A pinch a punch, first day of the month, white rabbits and all that. February is here and I am secretly cursing that Valentines is not after Shrove Tuesday this year because we are brimming over with Mardi Gras madness here at Maison Cupcake but have not yet done an iota of preparation towards Valentines which takes place on the preceding Sunday.
But why is this so inconvenient you cry? The reason is that supermarket chain Morrisons were hosting a food bloggers seasonal pancake challenge recently asked me if I would dream up some seasonal inspiration for their website readers for a pancake special. It’s the middle of January! I’m on a diet! Of course I’ll do it!
Today I bring you two of the four recipes; Pancakes topped with Hot Maple Fudge Sauce and Hazelnuts and secondly a savoury dish, Pancake Rolls with Sweet Spicy Pork and Rhubarb. The clementine and pink grapefruit recipes will follow later this month.
AND A GIVEAWAY!!!!
But you have to see the recipes first.
Myself and three other food bloggers were each asked to come up with pancake recipes using four seasonal ingredients. Their identities were initially a secret but the Twitter-vine and a meeting with other food bloggers at Royal China Club unmasked both Nic from Cherrapeno and Jeanne from Cook Sister! and now that the recipes have gone live on the Morrison’s site I can reveal that the fourth pancaking blogger is Fran at The Graphic Foodie. Check out their sites to see their pancakes using leeks, pears and celeriac as well as my four ingredients which were:
- Hazelnuts
- Rhubarb
- Clementines
- Pink Grapefruit
I love maple syrup on pancakes and was delighted to discover some Maple Fudge amongst Morrisons’ own brand products. I have also been raving about Morrison’s Food Fusions Cinnamon Paste which I have used with the rhubarb.
First a reminder of your basic crepe style pancake recipe….
Basic Crepe Style Pancake Recipe
Makes approx 6-8 crepe style pancakes
Ingredients:
100g plain flour
Large pinch of salt
1 large egg
250ml semi-skimmed or full fat milk
1 tbsp butter
Method:
1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. I sift mine directly onto the bowl on scales to save on washing up.
2. Pour the milk into a hand blender beaker. Beat in the egg. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, pour this into the milk and egg mixture and stir quickly to stop butter solidifying in the cold milk. Scrape in your flour and salt and beat in with a fork.
3. Make the batter smoother by giving it a quick whisk with the hand blender. Decant the mixture into a plastic jug for ease of pouring onto your frying pan.
4. Melt a small knob of butter onto a non-stick frying pan over a moderate to high heat. Use a silicon brush to wipe the butter all over the surface of the pan. When the pan is hot and covered in the melted butter, pour over some batter, around the same amount equivalent to the diameter of a grapefruit. Quickly swirl the batter towards the edge of the pan to make your pancake wider and thinner.
5. Allow to cook for 30-45 seconds. Ease a silicon spatula under the edge of the pancake and gradually as the pancake cooks, ease the spatula all the way underneath to check it is loose enough to turn over.
6. It should take 60-90 seconds before you can flip the pancake over. Toss if you wish but I find I can flip it easily with the spatula if it isn’t too thin. Allow to cook on the other side for around 60 seconds. You can peep underneath to see how brown it is, aim for a speckled effect akin to leopard’s spots.
7. Crepe style pancakes are best served immediately although you can keep them in the fridge for 2-3 days and reheat in the microwave.
Skinning your hazelnuts takes around ten minutes but is well worth the effort.
Pancakes topped with Hot Maple Fudge Sauce and Hazelnuts
Serves 2-3
Hazelnut skins taste quite bitter, it may seem a bind but I promise you these nuts taste infinitely better if you allow a short time to remove their skins. This fudge sauce is incredibly easy.
Ingredients:
50g hazelnuts
120ml double cream
12 chunks of Morrisons “The Best” Maple Fudge
Crepe style pancakes, 2-3 per person. See recipe above.
Making the Maple Fudge sauce couldn’t be easier. Just melt fudge into the cream.
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180c. Lay the hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. When the oven is up to temperature, toast the nuts in the oven for around 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile heat your double cream on a medium heat in a small saucepan. Chop up your chunks of fudge and tip them into the warm cream. Stirring with a wooden spoon until molten, bring the cream almost to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for around 10 minutes.
3. Remove your hazelnuts from the oven. Tip them onto some sheets of kitchen paper and wrap into a little bundle inside which the shells will steam off. Leave for 2-3 minutes and then open up the bundle. Rub the nuts with the kitchen paper to loosen the shells. You may need to scratch the nuts gently to remove some of the shell. When the shells are mostly removed, chop the nuts coarsely. This will take a few minutes but worth the effort.
4. Make your pancakes if you haven’t already done so. Fold 2-3 pancakes per person in half on a plate overlapping them slightly. Pour over some hot maple fudge sauce and sprinkle over some chopped hazelnuts. Serve immediately.
Secondly today we have a savoury pancake recipe using minced pork and rhubarb.
