Recipe Corner: Zucchini Potato Pancakes

We found this recipe on the 'net in a couple of different forms.  I'm adding it to our blog so we don't lose it.

I have seen this recipe in several places.  When I first made it, I interpolated between the versions on My Kitchen in the Rockies and My Columbian Recipes.  There is no special reason why I used those two except that they were the ones I stumbled across first.  Both of the blogs say that the original recipe came from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.  There is a recipe for zucchini pancakes, no potato added, on Joy the Baker's website if one wants to see the ur-recipe.  Which apparently was inspired by yet another person!  I love how cooking is so collaborative, with food concepts being adapted by so many different people.


Zucchini Potato Pancakes

2 cups peeled and grated potato
2 cups grated zucchini (or any kind of summer squash)
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
oil (for sauteing, about 2-4 tablespoons total over the whole recipe)

Mix the grated squash and potatoes with 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Put it in a colander to drain for about 10 minutes, and then squeeze out the excess liquid.

Meanwhile, saute the diced onions in a bit of oil until they are translucent.  Add the garlic, saute another minute, then set aside.

Break the eggs, beat them slightly to mix well, then add the flour, baking powder, and another 1/2 tsp. salt.  Add the two veggie mixtures (onion with garlic, and the shredded veggies) and mix well.

Heat more oil in a pan.  Add blobs of the veggie/egg mix.  Flatten them a bit with a fork or spatula.  Cook over medium-high heat, flipping when the edges turn brown, until they are crisp on both sides.  These are not deep-fried; they are merely sauteed.

This made 12 pancakes.  The amount per blob was more than a tablespoon (as specified on one blog), somewhat less than 1/4 cup (as specified on another blog).  So about 2-3 tablespoons batter per pancake, more or less.

Serve immediately with any desired sauces or condiments.

The original recipes say that these are best the day they are made.  They can be kept warm in a 200 F oven if necessary.  If there are leftovers, store in the refrigerator and reheat in a lightly oiled saute pan the next day.


We served these with hummus.  I can see a lot of other sauces or condiments being useful -- all kinds of salsas, baba ghanoush, many kinds of chutneys, ketchup or chili sauce or shrimp cocktail sauce, potsticker dipping sauce, yogurt or sour cream or creme fraiche, etc.

The ratio of potato to zucchini can be adjusted to fit the size of your potatoes and zucchinis.  I also believe that the total quantity of grated veggies is somewhat flexible, though of course not infinitely flexible.  Summer squash of any sort can be substituted for the zucchini.  I suspect that other vegetables can be added to the mix.  The pancakes can be made somewhat bigger or smaller.  Various herbs or spices can be added to the batter.  And so on.

One medium-large baking potato is about 2 cups.  One medium or two smaller summer squash is about equal to 2 cups.  In case you need to know.

I wonder how these would taste being rolled in pita bread, with vegetables and tahini or tzatziki or hummus, as some mad variation on a falafel.

One blog recommends them as part of a menu which includes smoked salmon and herbed cream cheese.  Another recommends sour cream or creme fraiche, with a dusting of cumin and paprika.

This is a versatile recipe as well as being a nice way to use up the rapidly accumulating squash from the garden.

Recipe Corner: Cherry Liqueur

An old favorite, put on the blog so we don't lose the recipe.

Cherry Liqueur aka Cherry Schnapps

2 lbs. cherries
2 cups sugar
4 cups vodka (or 2-1/2 cups brandy and 1-1/2 cups vodka)

Wash and stem the fruit, then cut open each cherry to expose the pit.  Put cherries in a large, clean jar.  Cover with sugar, stirring well to cover all the fruit.  Let it sit for 3-4 hours.  Then, stir in the booze until the sugar is mostly dissolved.  Seal and store in a cool, dark place for 2-3 months, stirring or shaking occasionally to enhance flavor extraction.

For the cherries, use the best-flavored ones you can find.  For the past few years, we've found big, black sweet cherries at the farmer's markets.  The shnapps ends up being deep red in color.  If you use yellow cherries, the color is more brown/golden.  I'm pretty sure this would taste good with pie cherries if you have access to those.

