Who doesn’t like pancakes? Sweet or savoury, this simple, yet delicious dish is celebrated all over the world in one form or another. They are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner all over the globe and are also known as crêpes, potato latkes, Irish boxty, Russian blini, Welsh crempog, Indian poori, Hungarian palacsinta, and Dutch pannenkoeken.
The beauty of pancakes is that they can be filled with almost anything. For those whose penchant is for something sweet, they usually choose sugar and cinnamon or fillings that feature honey, fruit or ice cream. Others with a savoury palate prefer their pancakes filled with cheese, savoury mince, bacon, chicken or veggies.
To celebrate this perennial favourite, Capsicum Culinary Studio chef Bernice Warner, from the school’s Port Elizabeth campus, shares her favourite pancake recipe.
Gourmet Pancakes with Brandied Berries
Ingredients for pancakes:
2 eggs
Cup of milk
Cup of water
5ml vanilla essence
5ml lemon juice
Grated lemon zest of 1 lemon
60ml vegetable oil
375ml cake flour
10ml baking powder
Method:
Mix together the eggs, milk, water, lemon juice, lemon zest, oil and vanilla essence.
Sieve all the dry ingredients and blend with the wet mixture in a mixing bowl with a whisk until a smooth thick batter is achieved. You may want to adjust the consistency slightly if it looks too thick with a little water.
Fry off your pancakes pouring a ladle full of batter at a time into a non-stick frying pan. The pancakes should be golden brown on each side. Stack the pancakes and allow to cool.
Pastry cream filling
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
150 g castor sugar
70g cake or pastry flour
500ml full cream milk
5ml vanilla essence
Method
Cream the egg yolk, sugar and flour together till smooth.
Heat the milk in a saucepan to a simmer, now temper by adding a steady stream of the heated milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly until combined.
Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat until thick and the flour has been cooked out. Allow filling to cool before spreading onto your made pancakes.
Brandied Berries
Ingredients
250g mixed frozen berries
45ml castor sugar
60ml brandy
Method
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow the mixture to thicken slightly.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool before serving with the rolled and sliced pancake.
Assemblage
Place a sheet of plastic wrap on a work surface large enough to form a rectangle. Place the cooled pancakes down, slightly overlapping on the sides to form a rectangle.
Spread a thin layer of the pastry cream filling over the pancakes.
Roll up the pancakes making use of the plastic wrap to form a cylinder. Once rolled, wrap it tightly with the plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle castor sugar on top of the roulade and brûlée with a blow torch before cutting it into 2cm thick slices.
Serve two slices per person with a heaped tablespoon of the brandied berries.
WS
