Sometimes worlds collide and I kind of love it. Over the weekend in France, I finally got to read Judith Jones’s Tenth Muse, which was on top of a big stack of books I’d been planning to read once I actually got some time. Jones – who is a lovely blogger herself! – is an editor at Knopf, who has published such culinary masterpieces as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and has worked with Julia Child, Lidia Bastianich, James Beard, Marion Cunningham, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, Jacques Pepin – all our culinary idols.
The book was entirely absorbing – educational, funny and hunger-inducing. Needless to say, I highly recommend it.
Anyway, in one phase of the book, Jones cooks a lot with sorrel from her garden. It was interesting to see such a concentration of sorrel love and sorrel recipes, particularly because a couple people have told me that they’ve had a hard time finding sorrel to cook with this month.
She writes (and I agree!):
‘… as soon as we tasted its acidic bite, memories of potage St Germiny, sorrel omelettes, and sorrel-onion custard, which we’d relished in France, surfaced. … I discovered so many new and surprising ways of cooking with these lemonlike leaves that I wondered why they weren’t used more in cooking.’
Here is Judith Jones’s recipe for Sorrel and Leek Pancakes:
- 3 good sized leeks
- 1 large bunch sorrel
- 2 tbsps butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup flour
- salt & pepper
- olive oil
1. Wash the leeks and the sorrel greens, discarding any tough outside leaves from the sorrel and the dark green parts of the leek stalks.
2. Pat dry and cut leeks into small pieces and the sorrel into thin strips.
3. Heat the butter in a large saute pan, cook the leeks covered over low heat until tender or about 7-8 minutes.
4. Add the sorrel leaves and cook for another 2-3 minutes covered. Take off heat and return to a bowl, let cool slightly.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and the flour with 1/4 tbsp salt, until smooth.
6. Combine flour mixture with sorrel & leeks and season as necessary, to taste.
7. Drop spoonfuls of sorrel-leek batter onto a large, well-oil pan (at medium-high heat). Flatten top of each pancake with a large spoon & cook 3-4 minutes on each side.
Great served with some creme fraiche & lemon.
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