Prosciutto, apple, and arugula savory pancakes - Diversivore.com

Prosciutto, Apple, & Arugula Savory Pancakes

In Recipes by Sean1 Comment

Prosciutto, apple, and arugula pancakes on a wooden board
Prosciutto, apple, and arugula pancakes on a wooden board

Prosciutto, Apple

& Arugula Pancakes

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This recipe is part of a mini-series of savory pancake recipes. For more variations and tips/tricks related to the basic batter (and scratch-made pancakes in general) CLICK HERE!

When I started working on this mini-series of savory pancake recipes, I thought to myself "Oh this will be fun, AND easy!" Well, it was fun, and the recipes themselves were easy (and they will be for you too), but I ended up falling down a bit of an unexpected rabbit hole when it came time to do a little write-up for them. I mean yes, I could have just kept on trucking and ignored the little curiosity that popped up instead of writing all about it, but that's not how I roll.  Instead, I found myself thinking an awful lot about just how important a name is in this digital era.

What should I call these pancakes? Are these the US-style 'savory pancakes with prosciutto and arugula' or a more UK-friendly 'savoury American pancakes with prosciutto and rocket'? Well, I'm personally inclined to toss that US-style arugula together with the savoury-with-a-u to make a hybrid sentence. Because Canada.  As I mentioned in one of the other pancake recipes, Canadian English can get a little quirky at times.  We Canucks use a hodgepodge of British and American spellings and terms (plus some French for good measure), a combination of metric and imperial measurements, and a good smattering of terms and phrases that are uniquely our own.  That's fine if your audience is composed solely of Canadians, but English language blogging is highly global; there's a good chance that you're reading this from the USA, UK, or another not-Canada place, and I want you to know what the heck I'm talking about.  That brings us back to our recipe title, and to today's green veggie.  The peppery, lemony green that you see mounded on top of these fluffy, salty/sweet pancakes is commonly called arugula in North America, and rocket in the rest of the English-speaking world.  Those two words seem rather different, but they're actually much more closely related than they seem at first blush.  And, as with so many English words, they found their way into common usage through the bastardization and modification of other languages.

Did you ever play broken telephone as a kid? It's the game where one person whispers a phrase into the ear of the person next to them, who then repeats the process with their neighbour.  The phrase makes its way down the line one person at a time until it reaches the end, at which point it's compared to the initial phrase.  It's usually very different, and everyone has a good laugh when they see how quickly things have unraveled.  It's a fun little game to play, but it's also hilariously illustrative of the ongoing evolution of the English language.1  Let's look at arugula (rocket) as an example.  Imagine that, instead of one line of people playing broken telephone, we have an extra long line and we start in the middle.  The person in the middle whispers the phrase to both of their immediate neighbours.  This continues in a chain, with the phrase moving in both directions and reaching the two termini of the line.  I don't think that any of us would expect to hear the same phrase on both ends - in fact that would be shocking.  Now imagine a line stretching over thousands of people and hundreds of years, and you've got the evolution of the words arugula and rocket.  The scientific name for arugula is Eruca vesicaria, and if you're thinking that Eruca looks like it's sort of in between arugula and rocket, then 10 internet points to you.  Eruca is a Latin word that was used at some point in time to refer to at least one edible plant in the family Brassicaceae (the same family that includes kale, cabbage, broccoli, and many other foods).  The term hopped from Latin to Old Italian, where it began to spread (primarily in a diminutive form, with some type of suffix - I'm guessing that this diminutive use is related to the tendency to use only the young, tender greens of the arugula/rocket plant, but I haven't found anything to confirm or deny this yet).  In standard Italian it became rucola, but in the Lombard Italian dialect it became arigola.  Thanks to the complexities of immigration and linguistic drift, the Lombard arigola seems to have bled into US and Canadian English as arugula some time during the 1960s.  But what about rocket? Well, it starts in exactly the same place - Latin eruca becomes ruca in Old Italian, and then the diminutive rochetta.  This made it to France where it became roquette in Middle French.  From there, it's an easy hop to the English 'rocket'.

