Upgrade your pancake game with these mouth-watering recipes for the much-loved, quick and easy meal.
Beer and bacon pancakes
Beer for breakfast? Yes, you heard that right! The popular beverage is used here in place of milk to bind the batter. It gives the pancakes a savoury, malty flavour, which goes perfectly with salty bacon and sweet maple syrup. Obviously, this recipe is for adults only — for the child-friendly version, simply replace the beer with milk.
Serves 6
Ingredients
Pancake batter:
200g smoked bacon lardons/diced pancetta
160g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg, separated
60g dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
250ml beer
3 tbsp melted butter, plus extra for frying
To serve:
12 slices of fried smoked streaky bacon
Maple syrup
Method
Begin by frying the bacon lardons/diced pancetta in a dry frying pan — it will release sufficient oil as it cooks to prevent it sticking, so there’s no need to add any extra fat to the pan. Remove the bacon from the pan and put on paper towels to let any excess fat drain. Set aside.
To make the pancake batter, put the flour, baking powder, egg yolk (save the egg white), dark brown sugar, salt and beer in a large mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the melted butter and whisk again. The batter should have a smooth, dropping consistency. Stir in the cooked bacon lardons/diced pancetta.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white to stiff peaks. Gently fold the whisked egg white into the batter mixture, using a spatula. Cover and put in the refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes.
When you are ready to serve, remove your batter mixture from the refrigerator and stir gently, then cook it in batches. Put a little butter in a large frying pan set over a medium heat. Allow the butter to melt and coat the base of the pan, then ladle small amounts of the rested batter into the pan, leaving a little space between each. Cook until the underside of each pancake is golden brown and a few bubbles start to appear on the top — this will take about 2–3 minutes. Turn the pancakes over using a spatula and cook on the other side until golden brown.
Serve the pancakes with extra fried streaky bacon and lashings of maple syrup.
Beetroot pancakes with goat’s cheese, onion relish and walnuts
Beetroot pancakes with goat’s cheese, onion relish and walnuts
The beetroot adds attractive colour to these savoury pancakes, as well as a hint of earthy flavour. A little rye flour is used in the batter here too for its deep, strong taste, but it can be easily replaced with plain flour.
Makes 16 pancakes
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
2 eggs
220ml whole milk
75g plain flour
25g rye flour
Pinch of salt
55g cooked beetroot, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
Filling:
300g frozen spinach, thawed
300g soft goat’s cheese
2 tbsp freshly chopped basil
50g chopped walnuts
6 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Onion relish:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
To serve:
Rocket, fresh basil leaves and Parmesan shavings
Method
Start by making the onion relish. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the onions and a little salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are really soft and golden.
Add the vinegar and sugar and cook for a further 5–10 minutes until jammy in consistency. Leave to cool.
To make the pancakes: Place the eggs, half the milk, the flours, salt and chopped beetroot in a food processor and blend until the beetroot is puréed and the mixture is smooth. Add the remaining milk and the oil and blend again. Transfer to a jug and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Squeeze out all the excess water from the thawed spinach and chop finely. Place in a bowl and beat in the goat’s cheese, basil, walnuts and grated Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Lightly stir the pancake mixture once. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, brush with oil and swirl in about 60ml of the pancake mixture, making sure it covers the base. Cook over a medium-low heat for about 1 ½ minutes until the base is golden. Flip the pancake over and cook for a further 1 minute until dotted brown.
Remove the pancake from the pan as soon as it is ready and keep warm while you cook the remaining batter in the same way.
When you are ready to serve, spoon the goat’s cheese mixture down the centre of each pancake. Top with a few rocket leaves, fresh basil leaves and a spoonful of the onion relish. Roll up and enjoy.
Serve the pancakes with extra relish and shavings of Parmesan cheese.
Extracted from Modern Pancakes published by Ryland Peters & Small Photography (c) Ryland Peters & Small
