Pancakes: not fluffy or fancy - just the best ones to have on pancake day

I love Shrove Tuesday because I love pancakes and I can cook them, which seems to impress people more than it should. Below is the recipe I use every year, and a few times in between, and some tips on getting them right every time. For example, the first pancake is supposed to be a disaster; it means the rest will turn out perfect. 

The recipe I use these days is from old favourite the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book, first published in 1948. My edition was published in 1998 and was a 21st birthday present. But I've been making pancakes for more than 20 years (and eating them for close to 40), so it's not surprising that the pancake recipe is the most well thumbed page in my very first cookbook, How to Boil an Egg, a gift from my Grandpa in 1993.

I relied on this pancake recipe all through university, and it's exactly the same except the measures are less accurate - 4 tablespoons rather than 125g of flour etc - as we didn't have much equipment even in an all girls college kitchen. Surviving in these bleak conditions does mean that I can now tell when the batter is just right, so well worth the hardship.

As for the toppings, for me nothing beats golden syrup with a squirt of lemon juice and a sprinkling of sugar, but I usually have something different on the first pancake just to check...

Ingredients

(makes 6 medium sized pancakes, or 2 people in our house)

125g plain flour

Pinch of salt

1 egg

300ml milk

Vegetable oil for frying (not olive oil or butter as they don't get hot enough).

Toppings: sugar and lemon, golden syrup, Nutella, banana, nuts, chocolate sauce, ice cream, Greek yogurt, dulce de leche, jam, fruit, cream... whatever you're giving up for Lent (I'm thinking lemon juice?)

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt together, make a well in the centre and crack in the egg.

2. Whisk in the egg then gradually add the milk, whisking continuously until the batter is smooth and lump free. Leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.  

3. Heat two teaspoons of oil in a medium sized non-stick frying pan until very hot. Add a ladle full of batter and quickly swirl the pan to coat the bottom with a thin layer. 

4. After a couple of minutes, start lifting the edges of the pancake with a flat spatula or fish slice, easing it up from the bottom until the underside is browned and the pancake lifts off easily.

5.  Flip the pancake over and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes, or until nicely browned.

NB the first pancake is always a mess! Adjust the heat of the pan and try again, it'll probably be fine. If not try adjusting the thickness of the batter with flour (if too thin) or milk (if too thick). For subsequent pancakes you should only need a teaspoon of oil for each. 

6. Eat the pancakes as soon as you can - I prefer to cook one, eat one so they're hot straight from the pan. Add you filling, roll up into a cigar and enjoy!

Ricotta and hazelnut ravioli: another tip from grandma

When the Bearded Argentinian was a young clean-shaven Porteño, he spent most Sundays at his Grandma's house, preparing dinner with the rest of the family. As children, they were allowed to help make the fresh pasta, filing ravioli, cutting the shapes and sealing them with little fingers or a fork. Using her book to make empanadas last week reminded me that fresh pasta ravioli is another classic to share. And, unlike the elusive empanada pastries, absolutely everything in this recipe is easy to get hold of...

The pasta dough recipe is adapted from Grandma's book La Cocina de Lorenzo Taberna (on the right in the photo below) with some help from Antonio Carluccio's Vegetables (on the left). The filling is mainly from memory, with some help from Google.

You can double up the quantities below and freeze the ravioli once constructed but before cooking.

Ingredients

(Serves 2) 

For the pasta dough

200g Italian 00 flour

2 large eggs

Pinch of salt

For the filling

250g ricotta

125g Parmesan, finely grated

1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 spring onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup walnuts, very finely chopped, or blitzed to breadcrumb size

1 large egg

Salt, pepper and a grating of nutmeg

Method

1. To make the pasta dough, sift the flour into a mound on the worktop and mix in the salt. Make a well in the flour and crack in the eggs. Mix together with your hands into a thick paste, then bring together into a dough, adding a little water if needed. 

 

2. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

3. Make the filling my combining all the ingredients, adding the egg last and beating in. Season to taste.

4. Divide the pasta dough in two, and roll each piece out on a lightly floured surface as thin as possible, aiming for about 5mm thick. If you have a pasta machine, lucky you, otherwise just keep rolling in different directions to get an even thickness.

5. Place a teaspoon of filling at regular intervals along the dough, leaving about 1cm border around each lump, and brush this border with water. Complete a row, then cover with a strip of pasta dough and press the dough together around each filling, squeezing any air out. NB Children can help with these filling, shaping and sealing steps as demonstrated below by the Bearded Argentinian (in case you thought my hands suddenly got very hairy):

If you have some filling leftover, freeze for next time.

6. Cut the pasta into raviolis using a serrated pasta cutter if you have one (I used a pizza wheel...)

6. Press the edges together - using a fork makes a good seal and looks pretty if you don't have a serrated cutter. Leave the ravioli to rest for 10-15 minutes under a clean tea towel.

