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A couple of months ago a segment on Good Eats caught my attention: jonnycakes, AKA hoecakes, AKA cornmeal pancakes. I love pancakes, but I’m also a grumpy klutz on weekday mornings, which rules out my (somewhat labor intensive) favorite pancake recipe.

Fortunately, jonnycakes are simple enough to handle in the throes of Morning Brain, plus they’re delicious, fast, and cheap. That’s a hard combination to beat.

I jiggered Alton’s recipe a little bit to reduce the number of implements requiring cleaning:

• 1 cup of cornmeal (white or yellow)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 egg
• Water

First, put a skillet on the stove at medium heat. We’ll let that warm up while prepping the batter.

Scoop cornmeal into a small mixing bowl with a 1/3rd cup measuring cup (more on that later), add the salt and baking powder, and plop in the butter. Mix in a bit of boiling water.

The heat is important! Cornmeal is terrified of cold water, and we also want to melt the butter. How much water? Enough so that your batter is still clumpy and doesn’t run smooth. This seems to vary depending on your cornmeal … sorry I can’t be more specific!

Mix in the egg, and check the consistency with your measuring cup. Our goal is to be just wet enough so that it pours without clumping. Still clumpy? Add more water. Too runny? Add more cornmeal.

Now you’re ready to rock.

Oh yeah, about that measuring cup — 1/3rd cup of batter produces six perfect sized specimens with this recipe. And it means I only have to wash one measuring cup. Hah.

Alrighty. Pour some batter on the skillet. It should be hot enough to sizzle as soon as it hits the surface. Your milage will vary, but two minutes per side on medium heat gives me a golden brown and airy jonnycake.

Serve with fresh fruit, honey, maple syrup, or whatever floats your boat. Almost anything you put on your jonnycakes will cost more than what went in to ‘em. The ingredients clock in under $1 even if you’re buying local + organic.

Cheaper than Pop Tarts, and way better for ya.

Try it out, tell me what you think.

What better way to start the weekend than a meal containing chocolate and a half stick of butter?

These are my Saturday Morning Pancakes. I took the recipe from a little book about pancakes, and tweaked it a bit. It only takes a few minutes to make the batter, it whups ass all over Bisquick, and it produces enough fluffy pancakes to feed about four people. Don’t have four people? The batter keeps for a couple of days in the fridge without any trouble.

So, without further ado ..

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• nutmeg
• chocolate chips

Put a pan on medium heat, and grab a mixing bowl.

Crack the eggs into a bowl, and mix in the brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Wisk to an even consistency, and then start adding flour and milk in reasonable proportions. You should be able to continue wisking without blowing out your wrist.

Warm the 4 tablespoons of butter in a microwave until it’s a liquid. Butter melts at an alarming rate in the microwave, so this may only take 5 or 10 seconds. Wisk the melted butter into the batter.

Grate some fresh nutmeg over the top of the batter. Just a pinch. Unless you really like nutmeg. In which case, have a blast.

The end result should be a golden batter that’s about as thick as ranch salad dressing. If it’s too thick or thin, add a little more milk or flour, respectively. Don’t worry too much about lumps.

By now, the pan is hot. Pour in some batter, and if you can hear it sizzle when it hits the pan, you know you’re in good shape. Drop chocolate chips onto the pancake in whatever arrangement suits your mood.

Voila. Saturday Morning Pancakes. Let me know what you think!

This is the sort of thing that freaks out vegetarians … and yet … I’m intrigued:

“The Gracie burger is one of the best things to eat in Portland right now. Like the Hurley burger, Gracie’s starts with a hunk of lean Kobe and some foie—but just keeps going. Add two quail eggs, a brioche bun basted in duck fat, bacon mayo with huge chunks of perfectly salty swine, Cantel cheese, foie gras aioli and a bed of frisée that makes the sandwich appear as tall as Yao Ming, and you have a serious food addiction. This burger represents so many distinct (and lovable) animals that it ought to be called the Petting Zoo Massacre.”

Hell yes.

(thanks to Willamette Week and Mike Thelan for the fine review)

I like risotto. It’s easy to make, it tastes awesome, it’s cheap, and it has a name that impresses people (”ohh, it sounds Italian!”).

This is a particularly kick ass risotto.

Here’s what you need:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed.
• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped.
• 2/3 cup Arborio rice.
• 2/3 cup barley.
• 1 bottle white wine. (some for the dish, the rest for the chef — that’s how we party.)
• 4 cups chicken stock.
• 1 pound ground turkey.
• 1 cup parmigiano-reggiano, grated.
• 1 cup asparagus tips.

First, pour yourself some wine. Then, put the chicken stock in a small pot to warm up over medium heat. Separately, in a deep skillet, saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium high heat. When the onions are a bit transparent and softened up after a couple of minutes, drink some wine, and dump the rice and barley into the pan (plus a little salt and pepper if you’re keen). Mix it up and enjoy the crackle and sizzling for a couple more minutes, then dump in the rest of your glass of wine (probably half a cup or so, at this point).

Refill your wine glass.

When the wine in the skillet has boiled off, ladle in the warm chicken stock until the rice and barley are just covered. Drink some wine, then add all of the ground turkey in little bits.

Stir the rice and barley, add chicken stock, and drink frequently for the next 20 minutes or so. You’ll know it’s done when you’re out of chicken stock, the grains are al dente, and you have a pretty good buzz going.

Add the cheese and the asparagus tips. This is when it starts to get gooey, and your guests/roommates/significant other will start wandering through the kitchen more frequently, because damn, it’s a good smelling dish.

When the cheese is melted in and the asparagus is bright green, season with ground black pepper, and turn off the heat. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes, polish off the wine, and viola. You’re done.

This dish supposedly serves 4, but I’m skeptical. By the time I’m done cooking, I’m ready to eat half of it.

If you’re in Portland, and you’re hungry, it’s worth checking out Screen Door. Southern style, local ingredients, small mix-n-match dishes, great service, good coffee, deserts, and drinks — it’s a pretty fabulous place to go with a few close friends. It’s not spendy (or dirt cheap), but I’m pretty confident you’ll leave happy.

2337 E. Burnside.

Yum.