Mother's Day Brunch: A Day of Not Cooking!

My husband lovingly refers to me as a "tyrant" in the kitchen.  It is a small space - room enough for one to comfortably cook a meal without knocking elbows - and apparently I do not delegate well.  When I'm in the kitchen, I feel like the master of a small universe.  Too many people crowding my access to the refrigerator and you might just get a pairing knife in your gullet.  Just saying.

My Mother-in-Law is visiting us from California this week and, naturally, I had planned to prepare a special Mother's Day brunch for her.  You can imagine my surprise when my husband - who has cooked at most two meals in the last year - announced that for Mother's Day that I was banned from the kitchen!!  The meal was planned in strict secrecy.  He snuck out to the grocery store and hid food items in the fridge so I wouldn't notice them.  I was forbidden to enter the kitchen while he prepped and cooked the meal and was not told upon what we would be feasting until I was seated at the dining room table.

Well, feast we did!  What was on the menu?  Oysters (long island blue) on the half-shell, shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon crostini, an assortment of AMAZING cheeses, seriously fluffy buttermilk pancakes, fresh fruit and mimosas!  More impressive is that the poor guy spent an ungodly amount of time shucking those oysters by hand and whipped the pancakes up without a recipe to follow.  Perhaps I should hang up my apron and let him be the full time chef in the house?  Thanks Pete - it was a very special meal and a fabulous day!


Pete's Seriously Delicious Buttermilk Pancakes

My husband is not one for following recipes.  Sadly, I cannot give you the precise recipe for his delicious pancakes because he never measures anything (yet it magically always turns out!).  What we ate was "inspired" by this recipe from the July 2000 edition of Bon Appetite, which is delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

assortment of fresh berries
butter and maple syrup

Directions:  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and set aside.  In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and whisk until there are no large lumps remaining.  The batter will be thick!


Heat a griddle or large skillet on medium-low heat.  I have a non-stick griddle, which I never have to butter, but if you want to, feel free to butter your skillet or griddle.  Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to rise in the pancakes and the bottoms have turned golden brown, flip the pancakes.  Cook another minute or so on the other side.  Transfer to a plate or serving platter and serve immediately with fresh berries, maple syrup and butter (if desired).  Enjoy!