Note 1
Prosciutto, apple, and arugula pancakes in front of several other savory pancake variations

Rocket and arugula have already ended up pretty far apart, but that we're probably not done with this particular game of broken telephone either.  The evolving nomenclature of this ingredient perfectly demonstrates how attempting to use culinary (rather than biological) terminology can actually deepen confusion. It's common to see rocket referred to as rocket lettuce - I would imagine in an effort to emphasize the fact that you're talking about leafy greens rather than spaceships and ballistics.  But the plant is definitely not a lettuce. True lettuce is in a completely unrelated family of plants (Asteraceae - the daisy/sunflower family), while arugula is a relative of kale and cabbage (Brassicaceae).  The term lettuce is biologically specific, but is being used as a culinary shorthand to mean 'a leafy green, to be used in a salad.' We often do the same thing with frisee, which is a type of endive, and not a lettuce - though it is in the same family as true lettuce.  It's a bit confusing, but I'm no curmudgeon about it - language evolves in strange and perplexing ways.  In fact, I'm personally a big fan of any changes that happen for particularly funny reasons.  Case in point: every time I say arugula out loud I feel a compulsion to say it like an old fashioned klaxon car horn.  A-ROOOOOO-gula! Sadly, I don't think my personal interest in the matter will have much influence on the evolution of this word, but it's awesome to imagine a far-distant future where people sit down in a fancy restaurant and order a nice salad with some garden-fresh a-ROOOOOO-gula.

So has my search engine optimization and linguistic fettering worked? Time will tell, I suppose. You can always tell me in the comments just how you arrived here.  But just so you know, I'd be delighted if you call this recipe whatever you feel like calling it.  In fact, I say that we should just embrace the broken telephone.  Pancakes? American pancakes? Griddle cakes? All good terms, but I've always been partial to flapjacks - a term that actually dates back to 16th century.  It's even in Shakespeare's play Pericles, Prince of Tyre! Oddly enough, the word took an abrupt turn in the UK, and from the 1930s on has referred to a type of oat bar (akin to what we North Americans call a granola bar). In any case, 'flapjacks' is a fun start, but let's keep on whispering in ears and see where we end up.  Maybe we swap out the prosciutto for a bit of spice - some lovely capocollo! That already wonderful word was transformed by Neapolitan-American immigrants into the delightful 'gabbagool.' You might have bumped into that one in a few mafia-specific media. And maple syrup? Well I love the stuff, but perhaps my British readers would inclined to use a little treacle - a word that evolved from the Greek thēriakos, meaning 'concerning venomous beasts.'  It seems that the word treacle first referred to a mixed medicine used to treat poisonings, snakebites, and other miscellaneous ailments.  A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, and so treacle evolved from a treatment into the syrup we know today.

Flapjacks, rocket, treacle, and gabbagool; it's like a dictionary got thrown into a wood chipper. It's the ridiculous linguistic smorgasbord the English language deserves. It may not be the most popular of search terms, but man is it ever fun to say.

Maple syrup being poured on a stack of prosciutto, apple, and arugula pancakes

Recipe Notes

The basic batter for this recipe is quite easy to make, but if you're looking for any tips, or if you need to troubleshoot a little bit, check out this main post in my savory pancake series.

Unlike the other three recipes in this series, there's no pre-cooking involved in this variation, so it's the quickest and easiest of the bunch.  As such, we'll just spend a little time looking at some possible ingredient changes you could make.

Apples & Fruit Variations

Use any apples you have on hand, but if you're shopping expressly for this recipe I'd use something with that balances sweetness with a bit of tartness. Jonagold, Red Rome, Mutsu (aka Crispin), and Honeycrisp would all work very nicely.

A number of other fruits would also work nicely in a sweet/savory recipe like this.  Pear and figs both go exceptionally well with prosciutto.  Peaches and apricots are quite nice too, though I would avoid particularly soft stone fruit for textural reasons.  Melon is a classic accompaniment to the Italian cured meat, but it's a bit harder to work into the pancakes because of the high water content.  That being said, you could always try mixing the prosciutto into the batter, then top things off with diced melon and a little extra meat.

