Breakfast Anytime!

Breakfast Served All Day. Isn’t that enough to fill you with longing, even if you almost always have breakfast by 9 AM? It takes me back to the more carefree (or perhaps reckless) days of staying out until 3 AM and hitting a diner before rolling home or it's equally infamous partner: sleeping until 11 after staying out until 3 and then wanting a big smelly breakfast with average (at-best) coffee and a waitress named Dot. It was never really about the coffee, for sure, but it sure was essential! While nostalgia for this type of breakfast experience is fun, the breakfast scene that resonates with me lately is of another variety: a lazy breakfast at home with family or friends.

As a kid we almost always had a big Sunday morning breakfast, served before or after church. During the years when we stopped going to church, we still had the same breakfast timing – albeit without the interruption of Mass times creating the variance. Sunday breakfasts almost always included bacon but the other dishes ranged from eggs cooked many ways (even baked in little Pillsbury crescent roll cups) to pancakes, French toast, or just coffee cake, donuts, or pastries from the local bakery. We also ate breakfast for dinner sometimes and this was usually on Friday during Lent when we weren’t supposed to eat meat. It’s funny how we stopped going to church for years yet still somehow stuck to some of the more obscure Catholic traditions. We were happiest when we got to have pancakes for dinner. This was like breaking a whole bunch of rules all at once. Admittedly, it was a cheap and easy way to feed four rowdy kids without a lot of whining but never mind the reason, we loved it! I remember once having dinner-pancakes with chocolate chips and whipped cream which was just the coolest thing ever.

I still really enjoy a good, unhurried breakfast but in more recent years, I’d shied away from big breakfasts. There was no particular reason, I just didn’t make the effort. When we lived in California, we just didn’t seem to have the kind of weather that begs for big stink-up-the-house, turn-on-the-fans kind of mornings. We also didn’t live within 5 miles of a good breakfast joint so going out to breakfast required effort.

In the cold, wet winter we’ve had in Portland this year, I’ve grown a whole new appreciation for breakfast. We live within a few blocks of several really solid breakfast joints. And while I know I said I was going to experiment more with southern food and I have, lately, I’ve been all about makin’ bacon. And pancakes, waffles, crepes, and frittatas. They all hold a warm place in my heart and belly right now.

Over the years I’ve developed and collected some of my favorite breakfast recipes and I share a select few here. Cook them for breakfast anytime. Go wild, have chocolate chip pancakes for dinner! The best thing about all of these recipes is they are super easy to make and the batter for all keeps well in the refrigerator for close to a week. I share some of my faves here hoping that you will share your own breakfast traditions and possibly even a recipe.

Classic Pancakes: I dearly love a fluffy, buttermilk pancake and have experimented a lot before settling on this classic recipe.

Kim’s Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 TBSP. sugar
1 tsp. salt

2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk (lowfat works fine)
2-4 TBSP melted butter plus a little more for cooking the pancakes (4 TBSP if you feel indulgent, 2 if not)

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk eggs thoroughly then add buttermilk and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended (you’ll still have some lumps). Stir in melted butter and mix until butter is just blended in.

Make pancakes by heating a nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat until a bead of water dropped on surface dances lightly. Brush skillet with melted butter. Place about ¼ cup pancake batter in pan. When pancake starts to develop bubbles on the surface that begin to burst, flip pancake over and cook on the other side until done.

The Swedish: I’ve really come to crave Swedish pancakes with lingonberry jam. I owe this recipe to the ladies at the Swedish Hall in Sacramento, CA who share this recipe at their annual pancake breakfast for 25 cents a pop! Swedish pancakes are thin, buttery, a little sweet and eggy and they stand up well to maple syrup or the more traditional lingonberry topping which is bit like cranberry sauce with smaller berries (buy it at gourmet or specialty markets).

Swedish Pancakes

6 large eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 cups milk (whole)
2 cups flour
2 TBSP water
¼ cup melted butter

Whisk eggs well and then gradually add remaining ingredients. Cook pancakes over medium heat on a nonstick griddle or skillet that has been brushed with melted butter. Here’s how you know you’re cooking them well: pancakes will be easy to turn over and when you do, the cooked side will be pale yellow with hints of golden brown. Cook on both sides.
Note: this recipe works best if made the day before and allowed to rest in the refrigerator over night. The batter just seems to smooth out and become very easy to work with. Stir the batter fairly well again before using.

Not Gone, Not Forgotten, the Crepe: This winter I really became intensely focused on making the perfect crepe. This buckwheat crepe isn’t just for cold weather though. The basic recipe makes a sturdy but light savory crepe that is delicious with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and cheese but the recipe can be adjusted slightly with some sugar to make a superb dessert crepe for berries, ice cream, and caramel sauce or a drizzle of lemon juice with sugar on top.

Basic Buckwheat Crepes

1 cup cold water
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
½ tsp. salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup buckwheat flour
4 TBSP melted butter

Mix water, milk, eggs, and salt in a blender (I use a hand blender, the world’s greatest invention) or whisk very well by hand. Add flours and melted butter and blend until completely smooth (about 1 minute with a blender, 3 or more if done by hand). Let batter rest at least a couple of hours or overnight for best results.

To cook: heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat and brush lightly with melted butter. Pour about ¼ cup (more if you have a big pan and want larger crepes, less if you want teensy ones) of batter in pan and tilt pan around to even distribute the batter. Let crepe cook on one side until the edges are light brown and can easily be pulled away from the edges of the pan. Flip the crepe and cook on the other side. If you want to add filling, such as cheese, etc. this is the perfect time to do so. When the crepe in almost completely cooked, roll or fold the crepe around the filling and the residual heat will help to melt the cheese.

Party suggestion: you can make these crepes in advance, too. Just cook all the crepes you need and roll them up with cooked ingredients such as sautéed veggies, meat, and maybe some cheese. Place them in a casserole dish, cover in a savory sauce, and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

For Sweet Crepes: Add 2 TBSP sugar when you add the flours. I often use half the savory crepe batter to make the main course and then add about 1 TBSP sugar to the remaining batter to make us sweet dessert crepes.