Corn Pancakes with Black Beans for Maggie

I just came back from a long weekend in Oregon with my four sisters. We went on long hikes and long car rides together. Discussions ran the gamut of topics. Somehow it came up that my niece Maggie is cooking. My sister bemoaned that my niece was spending too much on groceries to make complicated dishes.

We cooks know that to make interesting and delicious food sometimes you need some ingredients that may not reside in the pantry. The dish that follows is by no means exotic. You can find everything in a normal grocery store. In fact I created this a million years ago when the kids were little and I wanted something that was both kid and parent friendly. The kids ate the pancakes with syrup and we ate them with the beans, sour cream and cilantro. This recipe is easy but still pretty tasty. Don't let the pancakes made with Jiffy corn muffin mix fool you. They have a gritty corn meal texture that compliments the smoothness of the beans and the heat from the salsa. And if you want to you can finish off supper with a pancake slathered in butter and syrup!

Corn Pancakes with Black Bean Salsa for Maggie

Salsa:

Oil
1 red pepper, cut into 1" squares
1/2 vidalia onion, cut into 1" squares
2 cans black beans, canned, rinsed
1 jar Pace Picantre Sauce, medium

Pancakes:
2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 egg
4 tablespoons shortening, melted
2/3 cups milk
Chopped cilantro
Sour cream

To make the warm salsa:
Drizzle some oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and saute the onion starts to soften. Add the peppers and cook until the peppers start to soften. Add the black beans and Picante sauce. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. When the beans and salsa are hot, reduce the heat to low. Make the pankcakes.

Pancakes:
Blend all the pancake ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork. Batter will be lumpy. Let batter sit a few minutes. Using a quarter cup measure or an ice cream scoop drop batter onto a lightly oiled non stick pan or griddle. Keep them fairly fair apart because the thick batter will spread as the pancakes start to cook. Flip when the edges appear dry, peeking every now and then at the bottom so they don't burn. Also these pancakes are pretty thick so don't cook on too high of a heat or they will be raw inside.

Put two pancakes on a plate. Pile with the warm salsa. Add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle liberally with salsa.

Let me know if you make it Maggie. And don't let your mom gives you grief about the leftover cilantro!
Serve with Cilantro and sour cream
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