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PANCAKES WITH SOUR CHERRY SWEET JAM (more than the recipes)

In English there are only the words: JAM and JELLY to name specific products made in many ways from fruits. In Romanian language there are more words (gem, dulceata, magiun, peltea and maybe others).

These recipes could be more interesting than the previous ones, especially for the British audience. Of course, I tested them on many natives and I realize these is one of the favorite desserts. Those British whom I have served, didn't know that pancakes could be served, cold as well as warm, or in a different manner from theirs.

Packages with pancakes exist in all grocery stores and they are served successfully in Pubs.

The dough I make, is enough for 12 pancakes (Calin eats about 7-8, at once, as dessert).

PANCAKES. In a stainless steel bowl I crack 2 eggs, put bit of salt (as, to any sweet), a teabag of vanilla sugar, bit of rum, a little bit of sodium bicarbonate and a teaspoon of oil. Then, I put flour, probably about 100 g and blend well. I pour milk, little first, to homogenize the dough. Add milk so that the composition looks and has a "single cream" consistence (perhaps, 200 ml).

Put a Teflon pan on the cooker and pour sunflower oil (it is cheaper and I will discard after use). When the oil is very hot, to the strongest position of the cooker eye's button, empty it into a cup, which is on a paper towel placed on the kitchen cabinet (into the cup will be about 1-2 cm of oil).

Put the pan, again on cooker and pour about, a middle sized deep soup spoon, from the composition. Swing the pan until its bottom is coated of composition. Lower the fire at half. The pancake is ready when it detaches easily from the pan with a kitchen paddle (in about 20-30 seconds). Turn the pancake up on the other side and leave less time on the cooker. Drop it on a plate.

The operation repeats as long there is dough. Meanwhile, spread sour cherry jam (prepared by me in July, from picked fruits in the sour cherry tree, situated some 200 meters from my house) in a row, on the pancake. Roll the pancakes, put them on a plate and spread chopped walnuts or ... not.

We eat them hot or cold, they are equally good, but only on the day of cooking.

Sometimes, I fill the pancakes with a mixture of fresh sweet cheese, vanilla sugar, raisins, cinnamon and rum. Sometimes, the mixture consists of honey and a bit toasted walnuts in the oven and then chopped.

When I serve them as aperitif, certainly, I do not put sugar and rum into the dough and the filler may be race salty hard cheese (salad cheese, cottage cheese), diced sausage or salami. Or, I make a spicy mixture from salad cheese, fresh sweet cheese, cream, butter, garlic finely chopped and fill the pancakes, spread chopped dill, or pour a sauce (from tomato paste, sweet and hot pepper paste, pepper, bit of vinegar, bit of honey and sugar, salt, all fried in corn oil, pour hot water and boil).

SOUR CHERRY SWEET JAM. In the UK I have seen about 2 sour cherry trees in Lincoln, on Yarborough Rd. and one at about 200 m from my house, one I use to pick up the sour cherries in July.

2 years ago, I made sour cherry brandy (a sweet alcoholic drink, suitable more for women), of which I drank very little, because I do not drink alcohol. I think, I should done concentrate syrup, than sour cherry brandy! But each year I make sour cherry sweet jam, because it's our favorite sweet jam, a fine sweetness with a sweet, sour, maybe a little bitter, taste.

I have already said, I do not taste cooked dishes, nor I weigh the ingredients; I make everything "out of the eye".

So, after I wash the sour cherries, I remove the stones using a safety pin. I put some stones in the garden; I already have 2 sour cherry trees aged about three years, but do not know if this year they will fructify.

I put the sour cherries, along with the juice, in a bowl with sugar (about 1 kg of sugar and 1 of sour cherries). I use the strong fire until the sweet jam starts to boil and then slow down. And so it boils and boils for about an hour and a half, maybe more, to become clotted.

The sour cherry sweet jam gets clotted in longer time than other jams, because the sour cherries leaves more juice then other fruits. I do not use gelatin to make it clotted.

When the foam rises I take it off with a spoon with holes and wipe the inside foam on the walls of the saucepan with paper kitchen towels. When the foaming is finished, I mingle the sweet jam, from time to time to not become brown. When I think, the sweet jam is ready, I put a little bit of syrup in a plate. If the syrup becomes sticky, when cooled, it means that the sweet jam is ready.

I pour the sweet jam in small jars placed on a metal blade, to not break the glass. Then, I screw the caps and leave them to cool; then put them in the storage place to use when needed.

PS Calin likes to eat, sometimes, real bread with real butter and real sweet cherry jam, instead of another processed in factories desserts.


the little sour cherry tree from my garden


the big sour cherry tree from neighborhood



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