Blueberry Compote

1 Cup Blueberries
1/4 Cup Sugar (more or less to taste)

Steps:

Microwave blueberries for a minute or two (especially if using frozen) to speed up release of juices, then pour into a small saucepan and add sugar.
Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce heat to maintain a very gently simmer. Stir frequently to prevent scorching (which shouldn’t happen at a low temp with so much berry juice)
Remove from heat at your desired thickness, pour into a jar for serving / keeping. Store leftover in the fridge.

This will be the easiest thing you have ever made. You just put some berries and sugar in a pot and simmer it until you’re happy. Stir it a bit so it doesn’t burn. That’s basically it. Here’s the recipe, for the impatient:

Pancake

My wife loves, loves pancakes, so we have them pretty frequently. The ease of production, and I think some nostalgia from her childhood, keep her coming back.

Breakfast, and pending house projects in the background.

Pancake Companion

My wife loves, loves pancakes, so we have them pretty frequently. We’ll get into the whole pancake journey and recipe another time, since nailing that recipe is a bit complex and requires some intentional technique and patience. But here’s a quick photo if you wanna dive in. For now, we’re going to talk about my favorite pancake topping, because you can make this along with any pancakes, even stuff out of a box, and really elevate the game.

Big batch recipe on the left, small batch recipe on the right in red. We mostly make the small batch, unless we have several guests.

Compote is a very fast and easy recipe that helps bring some really bright flavors, and most importantly to me, an alternative to maple syrup as a pancake topping. Pancakes are already a massive glycemic load, in the form of all these simple carps and sugars, and then people just pour more sugar on top. Pretty good way to wreck your day right from the get to.

So, I’m always looking for ways to offset that. For me, butter and berries are my main toppings, and I’ll add a little touch of maple where and there.

So, I whip up the compote either just before or while the pancakes are going down. This morning, Regina was making the pancakes, and I threw this together while she was already starting to cook them.

Juices and berries ready to infuse your cakes

Frozen is Fine. Microwaves are fine.

The trick to really speeding it up is to microwave the berries so they exude all their luscious juices, since that’s what you’re going for, anyway. The objective here is a pool of blueberry juice that you can soak into your pancakes, and it doesn’t take long to get there.

I poured an inexact amount of frozen blueberries into a microwave safe bowl, then microwaved them on high for 2 minutes, then poured them out into a saucepan. Then, I drizzled an also inexact amount of sugar over top of the berries.

If you don’t have have a microwave, you can just put them in a saucepan and go to the next step, it will just take a little longer. And if you’re not in a hurry, you can skip the microwave stage and save yourself a step and a dirty bowl.

This 1.5L Le Creuset Saucepan is my favorite for this. Those berry dregs will wash right out.

Enamel Vs. Non-Stick Cookware

I like a small enameled saucepan for this, because it’s as close as you can get to non-stick without introducing toxic chemicals directly into your food. We’re not doing that, right? I get that some people like the convenience, but that’s not a game I’m willing to play with my health, especially when other alternatives exist.

Speaking of using enameled cast iron in leu of non-stick cookware, that tiny little skillet on the next burner is my choice for making eggs, particularly if I’m making a small amount of scrambled eggs, or frying a single egg.

You simply need to preheat the pan for a few minutes, so that the egg proteins immediately seize up when the egg goes in, rather than slowly binding to the pan as it warms up.

I have the patience for this. My wife does not. So, she generally doesn’t get as much non-stick performance out of it as I do. Hence that little bit of egg residue you see there.

I’ll do a demo of this for you another time.

Back to the Berries

Once the berries and sugar are in the pan, you just need to apply a gentle simmer and stir them occasionally until you get the texture you like. For this application, it can still be very wet and soak deep into the pancakes, or you can thicken it jump a bit if you prefer it sits on top and doesn’t soak in as much.

How much sugar should you use? I opt for a very small amount of sugar for this application, that way I can still add a little maple syrup to adjust sweetness at the table. Then you get the best of both worlds.

So, in summary, here’s all you really need to know: Put some berries and sugar in a small pot, simmer it until you’re done making your pancakes, and enjoy.

Don’t limit yourself to just blueberries. Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, whatever, they’re all delicious.