Souffle Pancakes

We were watching an episode of Diners, Drive In's and Dives and Chef made these pancakes. Since we are breakfast freaks we knew we had to give them a try.  The recipe on the The Food Network was for a huge amount of batter and no specific measurements were given,  so we used The Googler and found this recipe.  We doubled it and it was enough for 4 in a 12 inch pan.

It was delicious, and will be on our regular breakfast rotation for the foreseeable future!

Ingredients:

4 eggs yolks
1 cup half & half
2/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
Chopped fresh fruit

Instructions:

Preheat the broiler in your oven. Alternately, preheat your oven to 400°F

Beat the egg yolks and half and half in a large bowl until well mixed. Slowly whisk in the flour, stirring just until combined, then whisk in the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric beater until they form soft peaks. Gently fold the whites into the batter, folding just until the whites disappear. You don’t want to flatten your egg whites, lest you compromise the fluffiness of your lovely souffle.

Lightly grease a 12-inch nonstick ovenproof pan and set it over medium-high heat for one minute.

Pour the batter into the hot pan and reduce heat to medium. Cook the pancake for 5 minutes, until the batter begins to firm up a bit. Drop chunks of chopped fruit onto the surface of the pancake.

Place the pan 5 inches below the hot broiler, or if you don’t have a broiler, slide the pan into the preheated oven. Bake for 2-3 minutes, or until the pancake is puffed up and center is set but still soft.

Watch carefully to make sure the top doesn't burn! These things tend to head south pretty quickly, so don’t walk away from your oven while the souffle pancake is baking.

Slide the pancake onto a plate using a spatula. Dust with powdered sugar and more fruit, if you like. Eat immediately.

Sunny Anderson's Mama's Scalloped Potatoes

I am a pretty avid watcher of The Kitchen and the other day I was watching an episode where Sunny Anderson prepared her Mama's potatoes.  The recipe looked unique and tasty so I decided to add it to my Christmas Day meal.

The addition of Sage and Garlic was a fantastic taste bomb and I will be keeping this in my rotation.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
2 cups heavy cream
15 fresh sage leaves
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced on a Mandolin or use a sharp knife
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup grated manchego cheese (I used Parmesan Romano)

 Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat the bottom and sides of an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with the butter; set aside.

In a saucepot on medium heat, add the heavy cream, sage, garlic and a pinch of salt. Bring to a low simmer and cook until the cream becomes fragrant with the scent of sage, about 10 minutes.

Layer the potatoes in the prepared dish. Add each slice by overlapping the previous slice by a bit and continue this pattern in a row or create a spiral. Once the first layer is done, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper. Repeat the next layers by doing the same.

Once the layers are complete, strain out the sage leaves and garlic from the heavy cream and pour the cream over the dish. Allow the cream to settle into the dish, picking it up a little bit off the counter, then dropping it to tap the air out.

Then, sprinkle with the cheese. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes; remove the cover and bake until the cheese is golden, about 15 more minutes.