Pasture-Raised Eggs & Whole Oat Pancakes

We took our first trip to MOM's Organic Market last weekend. Despite Brendan half-jokingly doing impressions of Ron Swanson the whole time, I really enjoyed the experience. They had a surprisingly large selection of foods, seasonal produce, all organic, and a very friendly staff.

My biggest interest was in their egg and dairy selection. In searching for answers to some of the ethical questions about being an ovo lacto vegetarian, I found that major dairy and egg producers were also complicit in the same kinds of cruelty found in the meat industry, but there are alternatives. So far, pasture-raised seems to be the least objectionable label. MOM's had both eggs and dairy from pasture-raised animals. I bought a dozen eggs and we tried them three ways (over easy, in pad thai, and in a veggie omelette) before deciding that they do taste richer than the conventional eggs we've always bought.



The toughest part was figuring out what to do with them for the blog. I know how to make scrambled eggs taste really good, but that didn't translate well in pictures. So I ended up going with a food that has eggs in it, and also goes with eggs— the ubiquitous pancake, with whole oats.

Whole Oat Flour Pancakes

Adapted from Bob’s Red Mill Oat Pancakes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup oat flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:
Warm the milk in a saucepan or microwave, and transfer to a medium sized bowl. Add the rolled oats, then the remaining dry ingredients, stir, and let stand for 5 minutes.

Separate the egg yolks and whites, and beat the yolks well. Add the egg yolks and whites, olive oil, and vanilla extract to the batter, and combine with a wire whisk.

To prepare the pan: Saturate a rag or wadded paper towel with about a tbsp of olive and wipe the cook surface of the pan between each pancake, so there’s a very light coat of new oil, and any crumbs from the previous pancake are removed.

Over a medium heat, spoon the batter into your pan 1/4 at a time. Let cook for about one minute (or until bottom is golden brown and the liquid on top no longer flows freely) then flip and cook on the other side for 40-60 seconds. This recipe yields 4 large pancakes.


With butter and pure maple syrup, this is technically dessert.

How do they stack up (ha, get it?) to standard buttermilk pancakes? Beautifully, in my opinion. Density-wise, they’re not quite as fluffy, but they’re also not hard. They’ve got a bit of texture to them because of the whole oats, and personally I prefer that to smooth bready mush. Enjoy!