PotW: Post-Thanksgiving Pancakes (Pumpkin-Sage with Blackberry Sauce)

[last Pancake of the Week: Apple pie pancakes]

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving?

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner at my best friend's house in L.A., and it was a blast.  She told me that I had to feed seven people, and true to form, I made enough food to feed twenty.

Thanksgiving 2009

Grapefruit, poached pear, goat cheese, candied pecan mixed herb salad

Corn egg drop soup

Spicy shrimp-stuffed mushrooms

Rosemary roasted chicken

Mayonnaise lemon pepper salmon

Chicken beer gravy

Mashed potatoes

Cranberry-pomegranate sauce

Carrots vichy

Green beans with dried cranberries

Roasted potatoes with figs and thyme

Butternut squash and wild rice

Drunken pear frangipane tart

Apple pie

Pumpkin pie

Vanilla bean ice cream

Then, the next morning, my best friend requested pancakes (yes, even after all of that food).  She said she'd seen all the ones on the blog, and she MUST have some.  I wanted to do something light to compliment the previous night's Thanksgiving feast and yet still incorporate some of the lingering Thanksgiving flavors.  Hence, pumpkin-sage pancakes with blackberry sauce!

Yes, yes, I know.  This is already the third pumpkin pancake that I've made this year!  And, honestly, I was going to quit after two. (Pumpkin maple chocolate chip pancakes and Brown butter pumpkin pancakes)  However, it was insisted upon that I make pumpkin pancakes, and friend's requests is the mother of invention (hm... somehow I don't think the saying goes that way...).  Thank heavens though that I found a huge box of gorgeous blackberries at the market and had a bunch of fragrant fresh sage leftover from Thanksgiving dinner!

I tell you --these pancakes were the perfect post-Thanksgiving breakfast.  No heavy creams or overbearing chocolate.  Just light, airy berry syrup on dense and moist pumpkin pancakes with a hint of sage to carry over the fall flavors from the previous night's dinner.  Yum, yum.

Okay, I promise this will be the last of the pumpkin pancakes for this year!  Now that the holiday season is fully upon us and I am allowed to blast Christmas music out of my speakers, I must bid adieu to these autumn flavors and move onto winter and Christmas flavors!  Hm... peppermint pancakes?  We shall see...

Read on for recipe...

Dinner Impossible: Taiwan

When my family in Taiwan got wind that I'm now a "good cook," they requested that I make a huge family dinner for everyone and extended family in Taiwan. Of course, being me, this turned into my own version of Dinner: Impossible. First of all, I didn't know what was in season in Taiwan or, due to the devastating typhoon, what limited fresh ingredients would be available to me. Next, the kitchen that I was working in was incredibly limited: barely any fridge space (despite the fact that due to the horrid tropical weather of Taiwan, everything has to go in the fridge to avoid spoilage), no freezer space, two gas burners, no oven. Oh boy. In the end, though, I turned out a great dinner that I myself am fairly proud of. Because of the limitations of the burners, I decided to do the dinner as a course-by-course--there was no shortage of plates, thank goodness! (And, also due to this fact, I was unable to get any pictures of the food.)

But, for your vicarious enjoyment, here's the menu:

Amuse bouche
sweet potato blinis
with creme fraiche, chives, and smoked salmon

Salad
red and yellow watermelon
with balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme, and strawberries

Appetizer
porcini and shiitake dried mushroom risotto

Main
pasta, three ways

tomato and basil capellini
linguini con vongole
saffron spaghetti 'alla carbonara' (with smoked salmon)

Sides
carrots vichy
spring baby asparagus with creamy lemon vinaigrette

Dessert
chocolate, three ways

dark chocolate mousse with passionfruit reduction
strawberries dipped in Guittard white chocolate
'el diablo' spiked creme de cacao