AGT April 2013 - Sweet potato pancakes with bacon & maple syrup

Okay, okay, I know this is going back a couple of months now. I was going to cook from Australian Good Taste like I do delicious magazine but I haven't really been doing that. I planned to rectify this however, I received notice in the mail that Australian Good Taste is going to cease being published. The August issue will be their last. It is sad as it is a good magazine. There has been a couple of foodie magazines shut down recently. I hope that my other favourites keep going. I would be completely lost without delicious.

When I first received this issue in the post I couldn't stop staring (drooling) over the cover recipe. It just looks amazing. The combination of the chocolate cake with ganache and malted buttercream topped with the maltesers is just a stunning combination. I really wanted to make it but there really isn't anyone to cook for. It wouldn't be a cheap cake to make. I might make it the next time I get together with my friends for a bbq. 

I also have the Smoky root vegie hash with eggs and beans marked to make. It would make either an excellent lunch or easy dinner. The only root veg in it are sweet potato and potato and I think that I would probably change that. Most likely swapping out the potato for something like celeriac, although beets would work too. The smoky flavour comes from smoked paprika, I would probably use my hot smoked paprika to add a bit of a kick. 

I ended up making the Sweet potato pancakes with bacon & maple syrup for breakfast one morning. Well, brunch really. The recipe called for the sweet potato to be boiled and then mashed. There are a lot of recipes that have pumpkin, sweet potato and the like boiled or steamed before mashing for use in other recipes. I would prefer to roast and then mash since boiling and steaming adds extra water into the vegetables that usually causes problems in the final recipe. I baked in their jackets until soft then left to cool, peeled and mashed. I really liked these pancakes, they were so light and fluffy with such a great flavour. The sweetness of the roasted sweet potato really came through. Adding bacon and maple syrup just rounded it out beautifully. 

Sweet potato pancakes with bacon & maple syrup

400g sweet potato, roasted whole, then cooled, peeled and mashed
265g (1 3/4 cup) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb

1 tbsp caster sugar
500ml (2 cups) milk
2 eggs
40g butter, melted, cooled
Bacon, fried (or baked) until crisp

Maple syrup, to serve

Combine flour, baking powder, bicarb and sugar. Whisk together milk, eggs and butter. Add milk mixture and sweet potato to the flour and stir until smooth.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat (I use an electric griddle). Melt a small amount of butter in the pan.  Drop 1/3 cup batter into pan. Spread slightly. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn and cook for 1 minute or until golden. Transfer to a plate. Cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter to make 12 pancakes.
Divide pancakes among plates. Top with bacon. Drizzle over maple syrup.