Monday, June 6, 2011

A Quick and Tasty Potato Pancake formula

Thanksgiving is over and your refrigerator is loaded with leftovers. In expanding to all that turkey, you still have mounds of mashed potatoes taking up space. The last thing you want is for them to go uneaten and turn bad. So what you need is a potato pancake formula that will help use up those leftover potatoes.

Plopping leftover mashed potatoes on peoples plates for the next three days might be met with groans, if not a downright mutiny. Well how about transforming those spuds into a treat that is easy to prepare and will sure to be a hit with your friends and family? In fact, you just might end up discovering that you wished you had more leftover potatoes to keep up with demand.

Pan Cake

To start the ball rolling, be sure you have on hand all of the primary ingredients. You will need vegetable oil (canola, corn or a blend works just fine), salt and pepper to taste, flour, an egg, milk, onion, and of course, those mashed potatoes. For a distinct taste, you can substitute bacon drippings for the vegetable oil.

To make four pancakes you will need two cups of potatoes. Add to the mashed potatoes one egg, 1/2 cup of flour, three tablespoons of diced onion (more to taste) and 1 / 4 cup of milk. Completely mix together and form four equally sized patties. If the aggregate is too sticky, shaping the patties on wax paper or tin foil might make things easier for you.

Fry the pancakes in hot (not smoking) oil or bacon drippings that generously covers an galvanic or primary skillet. Fry for approximately three minutes on each side or until each side is golden brown. Be sure the patties are hot throughout and the minced onion is tender. To avoid the aggregate sticking to your spatula as you press down the pancake in the pan, try spraying it with cooking spray.

The pancakes can be served with pork, chicken, fish and beef. They also make great appetizers. For variety, add to your potato aggregate some crumpled bacon or shredded cheese. In expanding to salt and pepper, you can top your creation with butter, sour cream, gravy, ketchup, melted cheese sauce, or hot sauce.

If you are bored with or do not particularly care for crispy German-style potato pancakes which uses grated potatoes instead of mashed, then this potato pancake formula might just be the winning formula for you.

A Quick and Tasty Potato Pancake formula

See Also : kitchenaid gourmet distinctions 10 piece set

Sunday, June 5, 2011

How to Make Homemade Pancakes

Craving for some hot pancakes but with no time to run to the grocery to buy ready to cook pancakes? Learn how to make pancakes with straightforward ingredients. This formula will teach you how to make homemade pancakes for your kids.

Things you will need;

Pan Cake

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 eggs
1/2 a cup of milk (skimmed or fresh is fine)
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 Tbsp cooking oil

Step 1

Mix the flour and baking powder completely until there are no lumps left. Slowly add water and milk.

Step 2

Mix in the rest of the ingredients, except for the cooking oil. Make sure you beat the eggs first before adding it into the mixture.

Step 3

Stir the combination with a fork until it reaches a nice smooth consistency. To check if you have the right consistency take a spoonful and let it trickle back into the bowl. If it flows smoothly then you have the right consistency, if it sticks to the spoon or falls back to the bowl in one lump then it's too thick, add water Slowly till you get the right consistency.

Step 4

Heat a pan and oil it completely with 1 Tbsp of cooking oil, pour sufficient of the combination to make a round pancake of five to six inches in diameter. While its still hot add half a teaspoon of butter, if you have a sweet tooth you can pour maple syrup over it. Enjoy your pancakes hot and fresh from your own home.

How to Make Homemade Pancakes

Tags : rachael ray 10 piece cookware set presto 6 quart stainless steel pressure cooker kitchenaid 10 piece cookware set

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Smoked Salmon Pancakes - For Hors D'Oeuvres, Starter Or Main

You will need:

*) Two eggs
*) Four ounces of flour
*) Seven fluid ounces of full cream milk
*) A tablespoon of butter
*) Olive oil
*) A pack of high quality, smoked salmon
*) A cucumber
*) A small pot of runny yoghurt
*) A clove of garlic
*) Dried, Greek herbs

Pan Cake

Every time I make these smoked salmon pancakes, I all the time get asked how I made them. If your guests like salmon and aren't afraid of garlic, this will all the time wow them.

Pancakes are hardly rocket science, but just take a bit of extra care with this mixture so they come out light and firm. Use a large mixing bowl and sift the flour from a good height. Add the salt. Break the eggs into the middle and whisk together. Moderately add the milk, taking time to get a thorough, homogeneous batter. It should take on the appearance of a slightly thick pouring cream. Use extra milk if it needs thinning.

Melt the butter into a pan and add this to the mixture. This is now ready to roll. Nothing fancy about cooking the pancakes. Use your favourite pan, add a small drop of olive oil and in goes a sparing whole of batter. Squish it round to make it as circular as inherent and flip as soon as the pancake is firm enough. My own preference is for the heat to be on the high side to achieve that French panache of slightly burnt spikes like you get on Bretagne crepes. But you may prefer just a light, golden finish. Now stack your pancakes between grease proof paper to cool.

