Any excuse…

 

Classic shot of pancake cooking...

I don’t remember if I made pancakes last Shrove Tuesday. I think I probably meant to and didn’t. Or was last year the year we made a special trip to a local café for pancakes? Much as I like pancakes, I don’t usually bother that much with Pancake Tuesday. Usually. This year, any excuse to break the grim monotony of lockdown is grabbed with both hands. This year, there were sweet and savoury pancakes.

(Not that I actually want lockdown to be lifted at the moment – one of the things which raises my stress levels most is the fear that restrictions will – again – be lifted before they should be.)

First, savoury. I used a spiced beef recipe from Sabrina Ghayour’s Simply. There was a pancake batter included in this, but I used my own recipe, which I inherited from my mother, although it probably comes from Delia Smith (it’s for the thin crepe style of pancake rather than the fluffy American kind). None of the recipe is complicated, but there are quite a few elements to bring together. I made the pancake batter first, to get it out of the way. Next the pancake accompaniments: chopped hard boiled egg, chopped dill, chopped red onion (supposed to be shallots) and crème fraiche.

Some of the accompaniments

Next the spicy beef: basically, fry beef mince, add spices (garlic granules, really quite a lot of paprika – a tablespoon if you’re making the recipe for four- cumin, cayenne, cinnamon), fry a bit more. Put to one side while you make the pancakes.

For this particular recipe, you add melted butter to the batter just before you cook it. I’m sure you all know how to cook pancakes, but I will pass on the tips I learnt from my mother: make sure there is virtually no butter left in the pan, just the lightest of smears, and make sure the pan is hot. If you can see smoke coming off it, that’s about right. (This recipe has been in our family since the days before smoke alarms were common.(

Make pancakes. Keep them warm in the oven while you briefly reheat the beef, then serve. Pile beef and accompaniments of your choice onto pancake, and roll up. Eat, messily. This was delicious, and not as spicy as I expected given the amount of paprika. I served this with a carrot salad from the same book, because vitamins are a good thing. This was a slight fluke, but as it included dill as well it actually went really well.

Ready to be rolled...

Ready to eat. 

This was followed by sweet pancakes with the remains of the batter: jam and cream, a personal favourite.

So, what shall I do to stave of the boredom next?