American Pancakes

When I was 12 I spent three months in America, two of those months were spent in Biloxi, Mississippi. Crayfish, fresh shrimp and catfish were among some of my favourite things to eat for dinner, they were that fresh (apart from the catfish) that when you bought them they were still moving in the bag. American pancakes though were my favourite for breakfast, sorry to any of my American friends reading this and having your pancakes branded as being American, fact remains pancakes are different to what you get over here, which are thin like crepes and probably more like 10 inches. I loved them topped with maple syrup, or blueberries, good quality bacon and scrambled egg are also good, my favourite now though would be cinnamon apple sautéed in butter and brown sugar - it may sound odd but I have also served this with bacon - I find that the saltiness from the bacon and the sweetness from the apples go really well together. I will concede that I have rather odd taste buds at times, although I do have a recipe for chocolate coated bacon - so maybe my theory isn't so wrong? Even if you don't serve bacon with this recipe it is really good, you could even just make the pancakes and make your own topping, or use the cinnamon apple topping on French toast.
 

American Pancakes

 

 
 1 1/2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients, in one bowl and the wet ones into another, once both are mixed, combine the wet ingredients into the dry ones, then ladle a 1/4 cup at a time into a hot skillet, and cook until bubbly then flip and cook until golden on the bottom - top with your favourite topping. 

 

 

For The Apple Topping

 1 medium sized apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp butter

In a small skillet, sauté the apple, brown sugar and cinnamon in the tablespoon of butter, until the apple is tender.

 

 

 

 

Italian Crusted Chicken

This is another really good chicken recipe, although warm mayo still makes me feel a little icky inside, but I still have the urge, will, need if you like to try different ingredients in ways that I haven't tried before, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time it was good - which is proof in itself of not giving up on something, as far as I'm concerned. I suppose it's that way with everything though. 

Italian Crusted Chicken

 

3tbsp mayo

1tbsp sun-dried tomato puree

4tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs

2tbsp parmesan cheese

4 boneless chicken breasts

2tbsp olive oil

 

1.Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Mix together the mayo and sun-dried tomato puree, and in a separate bowl mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together.

 

2. Wash the chicken breasts under running cold water and then place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

 

3. Spread all but 3tbsp of the mayo mix over each of the chicken breasts, then sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over each one, pressing down to make sure they are well coated.

 

4. Drizzle the olive oil over the top and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through. Spoon a little of the remaining mayo over each of the chicken breasts and serve with hot Italian bread and a green leaf, tomato salad.