Pancakes are among the simplest and yet most satisfying desserts around, and this week is the perfect excuse to get the frying pan out and cook up a batch -- March 8 is Shrove Tuesday, or as it's known in the UK, pancake day. Originally a religious day, Shrove Tuesday is last day before the Christian month of fasting known as Lent begins, during which believer avoid meat and eggs — and therefore it's a day to use them up. In the UK, this means pancakes, and all the fun that comes with trying to flip them (and usually failing). With that in mind, we spoke to Paul Bussey, sous chef at the Souk Al Bahar restaurant Rivington Grill and expert pancake flipper, to get his recipe and find out how he serves them at home. The answer was a classic — forget jam or chocolate: the only way to enjoy the thin, crisp-doughy treat is to squeeze over some lemon, sprinkle on caster sugar, roll them up and eat. His top tip? Pancake mix best left rested for 12 hours, or overnight in the fridge.
Shrove Tuesday pancakes
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 175g plain flour
- 450 ml whole milk
- 15 ml olive oil
- Pinch of salt
Cooking Method
- Beat the eggs
- Add the milk into the eggs and continue to beat
- Add flour with a pinch of salt and whisk until smooth
- Allow to rest for at least 12 hours
- Take a non-stick pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and heat in the pan until it's hot
- Pour one small ladle of pancake mix into the pan
- Swirl it round to cover the bottom of the pan and return to the heat
- Colour one side and flip the pancake to the colour the other side
- Serve with a squeeze of lemon and a dusting of caster sugar
