Cornmeal Blini

“I’ve always been a big fan of breakfast for dinner, and dinner for breakfast,” says Bay Area chef, Duskie Estes, co-founder of ZAZU kitchen + farm and Black Pig Meat Company with husband and chef, John Stewart.

“I love using this recipe for savory purposes,” shares Estes. These versatile, little pancakes made with buttermilk are great to pair with pâté or quince jelly — or dress up the dish by serving with a dollop of chopped seafood or fish and salsa on top.

Cooking the buttermilk and yeast requires a bit of delicacy when it comes to temperature, advises Estes. As a tip she says, “Think of a baby’s bath as the temperature threshold you want to reach.”

Estes adds, “If I have any leftover batter, I use it the next morning to make more silver-dollar-sized pancakes for breakfast. The spent yeast gives the pancakes a great flavor, almost like sourdough.”

Cornmeal Blini

Yields: 24 tiny pancakes

1 1/4 cups milk1/4 cup sugar1 tsp yeast3/4 cup flour2/3 cup cornmeal1 tsp kosher salt1/2 cup buttermilk2 large eggs, separated

Combine milk and sugar in a saucepan and heat on low until just warm.

Add yeast and stir in flour, cornmeal and salt.

In a separate bowl, stir yolks into buttermilk. Combine buttermilk mixture with yeast mixture, let rise for two hours. Next, beat egg whites to stiff peaks and fold in. Cook silver dollar-sized pancakes on a medium-high griddle.