempt to feed everyone, I forgot to cook the scallions with the pork, and I think they certainly would have added more flavor to the party. The cilantro garnish would have helped too, but it also got overlooked. It’s a wonder I was even able to get a (half-assed) photo.

The final recipe I want to share with you today is actually two recipes in one. I saw these Tahini, Miso, & Maple Swirl Brownies in an email from Sweet Paul Magazine (no longer in print), and was intrigued to try them. The recipe, developed by Paul Vitale of We Are All Magic, combines a trio of ingredients I haven’t seen together before in baking (sauces and dressings, yes). Both tahini¹ and miso² are becoming more common in baking though, so this recipe seizes on that trend.

Although Paul provides the brownie recipe he uses from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen website, I wanted to try something a little different. I had just shy of a cup of whole spelt flour I wanted to use up, and in searching, I came across this recipe for Brown Butter Spelt Brownies from Renée Kohlman at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The two recipes work well together, and I enjoyed the sweet-savory, salty, tangy, nutty, and slightly bitter flavors of the tahini, miso, and maple swirl. The flavor of the maple and brown butter are definitely muted with everything going on, but I thought they and the spelt added nice background notes in the brownies. I am undecided about how much I like (or dislike) the use of flakey salt. It definitely makes each bite a salty mystery, but I’m not sure I need that element of surprise in my baked goods.

Testing notes: I don’t have much to report here since I essentially followed both recipes as written (miracle!). Paul does not provide the dimensions of the pan in his recipe, but a quick search revealed that Deb’s recipe calls for and 8” square (like the the spelt brownies). I did poke the swirl down into the brownie batter, nor did I top my brownies with sesame seeds. I can see the visual benefit of doing the latter though.

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That wraps it up from me this week. I’ve been working on my next recipe for you all, which I hope to have out by early next week. In the meantime and as always, I hope you’ve found something here to try. And please feel free to share your favorite recipes from the week.

1. Traditional to cuisines of the Middle East, tahini is made from toasted or untoasted sesame seeds that have been soaked and crushed (to remove the bran from the kernals) then ground. It has a wide variety of uses throughout countries of the Levant, Eastern Mediterranean, South Caucasus, and North Africa.

2. A traditional Japanese seasoning, miso is a thick paste made by fermenting soybeans with salt and a mold (or fungus) known as koji. There are many different types of miso, each with unique flavor profiles depending on the manner in which it’s produced.