Pancakes and baked pasta

Hey All,

So a little while ago, I discovered a great place for breakfast called Penny Ann's Cafe.  The write up in the Salt Lake Tribune had me curious to try their sour cream pancakes.  Needless to say they were delicious.  Unfortunately, as all good dining establishments do, they have since experienced out of control growth in their client base and getting in for breakfast requires 45+ minutes of wait time.  There is one thing that makes me crazy when I'm hungry:  waiting to be seated and get food.  So I ventured out into the intrawebs to see if I could find a recipe for their delicious pancakes.

Lo and behold, I found this delicious recipe from Land O' Lakes.  Its a close enough facsimile that I am no longer willing to wait 45+ minutes for a meal.

Its a striaght forward pancake batter, with all ingredients just mixed together in a bowl and then fried by 1/4 cupfuls:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup Land O Lakes® Milk

1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

1 Land O Lakes® All-Natural Egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons sugar (I use 1.5, as 2 makes them brown quicker than I'd like)

2 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Butter, melted  (I use 2T vegetable oil instead, because well, melting butter is a hassle, even with a microwave)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

The texture on these is very unique, light, fluffy, but having a perfect chew to them.  Here's a picture, I think you'll see what I mean:

 

The next recipe is another one of those that came up on facebook.  I think it was a recipegirl post.  It is so good, that it actually prompted a bit of recipe sharing at the office, so here's the excerpt from the email I circulated:

Here's the pasta recipe, notes included.  If you are lazy, like me, any old precooked pasta should work.

Sausage & Spinach Bake

1/2 Cup Grated Pecorino Romano (I used a good parmesan)
8 oz Ricotta
8oz Mozarella, shredded
14 oz mild Italian Sausage (I just used 1lb. breakfast sausage in the tube)
12 oz Rigatoni (undercooked by 4 min, so 7 min works well around here)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
10 oz frozen spinach (thawed and wrung to remove excess moisture, I suspect the wringing isn't necessary if you like a saucier pasta)
4 cups Marinara (I had some leftovers in a jar from Costco and a bit of not-sure-what brand in the freezer)

Mix together the Pecorino Romano, Ricotta, and mozarella, reserving some mozarella for sprinkling on the top.  Set aside.

Bring oil to med-high heat and brown sausage and garlic, taking care not to get too hot so you don't burn the garlic (I have a tendency to cook hot and scorch my garlic which tastes rather awful, except in Asian cooking).  Reduce heat.  Drain if necessary, add marinara and noodles, coat and warm.

Layer 1/2 of pasta mixture into a large baking dish, then 1/2 cheese mixture, spinach, 1/2 cheese mixture, and last 1/2 pasta mixture.  I thought of it as a lazy lasagne.

Top with reserved mozarella.

At this point it will refrigerate or freeze well, uncooked.

Bake in 375F oven covered for 20 min, then uncovered until bubbly and browned on top (about 20 more min).

I hope you enjoy!  The first time we made this it, we had it with a full bodied carmenere and it was amazing.

Hey, since you know pasta, do you know any easy gnocchi recipes?  Its one of my faves, but I have yet to try making my own.

 

Speaking of gnocchi, anyone got a good recipe?  I love it, but I've been striking out.  I really should just call my Father-In-Law, I suspect he has a good recipe.