My friend Monica from Mercatale di Cortona has arrived in New York for the week. She is a shopper of a serious nature. We are going to walk this city from top to bottom looking for food and although she can detour into Macy’s for record breaking amounts of time, we are going to try to stay focused on the eats. We are starting downtown with the classic Russ and Daughters for smoked fish, and then onto Yonah Schimmel for a knish and Kossars for a bialy. There are serious donuts to be had in there and rye bread from Moishes’s. I don’t know what’s for dinner tonight. I could buy bags of everything and pile it up on the table for a free for all, but I have a feeling I’m going have eaten three or four of everything before I get back.
I like breakfast for dinner. My mother served us breakfast for dinner regularly, and we loved it. Make everybody happy and make cornmeal pancakes with thick slices of black forest ham on the side and caramelized apples and for a vegetable roasted acorn squash. Call me crazy, but collards are delicious with all this.
Make the pancakes by combining 1/2 cup all purpose flour with 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of sugar. In another bowl, whisk one egg with 1 tablespoon of oil, 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1/2 cup of milk. Combine the two gently with a rubber spatula, just until you don’t see any flour. Lumps are OK. Heat a heavy griddle until hot over medium heat. Roll in the butter, the spoon on the pancakes. Double the recipe for a bigger family or appetite.