A late Sunday breakfast

The festive decorations have been stored away for the next 12 months and the financial realities of the new year are hitting home. Life on Thrift Street will have to become increasingly thrifty in 2014 to cover the costs of finishing home renovations, the ridiculous expense of train travel and heating an old house (not forgetting the increasing cost of food). My dad always brings up several bags of homegrown vegetables on his visits and I have another box of oddly shaped pink fir apple potatoes, large, many rooted carrots in erotic embraces, candy striped chioggia beetroot, a magnificent red cabbage and a bag of muddy leeks to see me through the next few weeks. The endless rain we've had of late has given me the excuse to spend weekend afternoons researching new recipes for some imaginative ways on using up this hoard. Most common vegetables have a representative association to champion their cause and these have proved an invaluable source of new ideas. Have a look at these - leeks, carrots and beetroot. The shock of returning to work last week and having to drag myself reluctantly from the warm refuge of bed at some unearthly hour led to an uncharacteristically late breakfast this morning, perfect for a breakfast of American style pancakes, bacon and coffee (using up some of the leeks in the process). This is my version of a recipe found on the British Leeks site and the original recipe can be found here.

American style oat pancakes with leeks

Serves 2-3 for a large breakfast

100g rolled oats
250ml buttermilk
1tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, thinly sliced
3 eggs
50g spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
5-6 sun dried tomatoes, chopped (in oil, drained or semi dry)
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 small red chilli, chopped (remove the seeds if you don't like too much heat)
1tbsp sunflower oil
sea salt and black pepper

Mix the oats and buttermilk together and leave to soak overnight. Sweat the chopped leek in olive oil until soft and translucent but not brown. Whisk the eggs, flour, baking powder, chilli, parsley, chopped tomatoes, sunflower oil, seasoning and leeks with the oat mixture. Heat a little oil in a pan on a medium heat and drop in spoonfuls of the mixture. When air bubbles are visible on the surface of the pancakes, flip over and cook the other side for 2-3 minutes. You can keep the cooked pancakes warm in the oven until you have used up all the remaining batter. Serve with grilled bacon, maple syrup and good coffee.