In the spirit of Shrove Tuesday, not that I am religious but will take any excuse to make pancakes, and to celebrate the last day of what has been a fabulous, food filled Chinese New Year long weekend we whipped up these little beauties.
Fairly calorie un-friendly, (which was why we did a tough session at Ozfit Bootcamp prior to indulging-thanks Ness!), but simple to make and full of all the best flavours, vanilla bean, cinnamon, maple ... you can't go wrong!
In other news, keep an eye on the blog this week as we have been busy in the 44 Cookham Road mini kitchen these past four days. Super sized lamb man-sangas with homemade beetroot relish, an easy and versatile chocolate tart and spiced pear & walnut muffins all coming your way!
In addition I will be launching the first of my monthly feature pieces. An 8 page magazine style spread full of sizzling recipes to spice up your long lazy summer days and chilled-out balmy nights.
Vanilla bean burnt butter pancakes with warm spiced mixed berry compote
For the pancakes:
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, separated
1 tbsp caster sugar
280ml milk
1 tbs of vanilla bean paste
1 tsp of vegetable of sunflower oil
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. In a second bowl add the egg yolks, caster sugar, milk, vanilla and oil, whisk together.
Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth, don't over whisk. The mixture should be a nice buttery colour. If you like quite thick and high pancakes you can whisk the egg whites until they form strong peaks and then gently fold them into the batter at this stage.
Leave the mixture to stand in the fridge for 30 minutes and make your compote.
For the compote:
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
Place all of the above ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat. If you are using frozen berries add 1 tbs of water to the bottom of the pan first, if you are using fresh berries add 1/4 cup of water. The frozen berries will release a lot of moisture as you cook them.
Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat allowing the berries to simmer gently for 15 minutes. Set aside.
To cook the pancakes:
Warm your oven and place a plate inside. Heat a heavy based frying pan or skillet on a medium heat, add a small knob of butter and leave to sizzle until it turns dark brown. Pour in enough batter to create your preferred size pancake and cook for two minutes or until the surface as been dotted with air bubbles and the underside is golden brown. Flip and cook for a further two minutes. The edges should be quite dark from the burnt butter in the pan.
Repeat for the remainder of the mixture.
Serve with the warm berry compote, lashings of maple syrup and immediately book your next bootcamp session!
