recipe 17: Swedish pannkakor

Flash forward four years from the study-abroad-in-France chapter and one would land in the study-abroad-in-Sweden chapter. And at that juncture in my life, I epitomized only slightly more mature, still had no idea how to read a map of any city, and my ability to communicate in Swedish was even more comical than my ability to communicate in French. My very dear college friend Erin and I jetted off across the Atlantic to spend a semester in Göteborg (pronounced, if you will, yo-te-bor-ee) interning at day care centers, and studying child development, Swedish language, and education in a country with intriguing child-centered policies. During our time there, we ate a ridiculous amount of meatballs and unpasteurized dairy products. I swear that my jaw grew during this gastronomic era, either from all of the chewing or all of the calcium. Erin and I cooked every meal together like cohabitators. The word for cohabitation in Swedish is "sambo." We learned this because people in our respective flats would see us eating every meal together and kept asking if we were "sambo." Of course we were! The Swedish pannkakor (pancake) recipe that we originally used has long been lost. But with the help of the Food Network and my own ideas (such as extra sugar for extra crispiness), I have recreated the taste and textures that I remember oh-so-well from the college semester where my jaw grew.


SWEDISH PANNKAKOR (serves 2: the breakfast of sambo champions!)
Ingredients:
-1 large egg
-1 c whole milk
-1/2 c flour
-2 T sugar
-a sprinkle of salt
-2 T melted butter
-cooking spray
-fillings: lemon sugar (fresh squeezed lemon juice mixed with sugar), Nutella, honey, various jams including Swedish lingonberry jam which can be purchased at Ikea, various syrups

Instructions:
1) preheat 2 small frying pans (to make the process faster) sprayed with cooking spray on separate burners over medium-high heat
2) whisk all ingredients (except the fillings and cooking spray) in a medium bowl but don't overmix

3) use approximately 2 T of batter per pan and swirl around the pan so the batter covers the bottom (note: the pancakes should be paper thin; also note: the first pancake made in each pan will be rubbery and gross and should be discarded)

4) lift the edge of the pancakes with a spatula once they start to cook and once lightly browned, flip gently with fingers, cooking the other side

5) a plate of the finished product should look like this...

6) spread on the desired fillings, roll up and enjoy!