Red Pepper Pancakes with Corn and Caviar

Recipe: Red Pepper Pancakes with Corn and Caviar
Page: 16
Date Cooked: May 20, 2012

I, like many people, love brunch. Not sure why brunch is so magical, but it appears to be that one meal where anything goes - sweet, savory, and both. And on a really great occasion, you can have "fancy brunch." Though this recipe was labelled a starter, it screamed fancy brunch to me and that is exactly what I sought.

Ingredients: red bell peppers, eggs, unsalted butter, lemon juice, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, chives, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, corn, heavy cream, salmon caviar, and cilantro 

I began by roasting the red peppers on the stove top until blackened and blistered all over. I put the peppers in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and steamed. I then peeled the peppers by hand, stemmed, and seeded them. I diced one of the peppers and put it aside.

(1) Roasting red bell peppers (2) Steaming bell peppers (3) Diced bell pepper

I blended the other red bell pepper in a food processor. I added egg yolks to the pepper puree and blended well. I whisked in some melted butter and lemon juice. I mixed the pepper puree mixture with flour, a pinch of salt, and baking powder. Finally, I whisked the egg whites to soft peaks and folded the whites into the flour-pepper mixture. I let the batter sit at room temperature.

Making red pepper pancake batter

In the meantime, I mixed the crème fraîche with the chives and cut the kernels off the corn.

Right: Kernels of corn
Left: Crème fraîche with chives 

I melted butter in a medium skillet and added the corn. After sauteeing for a few minutes, I stirred in the cream and diced red bell pepper. I finished the corn-pepper dish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Corn-red pepper sauce

I heated some butter in a large skillet and poured in a tablespoon of batter for each pancake. I cooked until the pancakes were lightly browned on each side. 

Cooking red pepper pancakes

Finally, it was time to plate. I arranged a few pancakes on a plate and topped each one with crème fraîche. I coiled salmon strips onto each pancake and placed caviar on top. I spooned the corn sauce around the pancakes and garnished with cilantro.

Red Pepper Pancakes with Corn and Caviar

Let's see.... Smoked salmon - delicious! Salmon caviar - delicious! Crème fraîche - delicious! All these items on their own are delicious. And of course, when you combine them (which is a pretty traditional pairing) is delicious. Those are the ingredients that had the most flavor and really sang. The red pepper pancakes...completely mediocre. Don't get me wrong, the whole dish was delicious. But the work it took to make the red pepper pancakes was not quite worth it. I think I could have made a regular blini, which would have taken half the effort, and the end product would be just as delicious. The corn-red pepper sauce tasted good, but I found the addition of heavy cream to be a bit gratuitous. I mean I am already eating crème fraîche! My overall verdict is that the red pepper pancakes were a bit overrated but the rest was delicious!

Enjoy!