The Bitten Word

Cinnamon Polenta Pancakes

Food & Wine (December 2009)

Well, we're done with all our Thanksgiving cooking, and we've cleaned out all the leftovers. Our Christmas tree is trimmed. We've hauled out the holly and decked the halls.

In short, we're in full-tilt holiday mode around here.

Which is why we thought these pancakes sounded so delicious. Hearty cornmeal hotcakes warmed by the comforting taste of cinnamon seemed like the perfect, homey indulgence on a gray wintry morning.

We wanted these pancakes to be really special. Unfortunately, we got a big ol' plate of "meh."

Bacon with Citrus Glaze

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living (September 2009)

Orange-and-honey-glazed bacon.  Just think about that for a minute. Orange.  Honey.  Bacon.  A salty slab of bacon coated with a caramelized, sweet glaze of honey, brightened with the citrusy, sunshiney bolt of fresh-squeezed oranges.

We were salivating at the mere thought of this three-ingredient dish.

But when we made it, our salivation gave way to frustration.

The first batch of bacon ended up charred, smoky and burnt to a crisp. So -- believing in the healing power of cured pork -- we changed the recipe and tried again.

This is a tale of two bacons.

Fresh Corn Pancakes

Gourmet (July 2009)

"Hello. Our names are Clay and Zach, and we're addicted to corn."

This time of year, we see ears of fresh sweet corn everywhere we turn -- tumbling out of crates at the farmers market, piled high at the grocery store, shoveled at us in our CSA share.

We're addicts, and we're in the midst a full-on binge. 

At our house, we're eating corn in succotash or salads, and we're chomping a healthy amount of it right off the cob, boiled or on the grill. 

And now we've found a delicious way to bring corn to the breakfast table.

Freezer Jam

As regular readers of The Bitten Word know well, we're both from the South. We  grew up with mothers or grandmothers who would "put up" (as in, preserve) all kinds of food in the grand Southern tradition, from beans and squash and tomatoes to all manner of fruit preserves and jellies.

But it took a trip to Maine before we had freezer jam.

It was the summer of 2007, and the two of us took a little trip to Maine to visit our friends Dan and Wendy, a terrific couple that Clay had known from college. We flew into Boston, rented a car, and leisurely made our way up the New England coast, stopping frequently for all kinds of culinary treats -- lobster rolls, Whoopee pies, Moxie cola.

Dan and Wendy's house, outside the adorable town of Belfast, is a picturesque place -- long and low, covered in white clapboard, with a large barn just off the house.  The broad green lawn behind the house stretches down to a small, cold swimming pond before getting lost in a tangle of Maine woods. 

Our first morning there, we sat on Dan and Wendy's back deck, drinking coffee and basking in the warm morning sun. Wendy brought out a lovely, simple breakfast: English muffins and a jar of bright red strawberry freezer jam.

The idyllic setting already felt like a dream. The jam made it feel like Heaven.

Best Blueberry Muffins

Cook's Illustrated (May/June 2009)

Last year, we went on a blueberry binge, making pies and muffins and throwing blueberries into just about anything we could.  We’ve been a bit obsessed with strawberries lately, but when we recently found blueberries on sale, we eagerly bought four pints and brought them home.

The majority of the blueberries went into cereal, or were just eaten as a snack.  But we were most excited that the presence of blueberries in our fridge gave us an excuse to make Cook’s Illustrated’s “Best Blueberry Muffins.”

With a title like that, Cook’s makes quite a claim. Are these blueberry muffins really the best? 

Strawberry-Citrus Salad

Bon Appétit (May 2009)

 

It's true that we just wrote about strawberries, and here we are again.

But when they're this bountiful and delicious -- and this affordable -- why not?

In this incarnation, the strawberries found their way into a delicious and simple salad that made for a light, tasty finish to a great Sunday brunch.

Scrambled Eggs with Ramps and Asparagus

Bon Appétit (April 2009)

We've been writing a bit lately about telltale signs of spring. But from a culinary perspective -- in this part of the country, anyway -- there may be no more apt symbol of early spring than the ramp.

Ramps are small, tender bulbs that resemble a cross between garlic and green onions. Also known as wild leeks, ramps have a delicious oniony bite, but the taste is tempered and milder than scallions.

They're huge in this area -- several communities in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania hold annual ramp festivals. And as restaurants have turned their attention to local ingredients in recent years, you can almost set your calendar by the appearance of ramps on area menus.

But we'd actually never cooked with them. Which is why, as we were putting together our menu for our Easter brunch this year, we were so drawn to this recipe for Scrambled Eggs with Ramps and Asparagus. We loved the idea of cooking not only with the ramp bulbs, but with the greens as well. These eggs promised to be delicious and warm, with unmistakable notes of spring.

Perfect French Omelets

Cook's Illustrated (January/February 2009)

Last Sunday, we awoke to a gorgeous, sunny, unseasonably warm day in our nation's capital. We had nothing in our plans but a morning of coffee, reading the paper and relaxing.

What a great time, we thought, to whip up these lovely looking French omelets! We'll just waltz in to the sun-filled kitchen, crack some farm-fresh eggs, toss some gorgeous ingredients in a pan and -- voilà -- a perfect French omelet while we enjoy our café au lait.

Maybe we'd even be helped out by some chirpy cartoon bluebirds.

When we started getting into this recipe, though, our Cinderella vision of an effortless omelet quickly fell apart.

This recipe is so intricate -- so complex -- that we quickly felt more like we were doing a science experiment than spending a delightful morning in the kitchen.

Assembling this omelet is about as relaxing as putting together an IKEA bookcase.

Overnight Oatmeal: Steel-Cut Oats in 10 Minutes

Food & Wine (December 2008)

Since we started eating steel-cut oatmeal a few years ago, quick-cooking oats just don't hold the same place in our hearts.  Sure, they still make for a nice -- and most importantly quick -- weekday breakfast.

But they just don't have the flavor and substance of steel-cut.  Steel-cut oatmeal is so substantial, with a fuller flavor and texture that makes quick-cook seem as if it's merely masquerading as oatmeal.

When you eat steel-cut, you think, "Oh!  So this is what oatmeal is supposed to taste like!"

But there's always that issue of time. 

Blueberry Pancakes

Saveur (October 2008)

For two years, whenever we have made pancakes, we've used a recipe for "Basic Pancakes" from the September 2006 Everyday Food. In fact, while our other back issues of Everyday Food are exiled to the office, we keep this issue of the magazine on the shelves of our kitchen just for this recipe, returning to it time and again.  It's simple, effective and produces very good pancakes.

The October breakfast issue of Saveur includes a recipe with a new twist on pancakes, with a recipe for Blueberry Pancakes that includes seltzer water and yogurt.

Do these new ingredients pay off?