Buckwheat

The agreeably assertive flavor of buckwheat flour, the nuttiness of wheat germ, and the pleasantly chewy texture of rolled oats combine to make these pancakes hearty and full-bodied. They’re really a meal on their own, though nobody would complain if you were to offer Venison Sausages (page 185) or thickly cut Maple-Glazed Bacon (page 177) alongside.

Packed with all kinds of good ingredients, these muffins make a densely flavorful treat that, if paired with yogurt, could almost be a light meal on its own. Buckwheat flour is made from the dry fruit seeds of the buckwheat plant, and is available at most health food stores.

This recipe could almost be labeled a health bread, except that it tastes too good. It’s packed with a generous quantity of bananas, plus an assortment of mix-and-match dried fruit. Spread the bread with any of our fruit butters (pages 270–272) and serve at a fall or winter brunch.

Orange zest gives these crispy snaps a hint of citrus. Barley malt syrup (for more about this sweetener, see page 68) stands in for the traditional molasses, and tastes virtually identical. If the maple sugar is clumpy, break it up with your fingers before creaming it with the butter. To make gingerbread people, roll the dough to just over 1/4 inch thick and press in raisins or other toppings to decorate the cookies.

Buckwheat adds a delicious sour note to crepes and breads. As a crop, buckwheat gives a boost to the environment because it suppresses weed growth and provides nectar for honeybees. It requires little to no chemical fertilization and actually adds nutrients to the depleted soil on which it’s grown. I like to fold these savory whole-grain breakfast crepes in half, but they can also be filled and rolled like sushi. For a spicier version of this dish, add red pepper flakes.

This soba gnocchi is one of the most popular dishes at my Chicago restaurant, Takashi. My customers love it and often ask me how to prepare it at home. Well, here’s the answer! The recipe is a little challenging, but I guarantee you it will more than impress the guests at your next dinner party. You can prepare the gnocchi in advance, and even freeze it (be sure to coat the gnocchi with vegetable oil before refrigerating or freezing). You can also prepare the celery root sauce ahead of time. And like the gnocchi, you can freeze it, too.

Buckwheat is such a great old-world flour. Its distinctive, slightly sweet, earthy flavor pairs extremely well with tart apple.

People often ask me what kind of latkes were eaten before potatoes came to the Old World from the New. This onion pancake gives us a taste of that past. Buckwheat, called farine aux Sarrazins or blé noir in French, is used for this recipe. Although rendered goose fat was traditionally the oil used in Alsace and elsewhere in Europe, oils made from safflower, walnuts, and other nuts and seeds were also used, probably pressed by the farmers who brought them to markets where they were sold. The recipe, although attributed as Alsatian in one cookbook, is clearly from eastern Europe, as the word “gretchenes” means buckwheat in Polish.

It was in Paris in the 1960s that I first tasted buckwheat blini. My friend Nanou took me to a tiny, chic Russian restaurant near the Champs- Élysées. Russians, many of them Jews, came to France at the end of the nineteenth century, not long before the Russian Revolution, and congregated in restaurants like this one. We ordered the elegantly presented blini, and ate them daintily with smoked salmon and crème fraîche. Twenty years after Nanou died, her son Édouard got married. The wedding party took place at Maxim’s, where we drank lots of champagne and danced until the wee hours of the morning. I was touched to taste blini with smoked salmon and crème fraîche, the same appetizer that Édouard’s mother and I had enjoyed so many years ago. For me, it was as though she were present at the wedding. This recipe was adapted from Lynn Visson’s The Russian Heritage Cookbook.

This is what I like to call a fancy schmancy dish, but it’s so easy to do and you can make it a day ahead. You will need a springform pan.

Crepes are one of those brunch dishes that always impress people. They are versatile and a snap to whip out. In this section I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite ways with the French pancake. All of the recipes are a slight variation of the Basic Crepe Batter, substituting different types of flour, fillings, and techniques. They are all amazing, and after you master the basic crepe batter, you can create your own different recipes. Tapping your inner chef has never been so easy.

Whether you're allergic to wheat, giving your tummy a rest, or just want to experiment with tasty and nutritious flours, these pancakes belong at your brunch table. They're light, airy, and really perfect for absorbing lots of maple syrup. Unless you have a gluten allergy, you may not have all these flours sitting around. You can play around with this recipe's flouor ratios pretty interchangeably, so if you need to use all corn flour or all quinoa flour that's okay.

With sustainability in mind, we taste-tested a variety of domestic caviars. Trout roe had the pop and brininess we were looking for—and it was especially pretty.

In Russia and eastern Europe kasha is most often made into thick gruel. Instead, we turned the roasted buckwheat kernels into a fantastic side dish studded with butter-toasted walnuts and browned onion.

You can also serve blini topped with salmon roe. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

The following recipe - which cannot be halved successfully - makes twice the batter necessary for the Egg and Bacon Crêpes or the Egg and Spinach Crêpes . Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This version of blini—a tribute to the Russian communities throughout the New York metropolitan area—is fast because it does not require yeast. If buckwheat flour is unavailable, whole-wheat flour makes a good substitute.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 2 hr

(Buckwheat Yeast Pancakes with Three Caviars)

Raising pancakes and waffles with yeast is an old American tradition that predates the invention of baking powder. The overnight proofing develops the flavor of the flours, and the yeast ensures lightness even for heavier grains. The batter keeps well, covered and refrigerated, for several days. Try these waffles with Quince Applesauce Mushrooms