7. Cook the ravioli in boiling water for 5 minutes, until the sealed edges are al dente 

These little parcels are so tasty that I don't think you need a sauce. We drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with grated parmesan, snipped chives and a few chilli flakes.

Buenisimo! 

Empanadas: Classic Argentinian deliciousness

This week's recipe is from a cookbook that belonged to the Bearded Argentinian's Grandma in Buenos Aires. La Cocina de Lorenzo Taberna, was published in 1961 and is so well used that the cover has completely faded. As with many 60s cookbooks there are no photos, only a few drawings, and in this edition the dishes are organised in alphabetical order. I have to admit, I needed a bit of help with the translating!

Empanadas look like mini Cornish pasties but are much lighter and more flavoursome. They're most commonly filled with a beef mixture, but can also contain ham, tuna, chicken, cheese, spinach and/or onion. Empanadas with different fillings are finished with a different pattern, so you can identify them without biting in (thus spoiling the fun of "accidentally" biting into several before finding the one you wanted...).

The recipe in Grandma's book includes making the pastry, but it's quite fiddly thin pastry and you can get hold of pre-prepared empanada sheets online or in Garcia's Spanish deli in Notting Hill. Empanadas can be baked or fried, so make sure you pick the right pastry sheets. All the other ingredients are easy to get hold of so get a couple of packs of pastries and freeze one!

And for the recipe skippers, it's worth getting to the end of this one for the hugely appropriate serving board... 

Ingredients

(Makes 16 empanadas)

2 onions, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

400g beef mince

2 tsp dried oregano

3 tsp paprika (and chilli flakes or Tabasco if you like extra spice)

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

2 tbsp green olives

1 packet of empanada pastries (Horno = suitable for oven cooking)

Method

1. To make the filling, sautée the onions in a little olive oil until soft, then add the chopped pepper and cook for a few more minutes.

2. Add the mince and brown.

3. Mix in the herbs and spices, garlic and olives and cook for about 10 minutes, then add the eggs. If it seems a bit dry, add some passata - it should be a little juicy but not watery. Leave to cool.

4. To make the pastries, put 2-3 teaspoons of filling onto one half of an empanada pastry sheet and fold over to form a semi circle. Moisten the edges with water and press together, then twist the edge inwards, using your thumb to fold the edge up, to make a rope pattern and seal in the filling (I let the Bearded Argentinian do this bit and didn't get a good photo...)

5. Arrange in a baking sheet and glaze with beaten egg. Cook at 180C for 20-25 minutes until the empanadas are golden brown.

Enjoy hot or cold, as a starter or a snack. They go really well with chimichurri, a garlic, parsley and chilli sauce, and a cold beer. The meat filling with the tang of olives and crunch of peppers also makes a great pasta sauce or an interesting alternative cottage pie base.

Sweet and savoury Danish pastries

With apologies to anyone still on a January diet, who doesn't love pastry? Danish pastry is an enriched pastry (has egg in it) and is made like puff pastry, with a slab of butter and lots of folding to create the crispy layers. I've made two fillings: the sweet one is a traditional almond butter filing; the savoury one is a winning cheese and mushroom combo.

The pastry and sweet filling recipes are adapted from 1970 cookbook Scandinavian Cooking for Pleasure, sourced from a secondhand bookshop/cafe/bar in a converted chapel in Broadstairs. Thankfully, it's one with photos, as some of the pastry designs are quite complicated. I've stuck with what they call 'snails', where the pastry is rolled into a swiss roll shape and cut into slices. I also got some tips and the savoury filling idea from Paul Hollywood's Bread book. Pretty sure Paul was alive in 1970 so that's fine...

Ingredients

Danish pastry

(Makes 20 snails)

250g unsalted butter

500g strong white bread flour

7g salt

2 tsp easy bake yeast

80g caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

260ml milk

Optional: 1 tsp of ground spices such as cardamom or cinnamon (depending on final flavours)

Cheese and mushroom filling

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

100g mushrooms, finely chopped  (I used portabella as they're a bit meatier than normal mushrooms)

6 slices emmentaal 

Almond filling

50g flaked almonds

50g caster sugar

50g unsalted butter 

3 drops vanilla extract 

Method

1. Roll out the butter into a 30cm x 15cm rectangle by putting it between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.

2. Mix the dry ingredients together (including any spices if using). Add the egg and most of the milk, and combine to make a soft dough. Add the rest of the milk if the dough doesn't come together. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and shiny, then wrap and chill for about 2 hours.

3. Roll the dough into a 50cm x 20cm rectangle. Lay the sheet of butter over the top - it will be shorter than the dough, so move to one end and fold the unbuttered pastry over the butter, then fold the top third over that - you should have 3 layers of dough and 2 layers of butter. Seal the edges, wrap and chill for 15 minutes.

