Pancake day!

We have already started the day with pancakes. Very nice. Supper will be more of the same. I am going to make a mixture with spinach, onion and chicken, roll the mixture up in pancakes, snuggle them all up together in an oven dish, pour over some white sauce, and then heat the lot up in a medium oven. I may sneak in some mushrooms.

My  pancake mixture works well, if I say so myself, give it a go. It makes about 12 pancakes, depending on the size of your pan.

Cooking pancakes can be a bit anti social, and hot. I like to make a pile and then reheat them.

Recipe

ingredients (alternative measurements at bottom of the recipe - cups, oz and mugs)

·         125g flour

2 eggs

125ml milk

125ml water

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp sugar

pinch salt

oil for pan

   Method

• sift flour into large bowl (I use a plastic jug and stir it with a whisk)
• add sugar and salt
• make a well in the middle, crack the eggs into it and add the oil
• stir it all together vigorously
• add liquid bit by bit, beating all the time until smooth (if it isn't smooth, resort to the hand blender)

I use a heavy based frying pan, which is not non-stick. I have a heatproof pastry brush and a little pot of oil, and I brush the pan between each pancake. I use a small ladle, which measures about 1/4 cup. I don't like non-stick, and I think the pancakes taste different if you pour the batter into a thin layer of hot oil.

It might seem obvious how to cook pancakes, and if you've got it down pat, ignore this. If you're like me, and sometimes end up with a thick layer of batter sticking to the pan then read on.

Heat the pan for a couple of minutes before starting the pancake cooking, and get the pan good and hot, then  brush with oil quickly and pour in the batter - just enough to coat the base of the pan. You'll know the pan is hot enough, because the batter starts to cook straight away, roll it around the pan to cover the whole base. Once the pancake starts to bubble a bit and the edges curl, it's ready to turn. Watch the pancake bubble a little bit, then remove it from the pan. And so on.

I turn the gas down a bit once the pan is hot, otherwise it gets too hot, and the pancakes stick.

Other stuff

if you don't have scales, or can't be bothered, about one mugful of flour and half/half mugful of milk/water is the right amount, adding a tiny bit more liquid. Providing it's an average mug, and I'm not debating what's average. The mixture should be like thin cream, coating the back of a spoon.

Since we have chickens, and I like things eggy, I sometimes go mad and add another egg.

Stuffed aubergines

Aubergines have a bit of magic about them, not only are they beautiful and curved, with a stunning purple thin skin. The flesh becomes silky smooth when cooked. This recipe mixes the velvety flesh with mushrooms, spinach and cream with a twist of lemon and a crunch of pine nuts.


I made this as a veggie alternative to Sunday's roast chicken.


Ingredients 
2 medium aubergines
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
225g mushrooms
5 large pellets of frozen chopped spinach or 350g of fresh spinach
50g parmesan, grated
6 tbsp cream
3tbsp breadcrumbs
1 lemon
25g pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp fresh parsley
Pepper and salt


Method


Heat oven to 200C/180C/gas 6

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil
• Cut aubergines in half lengthwise through the stems
• Put aubergine halves into the boiling water, and cook for 4-5 mins then drain well on kitchen paper
• Brush aubergines all over with olive oil, place on baking tray and cook for 20-25 mins, until tender and golden

• While aubergine bakes:
• Wash fresh spinach if using, if frozen set it to thaw
• Toast pine nuts gently in dry pan over low heat – make sure they don’t burn, keep shaking the pan, until they are golden, and set aside
• Finely chop the onion and garlic, put remaining oil in the pan and fry on a medium heat, until transparent and softened
• Prepare fresh breadcrumbs 
• Chop parsley
• Grate zest from one washed lemon
• Mix together topping of pine nuts, breadcrumbs, parsley and lemon zest
• Once the aubergines are cooked, scoop out the flesh, leaving about 1cm on the skin, setting them aside
• Chop the flesh and add to fry with onions and garlic, for a few minutes
• Slice mushrooms and add to onion and aubergine mixture, cook for around 5 minutes stirring all the time 
• Add  spinach to fry with the mixture, until cooked – there shouldn’t be much liquid, add a squeeze of lemon juice (but no pips) and stir it in
• Add cream, taste and season
• Spoon mixture into aubergine halves
• Sprinkle topping over mixture
• Return to oven to cook for 10-15 minutes, until topping is golden and serve

You can prepare everything in advance and cook the stuffed aubergines from chilled, in which case check the heat make sure everything is piping hot before serving.