Pancakes, of course!

Happy pancake day!

What do you like on your pancakes? We like to keep it simple. We'll have some savoury ones to start (with a croque monsieur type filling) followed by good old lemon and sugar.

This recipe easily makes six large pancakes, but it's fine to double if you have a hungry family!

Pancake batter
200g plain flour
 4 eggs
1 pint milk
1 tbsp sunflower oil

1. Tip the flour and eggs into a big mixing bowl and whisk together, then pour in the oil and milk. Whisk until all of the ingredients are combined - this should only take a minute or so.
2. Optional - leave to stand for 30 mins.
3. When you are ready to cook, heat some oil in a large frying pan. To test the heat, dribble a few drops of the batter into the pan and if it sizzles, you're ready to go. Ladle a thin layer of the mixture into the pan. It'll take about 30 seconds to cook on each side - when you're ready, flip! Either the brave way, or with a spatula like me :)

Croque Monsieur filling
150g ham
1 onion
1 tsp mustard powder
Dribble of double cream
100g grated double gloucester cheese

1. Chop the ham into small pieces and fry until crisp, then add the chopped onion.
2. Cook for a couple of minutes - you don't want the onion to get too soft, it's nice with a bit of bite for texture.
3. Stir in the mustard powder and cream, and season.
4. When you have cooked your pancake, spoon in the ham mixture and top with the grated cheese, then roll.

This will make enough filling for four pancakes. We had two savoury ones each, then treated ouselves to a traditional lemon and sugar one each.