Recipe - Finnish Carrot Pancake With Cranberry Sauce

CARROT PANCAKE
1 One half cup Carrot; grated
One half cup Onion; grated
One half cup Dry bread crumbs; or wheat
germ
4 lg Eggs
One fourth cup Milk
One half cup Flour; white, wheat or rye
1 One half teaspoon Salt; or less to taste
One half teaspoon Thyme; scant
One half teaspoon Nutmeg; scant
One fourth teaspoon Ground cumin
Freshly ground pepper; to
taste
1 tablespoon Canola oil

CRANBERRY SAUCE
12 ounce Fresh cranberries; or
lingonberries
One half cup Maple syrup; up to 2/3 cup
1 Orange
One half teaspoon Ground ginger
One half teaspoon Ground cardamom
1 ds Cinnamon

OPTIONAL
Sour cream

For the Carrot Pancake: In a mixing bowl, combine the grated carrots,
grated onion and bread crumbs or wheat germ. Toss to mix evenly.

Preheat the oven to 450 deg F.

In a blender or by hand, combine the eggs, milk, flour and seasonings until
smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides of the blender or bowl once
or twice. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrot mixture and the
contents of the blender.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a heavy 9" or 10" cast iron skillet, or
similar heavy shallow baking dish that can go in the oven. Heat the oil in
the skillet. When quite hot but not smoking, pour in the pancake mixture;
make sure the carrots are evenly distributed. Place the skillet in the
preheated oven. After 20 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350 deg F
and continue to bake for another 10 15 minutes.

The pancake should be light brown, puffy and crisp.

Serve immediately, topped with cranberry sauce and sour cream, if desired.

To prepare Cranberry Sauce: Wash and drain the cranberries. Remove any soft
or discolored berries, and any stems or leaves. Wash the orange, and grate
the orange rind only (avoid the bitter white pith); squeeze the juice from
the orange. You are looking to obtain about One half cup of juice and grated
rind combined. Mix all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over
medium heat for 10 15 minutes, stirring, until the cranberries have
popped and the sauce is thick. May be made ahead. Serve hot or cold.
Commercial whole berry cranberry sauce or commercial cranberry/orange
relish can be substituted, if you must.

The Finnish name for the carrot pancake is Porkkanapannukakku. The Finnish
name for the Cranberry Sauce is Karpalokastike. Your guess is as good as
mine for how these are pronounced.

Source: _Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant_ by the Moosewood Collective.

Formatted and posted by Ilene Warfield.

Here is homey family supper that my family really enjoys at this time of
year. It combines the colors and flavors of the season in a rather unusual
(but delicious) way. While the nutritional profile is well within the elf
guidelines, there is also ample room to cut fat and calories even farther
substituting 4 egg white for 2 of the whole eggs, using skim or 1% milk,
for example. I like to serve this with some form of green cabbage; we like
steamed cabbage, but a crisp coleslaw (creamy or marinated) is good, too. I
think cucumbers in sour cream is a more traditional accompaniment. I hope
you enjoy it as much as we do!

Recipe by: Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant (ilenewar@starnetinc.com)