4. Roll the dough out to the original size, fold in 3 again, at right angles to the first folds, wrap and chill for another 15 minutes. Repeat twice more, then wrap and rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before shaping and filling. You can also leave the dough in the fridge overnight, or freeze at this point. If you cut the pastry in half, you should be able to see well defined layers.

5. To make the savoury filling, fry the onions in a little olive oil for a few minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook until soft. Season and cool before using to fill the pastries.

6. To make the sweet filling, blitz the almonds and sugar together to make a crumb-like texture, then add the vanilla extract and work in the butter. Chill until needed.

7. To fill the pastries, roll out half the dough into a 20cm x 30cm rectangle with the long side facing you - it will be quite stiff and takes some elbow grease! Also, have you noticed I can't roll a rectangle?! Spread the cooled savoury filling over the dough and top with the slices of cheese. 

8. Roll into a Swiss roll by lifting the top corners and rolling towards you , keeping the pastry as tight as possible. Seal the join by pinching along the seam. Cut into 10 slices, each about 2cm thick, and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Cover lightly with cling film and leave to prove for 30 minutes.

9. Roll out the remaining half of the pastry to the same size as above. Put the almond filling between 2 sheets of cling film and roll out to a slightly smaller size than the dough. Place over the top of the pastry and roll and slice as above. Place on a second lined baking tray and prove for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C

10. Glaze the pastries with beaten egg or milk and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. I did get a bit of butter leakage, especially in the sweet pastries. Try and wait until they've cooled a little bit before eating.

The Bearded Argentnian rated these in my top 10 bakes, and I have checked that I've baked more than 10 things, so they must be pretty good. I thought they were so good, I swore out loud when I took the first bite...

Italian Moka cake: a crunchy coffee and almond dessert

It's been a while since I baked a cake, and as I got an icing turntable and palette knives for Christmas, it seemed like a good time to rebel against kale crisps and eat cake. In celebration of Fake New Year (a belated party with all our friends who were away over the festive period), I decided to bake two, both from Italian Pastries and Desserts (1974). The Moka cake caught my eye because a) there was a photo of it and b) the decoration looked classy but achievable. The second cake was a Sacher Torte and I'll post it later this week. Spoiler alert: not as good as this cake.

Aside from the decoration, the cake itself, a genoese sponge, was a new challenge for me, although it makes regular appearances on the Great British Bake Off. The ingredients don't include any raising agents, such as baking powder or self raising flour, so you need to incorporate plenty of air as you whip together the eggs and sugar, then make sure to keep the air as you fold in the butter and flour. This should result in a light but firm sponge, and is used as the basis for many patisserie creations. I can't find any reason why this method is better than using chemical raising agents, so maybe it's just a fun way to stress out home bakers.

Ingredients

For the Genoese sponge:

250g caster sugar

8 eggs

250g plain flour

100g unsalted butter 

A shot of kalua and a shot of amaretto (optional, and unpictured as decided to add halfway through...)

For the coffee cream icing:

1/2 pint milk

3 drops vanilla extract

130g caster sugar

4 egg yolks

150g unsalted butter

2 tbsp instant coffee 

3 handfuls flaked almonds

Method

Make the sponge a day or two before decorating (and eating) the cake.

1. Beat together the sugar and eggs vigorously (with an electric mixer if you have one) over a pan of water, heating gently. Keep mixing until it has doubled in volume and the whisk leaves ribbons in the mix - it will take a good few minutes.

 2. Take off the heat and whisk in the liqueur if using. Fold in the flour using a figure of eight movement to avoid knocking out the air. Warm the butter and dribble down the side of the bowl and fold in gently.

3. Lightly grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin with baking paper, and sprinkle with flour. Pour in the cake mixture.

4.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 50 minutes, or until the whole cake is golden brown. This leaves plenty of time to go to work on licking the bowl...

5. Leave to cool, remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container until ready to decorate.

For the icing and decorating:

1. Make a crême anglaise by heating the milk gently to boiling point, adding the vanilla and taking off the heat.  Beat the eggs and sugar together then add the cooled milk.

2. Return to the heat until the cream has thickened enough to coat the back if a spoon. Cool, then pour onto the butter in a bowl and combine, add the coffee and mix well. 

3. Toast the flaked almonds in a dry frying pan, shaking regularly.

 4. Cut the cake in half horizontally and spread some coffee cream over the bottom layer, smoothing with wet palette knife.

5. Add the top half of the cake and cover completely with the cream. When set, decorate with the toasted almonds and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

The final cake has a moist sponge with a hint of coffee and almond from the liqueurs, and a rich creamy coffee topping balanced with the crunchy almonds.

Serve with prosecco and complimentary friends for a very happy new year!