Time: 1 Hour, including prep and roasting

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

For the vegetables:

8 Tomatoes

2 Large Fennel Bulbs

1 Head Cauliflower

Salt

Pepper

Oregano

For the pancakes

450g Flour

2 egg yolks

4 eggs

1 pinch salt

1 L Milk

227g Butter (1 cup)

For the Sauce:

4 Egg Yolks

1 TBS Lemon Juice

½ cup unsalted Butter

1 pinch salt

Don’t be scared by the name! This very long title in German simply means “pancakes with mixed vegetables.” Second, don’t be scared by the concept! Vegetables? On a pancake? Ewwwww. This was exactly my reaction the first time this dish was put in front of me in Germany. I could not have been more wrong! As Americans, we have quite a sweet tooth. We have an amazing ability to pack sugar into places where sugar doesn’t belong and was never meant to be. Over time this has led our taste buds to crave sugar in unnatural places. A lot of Northern European cuisine, on the other hand, thrives on savory which is often an undeveloped area of the American palette. If we can push past the ‘no sugar’ element, a whole host of new delicious flavor combinations become available.

Pfannkuchen mit gemischtem gemüse is a working-class dish in Germany. It was developed at a time when meat was scarce and mothers often worked to pull together whatever was left in the kitchen on Thursday nights before paychecks came in on Friday and the stores could be replenished. Over the years it’s been adapted but still remains a relatively simple, economical, filling and healthy option for dinner.

 

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. You can use virtually any combination of vegetables for this dish. My German family is impartial to cauliflower. I prefer fennel and tomatoes. Try these for starters but feel free to experiment with other tasty vegetables from your garden or local market. Dice the tomatoes, coat with olive oil and spread on a non-stick baking sheet. I would suggest laying down a layer of tinfoil or parchment paper as roast tomatoes tend to stick. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Shave the fennel, coat with olive oil, place on its own baking sheet and season with salt, pepper and oregano. Place both baking sheets in pre-heated oven and roast for 45 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender and brown around the edges. Cut up the cauliflower and cook in a pot of salted, boiling water until fork tender. Drain.

For the pancakes: Combine flour and salt and set aside. Combine milk and eggs in separate bowl. Melt the butter and add to the wet ingredients. Whisking swiftly, work the wet ingredients into the dry. If you are used to American pancakes this batter is going to seem really thin. That’s ok! Do NOT add extra flour to thicken it. Pfannkuchen are slightly thicker than crepes but thinner than American style pancakes.

Place a large, flat frying pan on medium heat and add a small pad of butter. Once melted, add the batter to the pan 1 cup at a time. Spread the batter so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan. You want it to be a very wide, flat pancake. Once the bottom is brown, slide the pancake onto a plate and quickly flip it over. They should be too wide and flat to flip via spatula but you can try flipping in the air if you are feeling particularly brave. The other side should take 10-15 seconds to brown. This recipe should make ~12 Pfannkuchen.

For the sauce: Whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together and place over a double broiler (a stainless steel bowl placed over a sauce pan with simmering water. The water should not touch the base of the bowl. It’s meant to heat by steam only.) Be careful not to let the yolks get too hot or they will scramble! Whisk in the melted butter and salt. Continue to whisk until the sauce thickens and doubles in volume. Remove from heat, cover and keep warm until ready to use.

Assembly: Place a single Pfannkuchen on your plate, layer on the roasted veggies and drizzle with the Hollandaise sauce. I like to roll mine up like a burrito and add extra sauce on top but the choice is yours.

Guten Appetit!