Recipes Around the World

Name: Jill Casavecchia
State: Northern Ireland at present (but a California native)
Hometown: San Francisco Bay Area
Three words to describe yourself: creative, unconventional, teacher

Recipe: Tutu's Finnish Pancake
(More of an eggy breakfast custard than a pancake, actually)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 cup honey
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
2 1/2 cups milk
4 Tb. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Place a big baking dish (I use a wok because none of my baking dishes are tall enough) into the oven and heat oven to 425 degrees F. Leave dish in the oven for 10 mins to heat up. Meanwhile, beat eggs, honey, salt, vanilla extract and milk together in the blender to get them really frothy and airy. Add the flour and mix until smooth, with no lumps.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and put the butter in. Making sure to wear oven mitts, swirl the butter around until it melts and covers the bottom and sides of the dish. Give it a few minutes to cool so that the butter hardens slightly. You want the butter to coat the sides of the dish and not just all slide down and pool at the bottom. I usually put the dish/wok into the fridge for a few minutes to cool it down. Next, pour the egg mixture into the dish and bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

While baking, the pancake will climb up the sides of the dish and puff up like a big parachute. A few minutes before it's done, I usually take it out and generously sprinkle brown sugar over the top, before returning it to the oven. The sugar will caramelize.

Be sure to have everyone seated around the table so when you take it out of the oven, they can see it all puffy and lovely. It will fall very quickly. This is nice served with butter & brown sugar, with maple syrup or with fresh fruit. I've heard of savory variations, but I've never tried it anyway but sweet.

If you're feeling adventurous, you might want to experiment with replacing the honey and vanilla with bacon, and sprinkling shredded cheese instead of brown sugar at the end.

Review: This was my grandma's family recipe going back generations to her origins in Finland. I'm sure they didn't use blenders or woks; those are my modern additions. As a kid, I *loved* when she used to make this! She had a glass door on the oven, with a light inside, and I used to get so excited watching it growing big and puffy. As a grown-up, it's still one of my favorites, and although filling, almost everyone who tries it wants seconds. :)

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To submit your recipe for Recipes Around the World, email Jill at JillryLove@gmail.com.