Day 62 - The Book Kitchen, Sydney - Pumpkin Pancakes w/ Duck Confit and Tomato Reduction

.

Big day ahead, with mostly food-related activities on my to-do list. So, what else to do for breakfast but have something truly over-the-top.

The night before, I didn't go to sleep (at all). Late shift working at the bar where I was bartending, off at 7 a.m., and I had a cake to finish off for an annual charity cake auction. (More on that in a blog post to follow) Once I dropped off my cake at 11 a.m.'ish, I headed to The Book Kitchen for brunch. Its location was slightly hidden in my neighbourhood, and took a bit of effort to find, but once I arrived there was no doubting its popularity with the locals.

As indicated by its name, The Book Kitchen also has for sale a pretty sizeable collection of high-end cookbooks (which the Kitchen's cooking team use for ideas / food inspiration). As I have a bit of a cookbook problem, in that I have too many and continue to purchase more and more, and enjoy a creative meal, I had a feeling this was going to be my kind of place.

Yup, I was right.





For those of you who aren't familiar with "duck confit", it's basically duck meat cooked slowly in (lots of) duck fat at a low temperature. The idea is that the long cooking time tenderizes the meat, with the extra fat providing lots of flavour.

I won't get into duck confit on this blog (I won't do it justice, and it's a bit laborious), but will instead gladly suggest a recipe for pumpkin pancakes. Definitely a more interesting option that the traditional, North American white pancake.

Recipe courtesy of SouthernFood.About.Com.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz. chopped pecans (optional)

PREPARATION:

Sift dry ingredients and set aside. Using a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until blended; stir in pecans just before ready to cook.

A hot greased griddle is best for cooking pancakes. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto griddle and cook until bubbles form and bottom is brown. Turn and brown the other side. Serve with warm pure Maple syrup. If preferred, omit the pecans from the batter and add to the syrup. Heat and pour over pumpkin pancakes.