TEN : GREEN PANCAKES WITH LIME BUTTER

PLENTY

JULY 29 2012

TEN : GREEN PANCAKES WITH LIME BUTTER

It is important to point out right up front that I do not like pancakes. Just thinking about them makes me shudder. Doughy bites, slimy with butter, slowly dissolving in maple syrup. Ugh. But here I am, making and eating pancakes. It's all for you, dear reader! As I work, I'm trying hard to convinced myself that Mr. O's colorful interpretation will transcend the spongy mattresses found in on breakfast plates around the country and awaken me to a whole new flapjack world.

Even worse, these pancakes necessitate the first green onion harvest of the year, which brings a tear to my eye. For some reason, I want to never, ever pull up these big guys and would rather just admire their plucky green stalks. But then what's the point of even growing them, stupid!

Thankfully, these pancakes appear to swing heavily to the savory side of the flavor profile and the recipe doesn't even mention maple syrup. Instead, they are served with a lime butter, on which I first focus my attention. Softened (i.e. microwaved) butter combines with lime zest, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, chile flakes, salt and pepper to make a lovely, zingy compound. Fabulous! I would kill to smother some grilled corn with this concoction!

mixed and chilled lime butter, ready for some pancakes!

Now on to the pancakes. The batter starts fairly traditionally, but then is introduced to lots and lots of greenery, including green onion, green chiles and wilted spinach, and a savory punch of cumin.

lots of green stuff going into the batter

so chunky it's barely even batter!

The crispy scent of frying batter fills the house (ick!) and I pull the lime butter from the freezer where it's been chillin'. Please, pancakes, don't make me regret my brunch decision!

Even I must admit they look kinda nice. Crispy and laced with green things. I go with Mr. O's suggestion and toss up a quick salad of "seasonal leaves" (arugula) to top the savory medallions.

Okay. Fine. These aren't so bad. The texture can't help but be pancakey (obvs!), but they are so decidedly savory and tongue-tinglingly salty that I can't help but clean my plate. And the lime butter cuts perfectly through each rich, buttery bite. Not too shabby, Mr. O.