Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday here in the UK aka Pancake Day or Jif Lemon Day, time for the masses to flip or toss their pancakes - some gently making sure that they get it back in the pan without it hanging half over the side, others giving it a good big flip to the ceiling and attempting to judge where its going to land.
Anyway, with a little reminder that too much sugar on your pancakes isn't good for you; here's a basic pancake recipe, although I'm sure this is like teaching your granny to suck eggs:
What You'll Need
300ml Milk - we only have semi-skimmed in the house
100g Plain Flour
1 Egg - obviously free-range and preferrably local
Fresh Lemon
Sugar or Granulated Sweetner - if you're feeling a little healthier
Fresh Red Berries - you can also use frozen, making sure they are properly thawed out; our farm shop has the frozon-scoop selection that has a nice red berry mix
Vanilla Ice-Cream - I can highly recommend the Cotswold Ice-Cream Company's version
What You'll Need to Do
Add the flour to a bowl, and make a well in the centre
Add the egg into the centre of the flour, and gently fold in the flour whilst adding milk until you have a smooth paste
Next beat the batter mix until you've got rid of any lumps or bumps, these don't make for a nice smooth batter mix
Add the remaining milk to the batter
Heat a thick-bottomed frying pan or a crepe pan on a high heat, with a splash of oil
Gently pour in the batter to coat the bottom of your pan
Cook for a minute of so, and when the bottom of the pancake has turned a nice golden brown toss the pancake, or if yo're not feeling that brave, use a spatula to turn it over
Cook on the other side for another minute or so, until golden brown
Serve either sprinkled with sugar and lemon, or stuffed with the red berries and a dollop of ice-cream on top
Serves 8-12 depending on how thick you like your pancakes
While everyone uses the same batter mix, its what you do with it and
put in your pancakes that count. Do you go savoury or sweet? Hot or
cold? I really like plain and simple lemon juice and sugar. I'm not a
big fan of chocolate on mine (yes I know that goes against everything
chocolately that I believe in), but have a try with fresh red berries
and a good creamy vanilla ice cream.
Or if you want to reminisce how about the 1980's Little Chef pancakes
that we all used to love, apart from the lollipop if you cleared your
plate, the pancakes were the best thing going. I'm pleased to see that
they are still on the menu with Heston Blumenthal
keeping them on his fantastic new menu. Whilst I'm clearly delighted
that the pancakes of yester-year are still available, sadly there is
one thing missing from my cupboard and local shops this Shrove Tuesday
is a Jif Lemon, not the bottled variety but the plastic yellow lemon
shaped ones... Nooo, no longer are we to be reminded to 'not forget the
pancakes on Jif Lemon Day'...
Enjoy!