Sweet, Sweet Potato Pancakes
with Warm Butter Pecan Sauce
Back in the day before I became the lucky chef/co-proprietor of my own eponymous restaurant and was still working for others, I took a consulting gig with this Fella. Jon and I were old industry buddies, having met in Denver in 2002 while working on a project neither of us were particularly interested in, except only as a possible means to our own dreams. Turns out we were both feverishly working on our own restaurant concepts on the side, fine tuning business plans, seeking funding and hashing out ideas to anyone willing to listen to our maniacal rants about how our concepts were the next great thing.
During the menu development process, Jon flew me to Chicago to share some of his favorite breakfast spots there in the hopes of conveying what he was looking for at his own place in Denver. I think we may have sampled over 20 different breakfast items in at least seven different spots within a four-hour period, which may sound like a lot of fun to say, someone with the metabolism of a pubescent athlete, but actually ended up being a horrifically nauseating plane ride home. What I came away with from that trip (besides the worst sugar crash of my life) was the foundation of a menu for a breakfast concept that Denver had never seen before that was super-heavy in the tricked-out pancake department. Jon really wanted a nice repertoire of totally fun, completely original pancakes for the “pancake flight” section of the menu and I was more than happy to oblige (especially since I needed the $).
The last time I saw him he was plotting to go national with the company, which I totally don’t doubt he’ll do. While I like to think that I am taking over my tiny corner of the city one beignet at a time, Jon is literally taking over the country as we speak, one pancake at a time.
Among the numerous sweet inspirations I’ve shared with the Snooze crew in those beginning years this is one that I actually created for my own menu, but still has a place on theirs. Funny though, I always prefer the rendition done at my own place over the ones I’ve had in Denver. Maybe it’s the different cooks, different locations, different altitudes, something in the water or something lost in translation. Try this recipe out and see what you come up with. Hope you like ’em wherever you are.
Sweet Potato Pancake Batter
1 C Roasted Sweet Potato Puree
2 Eggs, beaten
1 ¾ C Flour
1 TB Baking Powder
½ TSP Baking Soda
¼ TB Salt
¼ TB Cinnamon
¼ TB Nutmeg
¼ TB Ground Ginger
2 TB Brown Sugar
1 C Milk
For batter, simply place a large sweet potato on a sheet pan and roast in a 350* oven until cooked through, about an hour. Let potato cool, then peel and set aside one cup of the potato pulp. Lightly mash. Combine all dry ingredients to evenly combine. Stir in potato puree, eggs and milk into dry mix until just combined. Lumps are OK.
Butter Pecan Sauce
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Cream
1/4 Tb Salt
1/2 Chopped Pecans
In a small saucepan, melt butter and sugar together. Whisk in cream and salt. Stir in chopped pecans.
