Monthly Archives: May 2011

May 31, 2011 · 8:45 am

Coconut Lime Pancakes

I love lazy Sunday and my question is who doesn’t?  CH and I enjoyed a lazy Sunday after our busy day in Paris and I decided to whip up some comfort food, pancakes.  The idea sprung into my head while sleeping, as I literally woke up with the idea of Coconut Lime Pancakes (I actually wrote the idea of coconut lime pancakes down on a piece of paper, went to the bathroom, and then headed back to bed for a few more hours…weird, I know!)

I do not have a huge sweet tooth and I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of pancakes – but when I woke up with the idea, I knew I had to create it.  CH devoured a batch of nutella/chocolate pancakes, which I will be sharing soon, but this recipe took the prize for the day.

They were absolutely delicious.  They were exactly what a perfect pancake should be, in my opinion, light, fluffy, with a hint of sweetness. These are literally the perfect spring/summer pancake.  I wish I had make more to keep in the fridge for the week, which I will definitely be doing soon.

If you are looking for a summer touch to your pancakes, or just something to switch up the usual, give these a try.

Enjoy!

Coconut Lime Pancakes (with banana)

Yield: ~8 pancakes
Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup sour cream (or crème fraîche)
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • ¾ cup water
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 medium brown bananas, mashed well
  • 1/2 cup finely grated coconut
  • juice of 2 limes
  • zest of 1 lime, grated
  • butter/margarine for cooking

For garnish/serving:

  • 1/4 lime, sliced thinly
  • 2 – 4 tsp grated coconut
  • 2 – 4 tsp fine sugar/powdered sugar

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder and coconut.  Stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, gently whisk together the eggs, sour cream, yogurt, water, vanilla extract, mashed bananas, lime juice and lime zest.

Slowly add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, whisking together as you go.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.  Grease pan with butter or margarine.  Add 4 scoops of the pancake mixture to the pan (about 1/4 cup each).

Cook until browned on the bottom and bubbles begin to appear in the middle of the pancake.

Flip the pancakes and cook for additional 1 – 2 minutes.  Repeat with remaining batter.

Serve immediately with a slice of lime and a light dusting of grated coconut and sugar.

Enjoy!

Coconut Lime Recipe a JBean Cuisine Original – Pancake Recipe Adapted From So Tasty So Yummy

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Filed under Breakfast, Healthy, Vegetarian and Vegan

May 29, 2011 · 6:32 pm

A Day in Paris, Through a Food Blogger’s Stomach

CH and I took a day-trip to Paris this weekend and it was amazing.  We seriously had one of the best days in a long time.  I’ll let the picture tell the story of our day….there is a general theme 🙂

Step 1:  Locate the “best baguette” in Paris (Jacques Bazin according to Le Figaro)…

Step 2:  Locate the “best croissant” in Paris (Au Levain du Marais – according to David Lebovitz)…

Step 3:  Enjoy a espresso at a cafe in Bastille Square, people watching of course (the favourite pasttime of the French)

Step 4:  Leisurely walk down Champs-Élysées

Step 5:  Locate the best falafel place in Paris (Maoz – according again to Mr. David Lebovitz)

(no picture, too busy eating. It was seriously delicious and SO reasonably priced – I am craving one as I type this!)

Step 6:  Locate and purchase 8 gorgeous, breathtaking Ladurée Macarons (world famous and again a favourite of David Lebovitz).  Two might not have made it to our little patch of grass under the Eiffel Tower…could not resist!

For the record, we had: Chocolate, Granny Smith Apple (my favourite), Mint & Strawberry (new spring flavour), Caramel with Salted Butter (x2), Lemon, Vanilla, Orange Passion.

Step 7:  Purchase a bottle of 5€ wine and walk to the Tour Eiffel (stopping for the required tourist photo)

Step 8:  Find shade and enjoy a bottle of wine and macarons with CH, under the Tour Eiffel.

Step 9:  Nap under the Tour Eiffel, because of sugar high + wine (while CH played in a tree – yes he is about to become a lawyer!)

Step 10:  Dinner at amazing French bistro – Les Cocottes – where they serve all of their dishes in mini Staub cast-iron pots (another recommendation of David Lebovitz)

(no picture – too busy eating!)

Step 11: Home, to dream of the amazing life in France we are living!

If I told you that until we looked at our list of “to-do’s” for the day in Paris, we didn’t plan for all of them to be food related/based.  Hey, what can I say, I love my life!

3 Comments

Filed under French

May 27, 2011 · 4:42 pm

Eggplant Papeta (Indian spiced eggplant appetizer)

This is hands down one of my favourite appetizers.  I love eggplant and I love Indian flavours, so this is a perfect combination in my books.  It is also another recipe from Daska’s Gourmet Spices cookbook (the inspiration/source of almost all of my Indian recipes).

It is a super quick and easy to prepare recipe, not to mention fairly healthy.  I’ve served it as an appetizer to an Indian inspired dinner, or as I did in this post, as a side-dish to a main meal.

The buttery flavour and texture of the eggplant blends perfectly with the slight kick from the spices and together with the crisp outside you get from pan-frying them, they are an irresistible combination.

With eggplants being so much more affordable in France, these will be on our table a lot more often (I nearly fell-over when the produce lady told me that this beautiful, flawless, deep purple eggplant was only 0.80 Euros.  I have become accustomed to spending $4.00 for a slightly bruised, not quite perfect eggplant in Canada.   Just another pleasant surprised in France.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Papetas (Indian spiced eggplant appetizer)

Yield: 4 – 6 appetizer servings, 2 main course servings (however, depends entirely on the size of your eggplant).
Prep Time:  5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 large eggplant
  • 1 tsp grated garlic
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 0.5 tsp grated jalapeno pepper (fresh)
  • 1 tsp ground garam masala
  • 1 tsp ground thana jeero (or 0.5 tsp ground cumin and 0.5 tsp ground coriander)
  • 0.5 tsp red chili powder
  • 0.5 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 TBSP olive oil (plus 2 TBSP for cooking)
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine garlic, ginger, jalapeno, garam masala, thana jeero, red chili powder, turmeric, salt and 3 TBSP of olive oil.  Mix well to form a paste.

Slice the eggplant into ¼ inch slices.  Lay all slices on a clean surface.

Using the back of a spoon or a silicone pastry brush, baste each piece of eggplant with spice mixture.  Flip over and repeat on the other side.

Place flour in a shallow bowl. Place each piece of eggplant into the flour bowl and shake lightly, to coat the eggplant evenly.  Tap lightly to remove extra flour.

Repeat with all remaining eggplant slices.

The next step will have to be done in batches.

Heat a large frying pan (or sauté pan) over medium-high heat.  Add 1 TBSP of olive oil and heat until glistening.

Add half of the eggplant slices (or as many will fit into your pan) and pan-fry for 2-3 minutes.  Keep careful watch as not to burn them.  If they brown too quickly, lower the heat.

Flip each slice over and cook the other side, until nice and crisp (and golden brown).

Remove from frying pan and place on paper towel to drain off excess oil.

Repeat with remaining eggplant slices.

Serve immediately or place in a 400 degree oven until ready to serve.  If you keep them warm in the oven, keep an eye on them.  They should be fine for 15-20 minutes, but you might need to dry-fry them again prior to serving, just to crisp them up again!

Serve with raita or mint yogurt.

Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted Slightly from Dashka’s Gourmet Spices Cookbook

6 Comments

Filed under Appetizers, Healthy, Indian, Side Dishes, Vegetarian and Vegan

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