Soybean Pancakes
Cooking fish at home can seem intimidating, but it’s much easier than you might think. Take your cue from Paul Kahan, the chef-owner of Blackbird Restaurant in Chicago.
Kahan is a gifted cook who can combine bold, interesting flavors in a way that shows a certain simplicity and understated style. This dish is an excellent illustration. Kahan serves these three recipes together as a single dish: sliced, seared tuna on soybean pancakes, garnished with basil, soybeans and olives.
At home, it makes a wonderful first course for six. Follow it with a main course of pasta or simply prepared meat.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and put the rack in the center position.
Blanch the hulled soybeans in boiling salted water until the beans are tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain them in a colander. Reserving 1/3 cup of the soybeans for Basil, Olive and Soybean Garnish, grind the remaining soybeans, egg, egg yolk, cream, flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste in a food processor until almost smooth.
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. When hot, drop 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter on the skillet for each pancake; use the back of a teaspoon to spread each into a 2-inch circle if the batter is a little thick. Cook until the pancake is set and lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer the cooked pancakes to a baking sheet, browned side down, in a single layer. Adding more butter as necessary, cook the remaining pancakes and transfer to the baking sheet.
Bake the pancakes only until they are just barely set on top, about 1 minute. (The recipe can be made ahead to this point and held several hours at room temperature.)
To serve, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter is hot, quickly brown the other side of the pancakes, about 30 seconds. Serve them hot.
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