Peel and chop the cucumber and the garlic and throw it into a blender together with the herbs and yoghurt. Blend it to a smooth, creamy mix. Because cucumber has such a high water content, this will all the time be the exact consistency, no matter what size the cucumber or the pot of yoghurt.

Lastly, simply take a cool pancake, cover with one layer of smoked salmon and generously spread on the liaison. Roll up, roll up and it's done!

For a main, leave as it is and serve with a big salad of lettuce, radish, celery, tomato, red pepper and finely chopped shallots. Hot, garlic bread is the exquisite accompaniment. You can use any excess yoghurt mix either as a dressing or as a dip. If you want to use as a starter, about a half a pancake should do the trick, with some parsley and salad as a garnish.

Alternatively, cut into squares, sprinkle with chopped parsley and you have hors d'oeuvres or canapes. Spear a stuffed olive and spike it straight through the top.

You can be confident that if you have true food lovers as guests, smoked salmon pancakes will all the time be an expectation - at least from time to time. And if you're like me, you'll adore them the following day. They will go slightly soggy and the garlic truly permeates the pancake. Mmm!

Delicious.

Smoked Salmon Pancakes - For Hors D'Oeuvres, Starter Or Main

See Also : cuisinart chefs classic 17 piece cookware set

Friday, June 3, 2011

Groovy Kids Cakes - 5 Types of Icing For exquisite Cakes

Nothing puts a smile on a childs face like viewing their birthday cake for the first time. And lets face it, few things out there are as satisfying for us mothers either.

Decorating a extra cake for your child can be so much fun. For our girls, whimsical themes and gelati colours are in order, and for our boys, bright, bold and colorful is all it takes to make a microscopic man smile.

Pan Cake

But what icing is best for the type of cake you want to create?

I categorize icing into 5 main types, and each one has its place in the cool cakes for kids arena. Insight the types if icing will help you successfully plan your groovy cake make and save you a lot of heartbreak.

#1: Buttercream

Buttercream icing is a aggregate of softened butter, fine sugar and some sort of liquid flavor and coloring. It is critical to use a fine sugar when manufacture buttercream icing as it melts very actually and importantly, contains small amounts of cornstarch which helps to stabilize the icing...This also explains why it doesn't taste so good in coffee!

Buttercream icing is so easy to work with as it's flat consistency makes it so convenient for use with piping bags. It is the perfect icing for microscopic cupcakes as you can get it through the piping bag tips with only one hand, allowing you to hold and manoeuvre the cupcake with the other.

#2: Ganache

Ganache is a fancy French term that plainly means chocolate melted with heavy cream. When warm you can pour it over the cake for a gorgeous shiny glaze, just watch your chocolate loving child's eyes pop from their microscopic faces as they peer over the counter top as you do this, its so cute. Ganache is so versatile, you can use it as a chocolate sauce for a pudding, dip strawberries in it, or just lick it off the spoon. You can make ganache into a frosting if you chill for a bit then beat it till fluffy, perfect for layer cakes.

Best of all though, make sure that you pop a tiny bit of the ganache into the fridge for later. Once it has chilled you can scoop out microscopic spoonfuls, roll into balls and dip into melted chocolate for yummy after party truffles just for you.

#3: Glaze

Glaze is the simplest of icings. It is plainly some fine sugar, melted over boiling water with a microscopic bit of liquid flavour, usually fruit such as a squeeze of lemon or scoop of passion fruit. It forms a very thin liquid consistency and is plainly drizzled over the cake to form a hard crust when it cools. I love the way it cracks when you bite into it, yum.

#4: Royal Icing

Royal icing is one of the most generally used icings in cake decorating, it contains powdered sugar, egg whites and liquid. Its consistency should be similar to pancake batter and needs to flow actually in order to work it through a piping bag. You need to be quite confidant with your icing skills when using royal icing though as it sets very quickly.

#5: Fondant Icing

When it comes to actually groovy cake designs fondant icing is my personal favourite due to its extraordinary versatility. You can make some seriously cool cakes with this as once made it is rolled out like pastry allowing you to cover cakes of all shapes and sizes. You can cut out shapes with cookie cutters, you can dye or even paint it with liquid food coloring, and as such the possibilities are endless. Fondant icing can be tricky though, sometimes having the tendency to sweat, so working at the right temperature is actually important.

Now that you understand these 5 straightforward icing categories go and plan your groovy cake that will put a smile on your child's face, and the Best Mum on the Planet award on your forehead. Enjoy!

Groovy Kids Cakes - 5 Types of Icing For exquisite Cakes

Tags : all clad copper core 12 fry pan calphalon contemporary nonstick