Well, ragazzi, the Guyman and Annalena are now together for 30 years. THIRTY YEARS. Is that not amazing carini? Annalena wishes she could give you advice on how to do it, if you WANT to do it, but alas, it is like taking apart a butterfly to learn how it flies. You won't. So, avoid the advice books, is Annalena's advice, and make it work, if it feels right.
It has become their celebration to go to the restaurant Telepan for their anniversary. It is like a trip "abroad" as this restaurant is as far north as Annalena and the Guyman go for their dinners out. It is not an inexpensive outing, but the value is very high. They always have the tastings menu, but it is a controlled tastings menu: you look at the full , ala carte menu, pick your courses, and you get four of them. Now, what could be nicer than that?
The Guyman almost inevitably gets the pea pancakes when they are on the menu. Chef Telepan seems to be a very big fan of peas, and eggs, and they appear in many dishes. This one may be one of our favorites. And Chef Telepan is a hero of Annalena's: see, he has done, what that loudmouth Mr. Oliver could not. Please read this: it will make you smile: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/wellness-in-the-schools-bill-telepan.
Now, Annalena has never asked Chef Telepan for his recipe for these pancakes. She has his book, but she cannot find it. So, she went internet trolling and found it on: Martha Stewart's website. Oh well, even the devil may quote scripture, as they say.
The pancakes are a recipe, but what you put on them, is up to you. Annalena will describe what she did, and then, you can follow her lead, or go your own way, as Fleetwood Mac once told us (well, they told us we can go our own way. They did NOT tell us to follow Annalena).
You will need some snap peas, and some English peas, out of their shell: a quarter pound of the snaps, and a half cup of the English peas. Also, you will need 3 tablespoons of whole milk (the original recipe has 2 of milk, and one of cream. Use it if you got it), and an egg, plus a pinch of salt. That's for beginners. Clean the snap peas by taking the little stem end and any string off of them.
Get a large pot of salted water to the boil, and add the snap peas. Cook them for about three minutes. Get them out and into ice water, while you now cook the peas, for about five minutes. While they're cooking, get the snap peas out of the water, drain them a bit, and put them in your food processor, together with the milk, and the egg. Whirl em around to a smooth puree. After the English peas have cooked, do the same thing to them, and then add them to the food processor as well. Taste for salt, with the processor off, of course. Scrape this lovely green puree into a bowl, and add 1/4 cup of all purpose flour, and a half teaspoon of baking powder. Stir this all together, and get yourself a nice large nonstick pan. Also, preheat your oven to 400.
The original recipe calls for butter to cook these. Annalena uses oil, because she is going to put butter in her ragout. You add two tablespoons of fat to a nonstick pan. As Annalena has said, use whatever method you need, to make sure the oil is hot: ripple, smell, small child (not really), etc. Lower the heat to medium Put about a quarter cup of batter into the pan, and press it down a bit, to make a pancake. Make as many in the pan as you can at one time (for Annalena, this is four), and cook them two minutes per side. When you're done, get them in the oven for four minutes.
What you get is what is in the photo. And you can eat these as a little snack, perhaps with some soft cheese, but why not go "whole hog" so to speak, and make a pea ragout? Chances are, you bought more than a quarter pound of snap peas, and more than half a cup of peas. Maybe you have some fava beans around? That's what Annalena did. After cooking the peas and snap peas the same way she did for the pancakes, she mixed them, together with fava beans (perhaps a cup of snaps, and a half cup of each of the others), in the pan she used to make the pancakes, together with a healthy blob of truffle butter. This is done OFF the heat, because once the peas are cooked, the residual heat will melt the butter. Then you put them on the pancakes, and, VOILA, you have three star restaurant food, at home. You can see the ragout, after the pancakes below
If this recipe is scaring you, ragazzo, it shouldn't. There is nothing hard about this, and you've made much more difficult recipes from this website.
The veggies are in season, and now's the time. Spread your wings, make some veggie pancakes, and sit down and feel proud of yourself. You should.
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