I know it’s a bit of a late post considering it’s a week after Pancake day but who says you can’t eat pancakes all year round! However last Tuesday was officially Pancake Day so of course I was going to make some. I always remember the excitement of having pancakes when I was little. Being one of four, I would come home to my mum in the kitchen whipping up some batter and making delicious pancakes. Annoyingly she would always give the first pancake to the oldest in the family meaning I was always third in line. We wouldn’t even have anything savoury for dinner just get straight to eating the pancakes and have at least five each, mostly always with simply lemon and sugar. It probably wasn’t until a few years ago that I started having them with nutella and have never looked back.

My mum used to always make the pancakes with good old Delia’s recipe so last Tuesday I decided to do the same. The recipe says it makes 12-14 so at first I thought I should perhaps half it but then thought what the hell, they won’t go to waste. However I soon realised after making the batter that it definitely wasn’t going to make ten, never mind 14. My boyfriend looked a little panicked when he saw the batter as he was worried it would only make about four but we managed to make it last.

This time we actually had quite a feast for dinner, some stuffed chicken with spiced peppers and feta along with some lovely roasted vegetables (I should’ve taken a picture of that too really!) but made sure to leave plenty of room for pancakes.

Ingredients

For the pancake mixture

• 110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
• 50g/2oz butter

To serve

• caster sugar
• lemon wedges

Preparation method

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing. Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs – any sort of whisk or even a fork will do – incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.

2. Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don’t worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.

3. Now melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake. (This is probably where we went wrong as got too excited, we missed this part out!)

4. Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you’re using the correct amount of batter. I find 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. (2tsp was a bit too little for me but you can see how you get on) It’s also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it’s tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife – the other side will need a few seconds only – then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate.

5. To serve, sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or else simply roll them up. Serve sprinkled with a little more sugar and lemon juice and extra sections of lemon. Or add lots and lots of nutella for a bit of indulgence!

The first few were pretty bad, I don’t think we had the pan on at the right temperature but with persistence and a good dollop of butter, we pushed forward and made some decent ones.

In total the batter made about 8 pancakes, with the first four being relatively small. It was only our final two that turned out really well; they completely filled the pan and had a good depth.

The first two were of course with lemon and sugar but nutella became the winner with the rest. I think we must have used at least half a tub!

As you can see from the pictures they probably weren’t our best attempt but they were tasty.

Craig’s friend decided to comment on facebook “It’s a pancake, not toilet paper!”

Ah well they can’t all be perfect. Taste over appearance won in this case!