Good lord. Februrary has flown by ridiculously fast, I mean...where does that month go? First there's a slow and depressingly commercial build up to Valentine's Day, and then before you know it BOOM. Hello March.
But wait.
Wasn't February missing something this year? Something sweet? Floury? Stuck to the ceiling?
Hell yes it was. And boy was it missed dearly. I've been waiting for pancake day for what feels like an age now. I'm one of those annoying ''only-eat-pancakes-on-Shrove-Tuesday'' people, which causes me to not only ignore the joys of these flippable snacks throughout the whole year, but also give into the ''buy-ten-million-ingredients-and-toppings'' offers the week before that day of joy. Pathetic.
Anyway, I may be a Shrove Tuesday conformist, but I see no harm in starting the celebrations a little early, right? Right. So here's your easy peasy pancake recipe for next week....and hopefully a little while after. Forget scrambled eggs and sausage sandwiches, I'm vowing to make pancakes the new year-round brunch...
INGREDIENTS
110g plain flour, sifted
2 eggs
200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
Butter
METHOD
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and make a little well to break the eggs into
Whisk the eggs, beating them together at first and then starting to mix in the flour. Keep going until all the flour's mixed in and gradually add the milk/water mixture.
Once all the liquid's been added and the batter is smooth, melt some butter in a frying pan.
Spoon or pour a moderate amount of batter [a ladle is your friend here] into the pan, swirl it round to cover the base and let it cook.
Once the underneath can be lifted easily from the pan, it's time for the fun part. FLIPPING! Or, if you're worried about the state of your kitchen ceiling, just slide it onto a plate and flip it back into the pan that way.
This side will brown pretty quickly, so be ready to slide from the pan, serve and eat.
You can see from the pic that my personal favourite is the snickers pancake - a genius idea which I first came across in halls at uni, but seems to be a pretty universal favourite...Nutella and peanut butter. This is seriously good stuff, but if [god forbid] it doesn't tickle your fancy, why not try some savoury versions? Cheese, philly and tomato, bolognaise or ratatouille.
And if sugar's your thing, you can never go wrong with sugar and lemon right? Or melted chocolate. Or ice-cream. Or toasted marshmallows. Or.....
...I could go on forever. But fear not, I'll leave you and your creative juices to come up with some magnificent filling or three. And remember peeps...
...pancakes are for life, not just Shrove Tuesday.