You're cutting them open a bit so the innards can mix well with the booze.  If you don't have time to let the cherries sit or get the sugar dissolved, don't worry about it.  The long, slow soak with occasional stirring will do the job.

You can strain out the cherries or leave them in until the jar is empty.  We usually leave them in.  When the jar is empty, I take out the cherries, pit them, and freeze the brandied cherries.  Or, if you need a few brandied cherries, eat them whenever you want.


This is highly medicinal, of course!  It's approximately the same thing as kirschwasser, one of those sweet fruit brandies that my parents used as an Old Country cough/cold remedy.


The same basic recipe idea can be used for lots of other kinds of fruit, such as raspberries or blackberries.  Also, if you prefer to pit the cherries instead of adding the pits to the liqueur, that's fine, too.

Recipe Corner: Fried Rice

I was asked to make fried rice.  I looked at several recipes online and in cookbooks and came up with this amalgamation.  This version was approved of by all household members, who promptly ate it all up, yum, and asked me to make it again.

I'm adding it to our blog since I don't want to forget how to make it in a way that I know will be liked.

Fried Rice on the Divide

~4-5 cups cooked rice (it doesn't matter if it's leftover cooled rice or freshly cooked hot rice)
2 eggs, mixed with a pinch of salt
~3-4 scallions, chopped
~1/3 cup frozen peas, more or less thawed (use the microwave or let them sit out for a while)
~2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
a bit of ginger, chopped (optional)
~4 T. oil, divided (see the cooking process below)
~2 T. soy sauce
pinches of salt, pepper, etc.

Heat ~2 T oil in a frying pan until hot.  Pour in the egg mixture and cook as for scrambled eggs.  Remove the cooked eggs from the pan.

Add ~2 T oil to the pan.  When it is hot, add the scallions, garlic, and peas, and saute (stir fry) for ~30 seconds to a minute, until they are about half-cooked.  Add the rice, soy sauce, and cooked eggs.  Saute (stir fry), stirring, until all is blended, cooked, etc.

Serve and eat.  It will serve 4 people if they are not too hungry and/or have other things to eat at the meal.  If you are feeding teenagers, it might look like the hyena feeding time at the zoo.

I'm sure this would be even better with some diced leftover meat, other vegetables, and so on.  I sometimes add a sploot of sesame oil when I add the soy sauce.

Needless to say, all amounts are approximate.

I used a large cast-iron frying pan for this.  A wok would work well, too.

This is a fairly new recipe for us, so I expect it to evolve over the next several months.


Ramen Noodle Variation

If you want to tart up some ramen noodles, the above mix of stuff works well.

All the ingredients are the same except for the rice.  Instead, use one packet of ramen noodles, cooked and drained.  (Put the seasoning packet somewhere else, not in the noodles)  Cook the rest of it as above, except that the cooked noodles get fried with everything instead of cooked rice getting fried with everything.  Definitely add sesame oil to this variation; it makes a big difference for balancing the flavors.

I'm pretty sure that any other kind of Asian noodle would work tolerably well for this.

Recipe Corner: Butter Mochi

We had this at a potluck a few years ago.

The person who brought it gave us the recipe.  She wrote, "I got this recipe from a Japanese/Hawaiian woman who owned a little cafe in Mesa AZ called 'Highland Cafe' which is now closed."

The person at the potluck gave us the full recipe, which makes two pans of butter mochi.  We usually make a one-pan version, with the amounts slightly tweaked.  We now bring it to potlucks.

Since the paper on which we wrote the recipe is getting rather scummy with drips of this and that, here is the recipe, both the 2-pan version and the 1-pan version.

Butter Mochi  (original recipe)

1 20-ounce box of sweet rice flour (3.75 cups)
2.5 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup), melted
1 can coconut milk (2 cups)
1/2 cup milk
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls.  Combine and mix thoroughly.  Grease two 9" x 13" pans.  Pour batter evenly into both pans.  Bake for 45-60 minutes.


