That's me and my pop on his motorcycle in 1986. Back in simpler times. The things I remember about those times were Smurfs after gramma's General Hospital, my 5th birthday party with a ginormous piñata, my nickname Robbie, and my mom's home cooking. The days before a McDonald's value meal was cheaper than a ground beef meal with fresh veggies on the side.
I may reminisce about these days, and take a lot of my cooking inspiration from my mother, but there is one thing that I will never forgive my mother for: The Potato Pancake Day.
It was roughly 1990. I was eight years old and we were living in San Antonio, Texas. It was a weekend, and my mom awoke to the three of us kids hungry as ever. Back to the Future II was on HBO, but the distraction wasn't working. Mom needed to cook us breakfast, and quick. We were out of cereal, out of bread, out of breakfast meats/eggs, and out of pancake mix. Somehow, a bag of potatoes = pancakes to her though (??) and she began to whip up something that looked relatively passable as pancakes. Once she got done cooking it all, she went to get the syrup.
Well, have you ever been in a house with 3 kids and an open bottle of syrup? There might be a point at which the kids have a sweet tooth and can find nothing else but the syrup. To them, it's liquid candy. So yeah, we were also out of pancake syrup.
No mind! Mom has a fix! She has a bottle of corn syrup in the cabinet, which she plunks down on the table in front of us. I grab a pancake, dress it with margarine, grab the corn syrup and pour it on. I take a big, huge, hungry-eight-year-old bite.
And spit it out.
It was quite possibly the grossest, dullest, most flavor-lacking pancake I'd ever had in my life, coupled with the ridiculously, overpoweringly sweet, flavorless gunk called corn syrup. I may have only been 8, but I am now near 30 and have never had potato pancakes or corn syrup since that day.
So how would brown rice pancakes turn out?
I woke up on Saturday morning, excited to create a brunch smorgasbord for Mr. Flairy. I'm the kind of girl who thinks a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and I absolutely delight in weekend breakfast feasts, so I had this one all planned out.
The menu was GF pancakes, home fries, and bacon. About half-way through making breakfast, I decided to liven it up a bit with a warm fruit topping for the pancakes in place of plain old syrup. For me, breakfast was amazing. I wanted the flavor in every bite to last a millenia.
Mr. Flairy loved it, except that he still isn't sold on the whole GF thing, and complained of a different texture in the pancakes. However, as I am the resident expert on Crappy Pancakes, I say that his objection is unfounded and untrue. While I respect his opinion, I definitely would like to recommend Gluten Free Pantry's pancake mix. It's delicious!
My Home Fries
Gluten Free.
1.5lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2" cubes
4 tablespoons salted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Seasoning of your choice: Garlic powder, paprika, chopped chives, anything you want!
After they are chopped, put the potatoes on a microwave-safe plate. Spread them out evenly and then top with 1 tablespoon of butter. I like to thinly slice the butter and spread the slices out around the plate of potatoes. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave for 5-7 minutes or until the edges are a bit soft.
*Microwaving before you cook helps the insides stay nice and soft while the outsides get a nice crisp edge without over-cooking.
Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large NONSTICK skillet. Nonstick is important, because you don't want all your beautiful crisp potato edges sticking to the bottom of the pan. If you are super-duper-ultra confident in your uncoated cookware cooking skills, please proceed as you please. :)
Add the onion to the skillet and cook until they are softened and golden brown. Remove them from the skillet and put in a small bowl.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes and pack them down with a spatula. Cook them without moving or stirring until the underside is brown. Usually about 5-7 minutes. Turn the potatoes, pack them down again, and repeat. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking, stirring every few minutes, until they're golden brown on all sides. Probably another 10 minutes or so. Stir in the onion, salt and pepper, and seasonings. Enjoy!
Warm Fruit Topping (For pancakes, ice cream, unfrosted cake, and more!)
Gluten Free. Dairy Free. Vegan.
1 cup fresh strawberries, quartered
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
1 cup fresh mango, chopped
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar (or substitute)
Boil the water in a saucepan and stir in the sugar. Once it is dissolved, add all of the fruit and cook over medium heat until the fruit is soft. Serve over something yummy!
TIP: You can pour the fruit into a food processor to blend it all up if you like, or leave it chunky/syrupy right out of the pan.
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