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| Pancake production line |
Sundays in our house start with pancakes, with the children clamouring for golden syrup and me trying to persuade them to add some fruit.
I make the small fat reliable pancakes that are easy to handle, rather than the large flat traditional English versions that don’t always want to be flipped.
This recipe makes 11 or 12 pancakes, so should cover enthusiastic small people with a few over for their parents.
Pancakes
125g white self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg
150ml milk (add a bit more if the mix looks too thin)
bit of groundnut oil or other vegetable oil
Plus copious syrup and whatever fruit you fancy as an accompaniment. The children love to eat them with strawberries, but we’re more likely to have bananas in the house.
I shove the flour, cinnamon, baking power and sugar in a bowl, and use a spoon to make a well in the middle of the mix. Then I break the egg into a cup and beat it with a fork. I add the egg to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl, and pour in a bit of milk at a time, mixing it all together as I go along in an attempt to avoid lumps.
Meanwhile heat a non-stick frying pan until its properly hot, add some cooking oil, and put in dollops of the batter mix. My frying pan just about copes with doing three at the same time.
Watch for bubbles apearing on the top of the pancakes and then flip them over so they can brown on the other side too.
Serve quickly to appease the ravening hordes. As you can see from the photo of the pancake production line, there is already an impatient small hand entering stage right to whip a pancake onto a plate.
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| Pancake witch by my daughter |
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| Pancake stong man by my son |
Later on we all headed off to the Hadleigh Sea Scouts duck and raft races down by Toppesfield Bridge.
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| Where’s Wally costumes on the left, childminders team on the right |
Back at home we had a late lunch outside in the sunshine, based on the bargain yellow-stickered tortilla wraps (9p for 8!).
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| Wraps for everyone |
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| Chicken fajitas, ready for their close up |
After attempting to cut the enormous 2kg chicken down to size, I used some of the resulting mini fillets to make chicken fajitas for my husband and me, with wraps, leftover peppers, onion, an ancient half packet of Discover fajita seasoning from an Approve Food order and spoonfuls of natural yogurt.
My daughter asked specifically for salami, while I did a ham and soft cheese wrap for my son, in an attempt to keep everyone happy.
We saw cousin Jan and her husband John at the raft races, and invited them round to help celebrate our first year in the house.
I made bacon, cheddar and onion quiche, with boiled salad potatoes and a green salad with dressing, followed by roast peaches with the last of the vanilla ice cream. (Does anyone want the recipes? I sometimes struggle to think of budget friendly meals when people come round).
You’ll have to take it on trust as I completely forgot to take any photos. Must have been too busy celebrating with the bottle of fizz kindly brought along by Jan and John…
In Australia where I grew up, these small pancakes are called pikelets (and sweeter than the big, thin version). Here in Finland, they are a savoury dinner ingredient. Try them without the sugar and cinnamon but add grated carrot, grated cooked beetroot or finely-chopped spinach. It also works a treat for getting more vegetables onto a plate.
I love small savoury pancakes spread with cream cheese, or with grated apple and raisins inside, but unfortunately I'm still working on persuading my children! Also like doing fritters sometimes, with combinations of feta, pea and mint, or sweetcorn, in the batter.