Butter Mochi (enough for one 9" x 13" pan)

approximately 1/2 box of sweet rice flour (we estimate it)
1.25 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (regular salt is fine)
1/2 stick butter, melted (1/4 cup, we use either unsalted or salted depending on what's around)
approximately 1/2 can of coconut milk (we estimate it)
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

The method is the same as above.  The mochi is usually done in 30-45 minutes, when it is golden and set, but not too dark along the edges.  Even with a greased pan, this can be a pain to get out of the pan.  If the pan is hard to clean, soaking it in water for a short while softens the stuck-on bits enough to get off fairly easily.

We cut this into 1" squares, give or take a bit, and then remove it from the pan.

When we make the half-recipe, we end up with half a can of coconut milk left over.  We either make another batch of mochi within a few days, or we use the coconut milk for other things.  I suppose it could be frozen, then thawed and used in a second batch later.  The rice flour is not a problem.  It keeps indefinitely in the pantry along with other flours.

Sweet rice flour and coconut milk can be found in grocery stores with a good ethnic section or in Asian specialty markets.  Sweet rice flour is also known as mochiko.

There are several similar recipes on the 'net for butter mochi in case you want to try several and then tweak it to match your own personal preferences.

Mammatus Clouds Over Monument

I'm clearing out the camera and found these shots I took early in the summer.  It was an afternoon of thunderstorms -- hail, tornadoes, flash flooding, and all those other things.  Oddly enough, we got almost nothing.  It all went around us but not over us.

The clouds were amazing, though.  Big poofy lumpy blobs on the underside of the very dark clouds... It was very dramatic!

These kinds of clouds are called mammatus clouds.  They are indeed associated with severe thunderstorms, though that is not the only time they can be seen.  We have seen them before.  However, this time I had a camera handy!

Recipe Corner: Orange Honey Soy Glazed Chicken

I have no idea where we found this recipe.  Online?  A cookbook?

It's easy and relatively fast.  The preparation can be done in the time it takes the oven to preheat.  After that, very little attention is needed.  The rest of the meal can be put together while this cooks.

Orange Honey Soy Glazed Chicken

1.5 lbs chicken thighs  (or whatever)

1/4 cup orange juice

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp soy sauce (we usually use a strong-flavored Japanese brand from the regular grocery store)

< 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 to 1.5 tbsp oil

a sprinkle of garlic powder


Mix all of the above.  It can be used as a marinade if desired for about 30 minutes, but it's not necessary.

Put chicken in a pan, pour over the sauce.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top (optional).  Bake at 350-375F for about 30-40 minutes.  Baste with the sauce a few times during the cooking.

The exact cooking time is not critical.  The chicken can cook for a while longer without getting too overdone.   Ditto for the amount of chicken.  We use anywhere from about 1 pound to more than 2 pounds.  It depends on the size of the packages in the grocery store.  The recipe works fine for other chicken parts, too.

One can easily derive many variations on this.

Recipe Corner: Classic Gingersnaps

Sure, these are probably just like most of the other gingersnap recipes out there.

But it's the one we use, and we know it works.  It makes cookies that are gloriously gingery and soft the first day, crunchy beyond that.  The tops of the cookies have large cracks all over.  The sugar adds an interesting crunch to the texture.  They are moderately irresistible.

This is from a clipping, source unknown but probably from a spice company.  We are putting the recipe on our blog in case we lose the clipping.

Classic Gingersnaps

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

350F oven, preheated.  Bake 12 minutes.  Makes ~48 cookies.

Cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add molasses and egg and beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Gradually add to the wet ingredients and mix well.  (We usually do our one-bowl method -- add the soda, salt, and spices to the first mixture and blend.  Then add the flour and blend.)

Put a few pinches of sugar into a small bowl or plate.  Shape the dough into one-inch balls and roll them in the sugar.  Replenish the sugar in the bowl as needed.  Place the cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake until they are done, then remove them to cool on a wire rack.

When we vary this, we might add more spices.  Someone wrote "1/4 c milk" on the corner of the recipe, so I imagine that is added sometimes, though I'm not sure why.  Sometimes we use butter for part of the shortening.  I've seen versions of this that call for vegetable oil, no solid fat at all.