Who loves pancakes? ‘ME’ that’s what my boys scream back when I ask what they want for breakfast at the weekend.
My favourite is flavoured with some sugar and lemon juice and then every now again, I get fancy, grab the bottle of rum from the kitchen cupboard and flambée the pancake in the pan with some sugar (it caramelises in the rum flames) and butter.
Miraculous ingredient: Burford Brown eggs, whole organic milk
Pancakes (crêpes)
Ingredients
125g plain flour
1 egg (Burford Brown)
300ml whole organic milk
25g unsalted butter, melted
A pinch of sea salt
Vegetable oil for frying
Golden caster sugar
Lemon juice
Method Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the egg and mix. Gradually pour in the milk while whisking with a ballon hand whisk until all the milk is incorporated into the flour and egg mixture. Add the pinch of salt and melted butter (I microwave it for 10-20 seconds) and mix well.
Try to whisk out as many of the flour lumps as you can, but don’t worry too much as they magically disappear when you fry the pancakes. Leave the pancake mix to rest in the fridge for ½ hour.
Place a small non-stick frying pan or a cast iron crepe pan (if you have one) on the medium size burner/heat source on your hob and heat to high for 5 minutes to get the pan hot.
Pour some oil into a bowl and set it up close to your pan with a big ball of scrunched up kitchen paper. When the pan is hot, dip the kitchen paper ball into the oil and carefully smear it in the pan to spread a thin layer of oil all over.
Pour a ladle full of pancake mix into the pan and then quickly lift, gently shake and tip the pan to move the pancake mix all over the surface and place it back onto the heat. After 20 seconds you’ll see the edges of the pancake start to colour from underneath and begin to move away from the bottom of the pan. Use a spatula to carefully slide under the pancake and then flip it over. Cook the underside for about 1 minute and then place the cooked pancake onto a warm plate, cover with foil and a tea towel.
Continue frying the pancakes and placing them on the warm plate until all the mixture has been used up.
Serve with some golden caster sugar and lemon juice down the middle and roll up to eat!
Flambée pancakes with dark rum
Line up ½ a cap full of dark rum, ½ teaspoon of golden caster sugar, ¼ teaspoon of butter and matches by the pan. When the pancake has been cooked on both sides and is still in the pan, sprinkle on the sugar, add the butter (it will start melting straight away), pour on the rum and light with a match immediately.
Lift and tip the pan so the flaming rum covers the pancake. As soon as the flames go out, fold the pancake with a spatula into quarters and serve immediately. You can also add some ground walnuts at the same time as you add the sugar to the pancake for another flavour variation.
Preparation time 10 minutes, resting 30mins, cooking 15 minutes, makes 10 pancakes