Rhubarb is often paired with ginger. This recipe takes this flavour a step further with a pork based pancake dish that can be served as a main course. It is both sweet and spicy with a similar flavour to Chinese hoi sin sauce.
Pancakes filled with Sweet and Spicy Pork with Rhubarb
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
100g rhubarb cut into 3” batons
100 mls water
1 tbsp Morrisons “Food Fusions” Orange Flavour Water (optional)
100g soft dark brown sugar
1 tbsp ground nut oil
1 small finely chopped onion
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 small finely chopped and de-seeded red chilli
450g mince pork
2 globes of stem ginger in syrup, chopped finely
2 tsp Morrison’s “Food Fusions” Cinnamon Paste
½ tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste
Crepe style pancakes – 2-3 per person, see recipe above.
Method:
1. In a small saucepan over a medium heat, poach the rhubarb batons gently in the water, 50g of the soft brown sugar and the Orange Flavour water if you are using it. Do not allow to boil as the rhubarb will disintegrate into threads and you want it to stay intact. Keep on a gentle simmer whilst you cook the pork.
2. Meanwhile heat the nut oil in a large frying pan. Fry the chopped onion until soft and then add the garlic and chopped chilli and stem ginger for a further 3-4 minutes. Add the mince pork, breaking it up into chunks with a wooden spoon. Fry until the mince is cooked.
3. When cooked, stir in the remaining 50g of soft dark brown sugar, cinnamon paste, ground black pepper. The sugar will caramelize on the white pork giving it a darker more appealing colour. Season to taste.
4. Cook your pancakes if you haven’t already. Allow 2-3 pancakes per person. Spoon a line of the cooked pork and a couple of rhubarb batons down the centre of each pancake and roll into a sausage shape. Drizzle some rhubarb syrup and more rhubarb batons on top. Serve immediately.
….AND THE GIVEWAY!!
Finally, as I promised, here are details of this week’s pancake related giveaway. Morrisons have kindly given Maison Cupcake a box of pancake related cooking paraphrenalia to keep someone busy on Shrove Tuesday. The contents of the box, pictured below are:
- Kitchen Scales
- Large frying pan
- Small frying pan
- Whisk
- Ladle
- Turner
- Morrisons Bag for Life
The contents of the box has a retail value of over £25.
This giveaway is open to readers with addresses in the mainland UK only. (Sorry to people abroad but this one is toooo heavy to go Air Mail until I have deeper pockets!)
To enter, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post telling me what your favourite pancake filling or topping is. I mean any pancake filling, I’m not restricting you to rhubarb and nuts! If you are abroad you can still comment on how lovely the pancakes are but say you are not eligible for the giveaway.
I will draw a winner from all comments left by midnight on Friday 5th February, using the random number generator thingy that everyone else uses. I will then contact the winner seeking their mailing address and all being well that person will get their box nicely in time for pancake day.
Good luck and happy flipping!
One last look at that Maple Fudge sauce. Mmmm. Nice. I only tasted a teaspoon of it you know. I have lost ten pounds now. No pancakes and their fudgy sauces are going to fox me and my Ten in 10 diet. But I did eat the spicy rhubarb and pork for my dinner.
Argh, Sarah! I was reluctant to read this, because crepes are my downfall, regards diet-breaking. My resolve not to get drawn in to pancake season lasted until I reached the photos of the fudge sauce 😀 I am getting myself to Morrisons to find that maple fudge!
My favourite crepe filling, hands down, is fried bananas & dulce de leche. I spent last summer on a volunteer programme at a national park in Costa Rica. The park's staff spoke no English and at the time I arrived, I had limited Spanish. One of the ways I found to build rapport was by baking for them! Along with lemon drizzle cake, the park rangers went crazy for crepes and in particular, loved the combination of ripe, fried plantain and warmed dulce de leche. So eating this will always bring back great memories of that summer for me.
I love crepes. I usually eat mine with nutella or cream de marrons (chestnut jam). 🙂
Yummy…….not eligble. Looks lovely and your photos are great!……. Well done, dear!!!
Oh my I am swooning over the maple fudge and then the rhubarb ones! great creations!!!! I adore crepes!
Mmmmm the fudge one looks scrummy.
Please enter me onto the draw.
I'm a traditional lemon juice and sugar pancake girl I'm afraid!
Now all becomes clear about your pantry full of crepes! Congratulations that is absolutely wonderful news! The crepes look delicious and I could certainly do with a sweet one right this minute 😉
My favourite crepe filling is dulce de leche topped with freshly whipped cream (with a shot of Baileys whipped in on special occasions) and sliced bananas
Morwenna xoxo
I love fresh fruit. Blueberries, strawberries and peaches are my favorite.
Wonderful looking pancakes. They look delicious.
By the way, just joined daring bakers yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing what the first challenge is going to be (and nervous for some reason lol)
*kisses* HH
Bonjour Sarah,
Congratulations, you've come up with the best crepe recipes, the Maple Fudge sounds so good.