Cured Meats

There's no need to break the bank with a terribly expensive prosciutto variety here. Likewise, there are plenty of other cured meat options you can explore if you want to try something different. Dry, flavourful meats with a balance of fat and lean would work best - speck and pancetta would both work nicely. If you want to introduce a bit of spice, you could use capocollo, salami, or chorizo.

Prosciutto, apple, and arugula pancakes on a wooden board

Note: Nutritional Information is given for a single serving (1/6th portion of the total recipe), including maple syrup.

Nutrition Facts
Prosciutto, Apple, & Arugula Savory Pancakes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 402 Calories from Fat 162
% Daily Value*
Fat 18g28%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Cholesterol 109mg36%
Sodium 252mg11%
Potassium 449mg13%
Carbohydrates 51g17%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 17g19%
Protein 10g20%
Vitamin A 690IU14%
Vitamin C 2.4mg3%
Calcium 199mg20%
Iron 2.6mg14%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Summary

GOOD NEWS:
Because you're not using a lot of meat, you don't add much fat to the base recipe, and even with added maple syrup it's fairly low in sugar. These are also quite low in sodium (especially for a dish with cured meat!).

BAD NEWS:
Relatively high in saturated fat overall, though not alarmingly so.

TRIM IT DOWN:
You don't really want to cut much out of this recipe, but serving with lots of extra fruit and arugula will help fill diners up in a healthy way.

Ingredient Pages

No ingredient pages have been written yet for any of the ingredients in this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

Pantry Pages

No pantry pages have been written yet for any of the ingredients in this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

  • Reduced meat
  • 30-minutes
Prosciutto, apple, and arugula savory pancakes - Diversivore.com
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4.80 from 5 votes

Prosciutto, Apple, & Arugula Savory Pancakes

A little bit fancy, yet ridiculously easy to make, these savory pancakes perfectly combine salty, savory, and sweet with the peppery bite of fresh arugula.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Main Course, Main Dishes
Cuisine: American, Fusion, Miscellaneous, North American
Keyword: dinner pancakes, prosciutto pancakes
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 402kcal

Ingredients

Basic Batter

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1.5 cups milk
  • 1/3 cup melted butter (about 75 grams)
  • 1 tbsp baking powder

Prosciutto, Apple, & Arugula variation

  • 1.75 oz prosciutto chopped, plus extra to serve
  • 1 medium apple diced, plus extra to serve
  • 2 cups arugula loosely packed
  • maple syrup to serve (optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat a griddle (if using) or skillet over medium heat.
  • Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, milk, and melted butter and mix thoroughly until well combined.
  • Stir in baking powder, taking care to get it thoroughly mixed into the batter. Let the batter stand for 5 minutes.
  • Add the chopped prosciutto and apple to the basic batter, stirring until just combined.
  • Pour the batter onto the preheated griddle/pan (see note below about adding butter); I like to use about 1/2 cup of batter per pancake, but you can go bigger or smaller depending on your personal preferences. Cook until the bottom is browned, the edges are looking solid, and bubbles are coming up through the center of the pancake. Flip over and cook for an additional 2 minutes or so, then set aside to cool.
  • Serve with extra prosciutto and apple and a handful of arugula, then top off with a little maple syrup.

Notes

Extra butter - I use a well-seasoned griddle to make my pancakes and I've never needed any extra butter to keep the pancakes from sticking.  That being said, if you're using a skillet or frying pan, you may want to have a little extra butter handy to add to the pan in order to keep the batter from sticking as it cooks.

Nutrition

Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 252mg | Potassium: 449mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 690IU | Vitamin C: 2.4mg | Calcium: 199mg | Iron: 2.6mg

See The Other Variations

Kimchi & Seafood

Kimchi and seafood pancakes on a green plate topped with kimchi

Kielbasa & Corn

A stack of kielbasa and corn pancakes on a floral patterned plate

Bacon, Cheddar & Chives

Bacon, cheddar, and chive pancakes topped with sour cream and cheese on a white plate.

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    These would be a huge hit in my house! Love the combination of prosciutto, arugula and apples! A sweet and savoury combination like this is so perfect for breakfast or brunch! Great recipe series Sean!

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