Easter Brunch, Part I

We break ground tomorrow on our first of two home/yard projects of the 2011 summer. Our house is on a corner, but only part of our back yard is fenced, meaning we sort of have two front yards. Sorta...

Anyway, we're remedying that issue this weekend by adding the fence that we've talked about for 23 months. Yessss! In an effort to not distract from the fence building I offered to host Easter. (That's right, rather than letting my father, uncle, husband and brother-in-law relax and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus I am bringing the party to them in a effort to keep them working. It's not my proudest moment, but it's definitely not my worst.)

Anyway, I'll post about the fence later, for now I want to talk about brunch. BRUNCH, one of the best words in the English language. Brunch means all the yummy things you love form breakfast smooshed together with all of the yummy things you love from lunch, with permission to sit and eat for hours AND permission to drink before noon. All good things.

Our brunch menu is still in the draft stages; but one thing is for sure: savory silver dollar pancakes. Small, savory pancakes (think: shredded zucchini and thyme, ground corn and rosemary) topped with roasted eggplant and smoked mozzarella, sausage and goat cheese. My favorite things about cooking is feeding people, but another favorite thing about cooking is practicing. I've never made savory pancakes before and it was a blast playing around in the kitchen.

Without further ado, here is my perfected Zucchini Pancake recipe:

1 cup spelt or whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 or 1 teaspoon dried thyme (adjustable to taste)

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup shredded zucchini (with moisture squeezed out--you can use more or less zucchini if you want)

Whisk together dry ingredients. Whisk in milk, then oil, then egg, lastly zucchini. Stir until well combined. With skillet on medium use tablespoon to scoop small amount of batter into pan and cook like normal pancakes. 

I plan to top these with a thin slice of sausage and soft goat cheese. I've not yet perfected the corn and rosemary batter, but when I do those will get roasted eggplant (is there anything better??) and smoked mozzarella (oh wait, maybe there is...).

On to the entrees!