BLT pancakes with basil cream

BLT Pancakes with Basil Cream

I don’t know where I get my ideas sometimes.  Neither does anyone else apparently.  I had a very large bowl of cherry tomatoes sitting on the counter and suddenly had the idea to turn them into pancakes.  And why stop there?  How about BLT pancakes?  Well, sort of BLTs, but without the actual L.  But there would be mayo, and that more than makes up for the lack of lettuce, in my opinion.  You with me?  Every time I shared this brainstorm with someone, I got the exact same reaction.  Lots of dumbfounded expressions, wrinkled foreheads, and one word responses that amounted to, “Huh?”  Nobody was on board, so I figured somewhere in the blogsphere someone must have made a BLT pancake before.

As it turns out someone had.  Apparently, she and I are the only ones.  Go figure.  To make a long story short, we all know I am not the pancake maker in our family, so Jim very kindly made these while I put together the basil cream sauce, cause we’re a good team like that.  They tasted fine – nothing spectacular and not really very BLT-y, and we probably won’t make them again.  I’ve gotten it out of my system.  The sauce, however, is a different story.  That was pretty darn good and I will definitely whip that together whenever we have an abundance of nice tomatoes to slice up.  Very creamy and flavorful and a delicious way to enjoy the end of summer’s bounty of tomatoes.

Recipe:  BLT Pancakes with Basil Cream

(adapted from Washington Post and Lottie + Doof)

12 slices uncooked bacon

1 c. cherry or grape tomatoes, diced

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 cups regular or low-fat milk

1/2 cup regular mayonnaise

basil cream (recipe follows)

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, until crisp, then transfer it to drain on a paper-towel-lined plate. The yield should be about 1 cup.

Dice the tomatoes and gently squeeze the seeds out.  Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.

Whisk together the eggs, milk and mayonnaise in another bowl. Blend it into the flour mixture, but do not over mix.  There should still be some lumps in the batter.

Spray a griddle with nonstick cooking oil spray. Heat over medium to medium-high heat.

Pour 1/4 c. of pancake batter for each pancake, then top each one with some of the diced tomato and crumbled cooked bacon. Cook for a few minutes, until the tops are bubbly, then flip the pancakes over. Cook on the second side until lightly browned.

Serve immediately with basil cream.

Recipe:  Basil Cream

1/3 c. heavy cream

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

1 Tbsp. water

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

pinch of sugar

8-10 basil leaves, finely chopped

Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine.  Serve over pancakes.

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