Monthly Archives: February 2015

How to Make Pancakes

Pancake Day – also known as Shrove Tuesday – is celebrated in February or March and precedes Ash Wednesday which is the start of Lent.

Dawn: More on the origins of Pancake Day in a bit…for now, let’s crack on with the recipe!

IMG_3531

Ingredients

Serves 4

100g plain flour

1 egg, beaten

300ml milk

Splash of vegetable oil

Pinch of salt

Sugar and lemon juice (fresh or bottled) to serve

Lemon wedges (optional)

Method

  • Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour the egg in, beating well with a fork or balloon whisk until the mixture resembles a thick paste in appearance without lumps.
  • Next, gradually add the milk, mixing into the ingredients to make a smooth batter.

IMG_3525

Dawn: The batter now resembles white, frothy water and is relatively runny in appearance looking similar to a bubbling brook as it crashes against the rocky outcrops hurling itself ever forward…so it’s quite thin in consistency. But I digress!

There are two main types of batter used for puddings. One is pouring batter like this one for pancakes and the other is coating batter used for fritters which is thicker for deep-frying. 

  • Heat a little of the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan, running the liquid around its surface until it is very hot. Any excess oil can be drained off into a cup for use later.
  • Pour in just enough batter to create a thin coat on the base of the frying pan, tilting the frying pan to help the batter evenly cover the base. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.

Dawn: To find out if the pancake is cooked, simply take a fish slice or palette knife and lift an edge of the pancake up; if the underside has turned golden brown it’s cooked that one side. 

  • Flip with a fish slice or toss in the air and cook the other side until it too has become golden brown.

Dawn: I can’t toss! I always turn my pancakes and carry on cooking them. No comments, please!

  • Put the pancake on a plate and place a sheet of greaseproof paper on top of it, placing the plate on top of a saucepan of boiling water to help keep it warm. Repeat with the remaining batter and place a piece of greaseproof paper between each pancake.
  • When finished making the pancakes, serve sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice.

Dawn: As a variation, if you’re using fresh lemons for the juice then you may wish to grate some of the rind and add it to the batter, stirring well before cooking. 

The origins of Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is centred upon Lent and Easter. Shrove is derived from the word “shrive” which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and doing penance. Many Christians including Anglicans, Methodists and Roman Catholics observe self-examination including any mis-doings with a view to repenting and look at what in their lives they need to seek God’s help with.

Pancake Day is usually in February or March and precedes Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent, being a period of forty days of fasting omissions and religious obligations that can include going without chocolate or cake, etc in recognition of a person’s sacrifice to mark their repentance.

In pagan times, before the Christian era, the most important part of the Shrovetide week was the making and eating pancakes which symbolised the hot sun, bringing forth its power, light and warmth to the Slavs (European ethno-linguistic peoples living throughout Europe, North and Central Asia). The first pancake was put out for the spirits of the ancestors and on the last day, some pancakes amongst other foods were burnt as a sacrifice to the pagan gods.

For more delicious cooking ideas, cheap meal ideas and food tips, follow this blog – www.forfoodlovers.wordpress.com – Twitter @Love_Food_UK we’re also on MumsNet Bloggers Network. See you over there!

Perfect Pancakes

Happy #PancakeDay fellow #foodies! And here’s a delicious #recipe to make tonight – Perfect Pancakes http://www.forfoodlovers.wordpress.com

Love Food! Food, Fun & Friends

Pancakes are so filling and so very easy to make – ditch buying packet mixes and opt to make your own, tasty and flavoursome creations for eating breakfast, noon and night!

Andrew: I’m looking forward to tucking into them!

Ingredients

Serves 1 generously or 2 small portions

1 tsp of cooking oil

55g of frozen mixed berries

55g of plain flour, sifted

25g of sugar

1 egg

4 tbsp of water

4 tbsp of milk

4 tbsp of low fat natural yoghurt or reduced fat crème fraiche

1 banana, unpeeled and sliced (or an orange, peeled and segmented, cut into pieces)

Cinnamon

15g of flaked almonds

  • Put the frozen mixed berries, 15g of the sugar and the 4 tbsp of water in a small saucepan and gently heat. The mixed berries will slowly thaw and start to release their fruity juices with the water and sugar combining to make a…

View original post 395 more words

How to Make Sage and Onion Stuffing

Stuffings, also known as forcemeats, fillings and sometimes also referred to as farces, can be used in a number of ways. They can help keep meats which can be traditionally ‘dry’ food moist during the cooking process or help absorb some of the natural oils and juices found in some meat, or they can help increase a meal size which has small amounts of meat in it to a meal portion at little additional cost.

DSCI3996

Ingredients

Makes enough to stuff one medium size chicken

50g butter

1 medium size onion, peeled, sliced and diced

3 slices of wholemeal bread, made into breadcrumbs

2 tsp sage (dried or fresh)

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the onion and sage cooking for about 5 minutes.
  • Stir in the breadcrumbs.
  • Add the beaten egg and mix the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper.

Dawn: Warm water can be added in place of a beaten egg and works as well to bind the mixture together to allow it to be handled when you come to stuffing poultry and/or meat. Don’t add the liquid until you are ready to use the stuffing. Don’t put the stuffing into poultry or meat until you are ready to cook it as bacteria could penetrate the stuffing which might not reach a sufficiently high temperature during cooking to kill them. 

It’s also a good way of using up bread that is 2-3 days old and a blender is a very quick way of turning the slices of bread into breadcrumbs. If you don’t have a blender, a cheese grater works just as well in making breadcrumbs, too.

There are also other options that can be used instead of bread and they can include rice, suet or sausage. I tend to shy away from suet because it’s pure fat.

And when cooking poultry or meat that is stuffed, calculate the cooking time based upon its total weight. 

For more easy-to-follow and easy-to-make recipes and food ideas, then follow this blog here and keep up-to-date on Twitter. Facebook and Mumsnet are websites you’ll find us on, too – so keep looking for tasty recipes coming!