Wild Ginger

My mother's father was Swedish - his father from Uppsala and his mother from Lund - and some Swedish traditions survive in my family until today. My favorite (as well as my wife and kids') are Æbleskivers, those lovely little spherical pancakes so enjoyed by Swedes and Danes. You'll need an Æbleskiver pan, a cast iron skillet with little dome like pockets to cook the batter in. Should you not be able to find once easily at your local gourmet shop or via Amazon, try here.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups butter milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 whole eggs, separated
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
½ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

2 TB of melted butter, combined with 2 TB of vegetable oil

PREPARATION

• Separate eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.
• In another bowl, beat egg yolks. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, salt, milk, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix well. Fold in egg whites.
• Preheat æbleskiner pan over medium-low heat.
• Brush the insides of the wells in the pan liberally with the oil and butter mixture (batter is sticky and you're essentially going to fry it anyway
• Fill each well about three-quarters full of batter
• Cook for 2 to 4 minutes, or until bottom of ball is nicely browned. Turn balls over and cook until browned. My mom swears that knitting needles are the traditional tool of choice for flipping but I find bamboo skewers or a pair of forks suit the purpose just fine.
• Keep balls warm, covered with a towel on a plate in the oven, about 200°F, until all the pancake balls are cooked. Serve 3 or 4 to a plate, drizzle with your favorit syrup (lingonberry is the traditional choice) or with a bit of powdered sugar.

If you're intimidated by the thought of getting the flipping technique down, try this video for a tutorial.

It is traditional to stick a bit of fruit inside of your aebleskivers. I small prune, a dried cherry or apples are common favorites (my daughter likes chocolate morsels). A good method is to cut a tart apple into small chunks, about sugar cube-size. Place the cubes in a plastic bag. Add 2 TB of sugar and ½ TSP of cardamom. Close top of bag and shake well to coat the apple pieces. Fill the wells with half full with batter and place an apple cube inside right after pouring the batter in.

Whatever you do, don't substitute plain milk for the buttermilk. You can leave out the cardamom, but then.... well, then they'd just be fried little batter balls, now wouldn't they?

This is just poached eggs on toast, except that toast is torn into small pieces and mixed up with the egg. Its how my mom managed to get me to eat eggs as a kid and its still how I like to eat my eggs.

INGREDIENTS
1 pat butter
1 pint boiling water
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vinegar
2 eggs
2 slices toast

PREPARATION

• Rub the butter along the bottom of a frying pan and add pour in about a pint of boiling water. Add salt vinegar.
• Let this stand so the water will keep hot, but not boil.
• Break in two eggs, being careful to strike the shell only enough to crack it without disturbing the yolk.
• Let stand until the eggs are set on the bottom, then loosen the egg from the pan by carefully pushing a spatula or griddle cake turner beneath it to avoid too much cooking on the bottom. Let it stand until delicately cooked throughout.
• Have ready two slices of bread, toasted to a golden brown. Tear toast into small pieces in a bowl
• Remove eggs from simmering water with slotted spoon and add to bowl with toast pieces. Break-up and egg and mix with toast
• Season with salt to taste