SHF #45: Berries!

Update: check out the round-up HERE

SHF: #45 --> http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2008/07/announcing-shf-45-berries.html

Thanks Domestic Goddess for creating the awesome event we call Sugar High Fridays!

I simply love berries, and summer-time is perfect berry picking season. Sadly, I haven't had the time to go out and get my fingers dirty doing the berry-picking thing, but luckily we have gardeners/supermarkets to do all that stuff for us :P

When thinking up a good recipe for this SHF, I was juggling a couple different ideas. Hmmm... grilled poundcake with berry preserves and creme fraiche? berry muffins? berry ice cream? berry clafouti? berry pie? nut and berry tart? AAAHHH, the problem here wasn't that I couldn't think up a recipe... it was that I was having too many ideas that it was impossible to choose. Thankfully, I'm a girl of instinct. I simply woke up this morning and decided that I wanted berries for breakfast, without any hassle... and what could be more hassle-free than pancakes!!!

Cornmeal Lemon Pancakes with Strawberry-Raspberry Compote

Serves 2

Pancake Ingredients:

- 1/8 cup cornmeal

- 3/8 cup all purpose flour

- 1/8 cup granulated sugar

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

- grated rind of 1/2 a lemon

- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp milk

- 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

- 1 egg white

Method:

1. Sift together all dry ingredients, set aside.

2. Combine lemon juice, lemon rind, milk, butter and egg white.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir until just combined.

4. Place 2 tbsp batter on a non-stick griddle (I used a silver-dollar pancake griddle) and grill as per a usual pancake.

5. Serve with Berry Compote (recipe follows) and fresh whipped cream.

Strawberry-Raspberry Compote

Ingredients:

- 5 large strawberries, diced

- 1/3 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

- 1/8 cup sugar

- 2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Heat stawberries and raspberries in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Continuing to heat until the juices begin to spill out.

2. Add in the sugar and lemon juice, continuing to heat until sugar dissolves.

3. Remove from heat and serve atop Cornmeal Lemon Pancakes

I really wasn't expecting much out of such a simple recipe. But the tangy lemon flavor, combined with the berries was a surprising treat. I also enjoyed the grittiness of the cornmeal in the pancake (I'm a hush puppy kinda girl fyi) and felt it added that extra variance in texture. The pancakes were nice and fluffy, the berries were not too tart and the whip cream... well, you just can't go wrong with whipped cream!