Fare Exchange: Time for pancakes, muffins, pound cake and pasta

Jane Henegar

Good morning, December cohorts. As activities and expenditures increase, please offer some help with finding recipes for risotto in many flavors, a grits casserole that is not cream- cheesy or brothy or peppery, and a simple meatloaf. Finally, there is this about a PieCaken: the writer requests no recipe for this hybrid pie/cake - just a brief description. There is also a basic question: Is there such a thing as a PieCaken, and if so, should there be?

Our first asker is Margaret McNeil, who wrote, "Now that Thanksgiving is over, my mind is busy planning the Christmas brunch we'll be hosting in early December. I'd like to serve baked grits, but I've never made it before and don't have a recipe. I'm looking for something cheesy that doesn't use chicken broth, cream cheese or chili peppers."

Julien Poire is seeking not just a basic risotto recipe but some creative variations. Charlotte Wise of Rossville requested the simple recipe for meatloaf, a favorite comfort food. Finally, Bea Samuel had heard about a PieCaken. "I definitely do not want to make one, but I want to know more."

PANCAKES

With a nod to, and a hint for, Christmas morning, Jamie Gavelinski advised about whether you can freeze pancakes.

She wrote, "My husband is our pancake chef. He always cooks up any leftover batter. He spreads the pancakes out on a plate to cool. Then they are put into a freezer bag with a piece of wax paper in between each pancake. Just microwave them and enjoy.

"When our daughters were young, Jim would add green food coloring for Christmas morning pancakes or sleep-overs. Red (actually pink) pancakes were served on Valentine's Day."

SWEET POTATO MUFFINS

Michele O. Brown had praise for a muffin recipe you read in these pages. "I was so glad that Ms. McInturff sent in the sweet potato muffin recipe, my favorite thing to eat in Colonial Williamsburg, Va. I make them, but I bake them in mini-muffin pans. Yes, it takes a little more time, yet what a treat with a cup of hot tea or coffee when a friend comes by. Placed in glycine gift bags, with a pretty ribbon, they make great gifts for any holiday or a special surprise for someone shut-in from illness. They freeze well, also."

PASTA & POUND

The next two recipes came from the Northside Neighborhood House mini-cookbook, which is most suitable for the holidays. The first one is a pasta sauce in Christmas colors, then a pound cake that contains six extracts and possibly can do double-duty as breakfast bread and dessert.

Tomato and Artichoke Pasta Sauce

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned

1 (14-ounce) can artichoke bottoms, chopped

Coarse salt

Black pepper to taste

1 cup vermouth

5 tablespoons tomato sauce

1/2 cup chicken stock

Over medium heat, sauté garlic in olive oil. Stir in red pepper flakes, parsley, basil, artichokes, salt and black pepper. Sauté, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add vermouth and cook 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce and chicken stock. Cook until slightly reduced. Serve over pasta. Makes 4 servings.

Six Flavor Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, melted

1 cup milk

3 cups sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

5 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon rum extract

1 teaspoon butter extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Dust warm cake with powdered sugar.

Makes 12 servings.

SOURDOUGH IN ENGLISH

Two weeks ago, Clifford Burdette provided a recipe for sourdough starter and, last week and this, recipes using that starter. This week he gave us English muffins made with sourdough. In parentheses, Mr. Burdette added portions for a recipe increased by 25 percent.

Sourdough English Muffins

The night before baking the muffins:

1 cup sourdough starter (1 1/4 cups)

3 tablespoons sugar or honey (3 3/4 tablespoons)

2 cups cooled milk (2 1/2 cups)

4 cups all-purpose white flour (5 cups)

Mix starter, honey and milk in mixing bowl until smooth. Add the flour 2 cups at a time, and mix in. There's no need for gluten development now, so do not whip. Just get all the flour thoroughly wet. Cover with clean towel and leave at room temperature in a draft-free place. The next morning, you'll need:

1 scant teaspoon baking soda (1 teaspoon)

2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt (2 1/2 teaspoons)

1 to 2 cups all-purpose flour, approximately 1 1/2 cups total (2 cups)

Cornmeal for sprinkling

Line two baking sheets or jellyroll pans with wax paper and sprinkle with cornmeal. You may just place wax paper on the counter and sprinkle with cornmeal. Stir down mixture. If it has risen too high and fallen, that is no problem. Just stir down the rest of the way.

Sprinkle a scant teaspoon baking soda and 2 teaspoons sea salt over the surface of the dough; add 1 cup of flour and work in.

Flour your board with 1/2 cup flour or more (up to 1 cup). Pour mixture onto your floured board and knead for 5 minutes. Dough should be medium-stiff. Go by feel; it should not be too dry and always moist enough to roll out. Flour board again and lightly roll dough to about 1/2-inch thick.

Take a 3-inch round cutter and cut as many rounds as you can, rolling the leftover dough and cutting more until the dough is all used up. Try to keep them very uniform in thickness and diameter. As you cut each round, place it on cornmeal-sprinkled wax paper. Don't allow raw muffins to touch; they will stick.

When all rounds are cut, sprinkle cornmeal over tops of muffins. Cover with wax paper. Allow to rise in warm place for about an hour or until risen again.

Heat an ungreased griddle to medium-low heat. You can brush griddle with a tiny bit of butter, until butter sizzles, but it is not necessary. Avoid a high heat setting that will burn the muffins.

Griddle-bake the muffins on one side for 4 to 8 minutes and turn. Squish down a bit with spatula and cook other side for 4 to 8 minutes. You should turn only once, so be sure the one side is cooked before turning. Note the time it takes at that heat setting to brown the bottoms of the muffins nicely. At 350 degrees, they should bake 7 minutes per side at sea level.

Makes 20-24 muffins.

Let's close this out and head to the kitchen, or at least to a dream of our Next Best Meal.