Better Batter
Teatime
Five great recipes for savoury and sweet pancakes
Basic Pancake Batter Mix
Ingredients
100g plain flour
1 egg
275ml milk
Pinch of salt
25g butter
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and break in the egg. Use a wooden spoon to beat in the egg. Gently add the milk a bit at a time, continue beating until you form a smooth batter.
Heat a 7 inch non-stick frying pan lightly brushed with melted butter. Once the pan is hot, put in two tablespoons of batter and tilt the pan to coat the base evenly.
Cook until the pancake moves freely, then toss or turn until pancake is golden on both sides
Savoury Pancake Bake
Ingredients
250g beef mince
One onion, finely chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
125ml beef stock
Handful of mushrooms sliced
1tbsp tomato puree
300ml Bechamel sauce
150g grated cheese
Salt, pepper and Italian seasoning
Fry up the onion until soft, then add the mince and brown. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft and then add in stock, tomatoes, puree and season. Cook on a medium heat for around 30 minutes.
Make up some pancakes and then put a few spoonfuls of the mince mixture in each pancake. Roll the pancakes up and place side by side in a casserole dish.
Pour a serving of béchamel sauce over the pancakes and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in an oven at Gas Mark 4/180°C for 20-30 minutes until the cheese browns.
Veggie Delight
150g trimmed, washed and shredded spinach
One small onion, chopped
10g butter
1tbsp sunflower seeds
Seasoning
50g cottage cheese
(NB: for vegans, substitute vegetable margarine for the butter and crumbled tofu instead of the cottage cheese)
Fry the onion in the margarine until soft. Add the spinach and cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the sunflower seeds and the seasoning.
Make up some pancakes. Spread the cottage cheese over the pancakes and then spoon on the spinach mixture. Roll and serve.
Ham, Cheese and Tomato Foldies
Fry up an onion, a couple of ham slices chopped up into squares and a couple of chopped fresh tomatoes. Season or add herbs to taste. While this is cooking, make up some pancakes in another pan. When both pancakes and filling are ready, lay out the pancake and spoon on a couple of tablespoons of mixture on to each pancake and top with grated cheese. Fold up into quarters and serve.
Chocolate Banana Melt
100g bar of chocolate
2 bananas, sliced.
Make up a stack of pancakes. Then break up the chocolate into chunks and put in a bowl in the microwave until melted. Mix in slices of banana. and divide the mixture between the pancakes – stack up and serve.
Berry Good Pancakes
300g frozen summer berries
Zest and juice of 1 orange
75g muesli
Add the muesli to your pancake batter mix and make up some pancakes.
Warm through the berries in a saucepan with the orange.
Serve the pancakes in a stack with the compote of berries on the side.