What a great giveaway, too bad I'm not in the UK – close but not quite!
Happy baking Sarah!
I'm a sweet pancake girl, so those maple fudge pancakes really appeal to me! Looks like it would be a fabulous dessert!
Both ideas look fabulous. I like mine both savoury and sweet. So that's why you were talking about Morrison's the other day.
I'd have to say a quite boring one I'm afraid – Nutella and plain old banana. Floats my boat every time.
Awww very sneaky putting in the maple fudge sauce, now my resolve truly went.
The pork and rhubabrb looks really moreish and I just have to try it.
I wouldnt turn any pancake down I cant hink of one I haven't met and loved.
I went to the Dutch pancake house a few years ago, its a pancake lovers Nirvana. I now regularly eat savoury pancakes and a favourite is chorizo, salami red chillies and tomato, I have to have sour cream with this.
If sweet it is an orange and cranberry mix I stew with sugar and vanilla with vanilla icecream.
Oh I am so hungry now.
They look so good! My old favourite has to be lemon and sugar
Holy macaron! Please excuse me whilst I wipe the drool from my mouth. And here I am with a salad for lunch when all I want is a plate of those crepes. Beautiful variations Sarah! 😀
WOW! Sarah, visiting your blog first thing in the morning is not a good idea cos your mouthwatering pancakes made me feel so hungry and i haven't had breakfast yet! Now i want to eat pancakes!..but i'm at work now so no hope of having pancakes or anything close for breakfast except some plain bread or crackers..:(
You have lost ten pounds? Wow! Fantastic and congratulations! But how can you resist not eating all of these crepes? Both the savory and the sweet are fabulous!
I love your crepes, and the sauce is fantastic!
There is an award for you in my blog.
Have a great day,
Oh man, I'm drooling now. I LOVE pancakes, and crepes. That maple sauce looks to die for!!
These are THE most gorgeoous pictures I have ever seen from you! Wow. The pancakes look scrumptious!
That fudge sauce is a winner for sure! I can think of some other foods to use it for too. Great pancakes Sarah!
PS. Don't enter me for the giveaway, just wanted to comment.
Lovely post Sarah! My favourite filling would have to be ricotta and banana, ever since I tried Bill Granger's hotcakes (did you see my post on that?). Once you try them – you'll fall in love =)
Pancakes??? Oh….that's another of my favourite….whether thick or thin 😀 If I go for sweet one…it has to be condensed milk…yum. If I go for savoury, it will be eggs and spring onions cooked as filling….simple and delicious.
Those savoury pork pancakes look amazing! Great job there.
I am being a bit pedantic but for me pancakes don't have fillings. Pancakes are big fluffy things that you pour maple syrup onto and sometimes serve with bananas.
CREPES have fillings 🙂 And my favourite crepe filling is Nutella.
i love crepes and wish i had seen this post earlier, since today is la chandeleur – but we have just cleaned off the crepe pan ! i LOVE rhubarb, and even though i go for sweet 99.999999% of the time, i've got your savory pancakes above on my radar. so creative. and wow, that color, just brilliant !
fantastic giveaway. and i can play ! 🙂 my sister-in-law lives in london and i'll be heading there this spring. she could practice flipping some crepes until i get there. ha ha !
oh wait, before i forget, my favorite filling is not crazy and exciting – but to me, it's the very best. lots of good salted butter and lots of sugar. a real crisp crepe – eaten standing up, at the crepe pan, while it's h-h-hot ! 🙂
Maple syrup and bacon is the ultimate in sweet-savoury heaven. We use to eat "pigs in a blanket" as kids. That's pancakes rolled up with syrup and sausages.
@57varieties Arrr dulce de leche… my downfall, sssshhh! don't mention it!!!
@cookingninja I've not had chestnut jam, it sounds nice
@kitchenbutterfly Thanks!
@jennifer The fudge seems to be the winner!
@bigredhearts @abby Bookham Sometimes the old ones are the best
@morwenna Baileys! Yummy!
@maria Fresh fruit is wonderful idea, never tried that with crepes
@HH Great! You signed up for DB!
@Bonjour Romance and @BarbaraBakes Glad you like them!
@deerbaby Yep, this was why I went to Morrisons!
@Jo My Old Dutch – I used to work near there
@faithy @NQN Sorry to be corrupting everyone!! I like "Holy Macaron" as an expletive!
@jamie It was tough. I only ate the rhubarb one for dinner and 2 plain ones when I made next batch in the morning.
@mamatkamal Thanks for the award! I have a few to dish out myself
@tracy The maple fudge was wonderful. As sauce it was divine
@tspegar Glad you like the pics!
@mowie Not sure I remember that one but I will check out
@Mary Moh Egg and spring onions sounds very very nice
@hilary Yes I suppose you are right though people in UK don't really call a crepe a crepe!
@kerrin The rhubarb dish was kind of sweet and savoury at same time – hard to describe.
@eggscreambacon Pigs in blankets! Not heard that for a while!
Nothing better than copious amounts of butter and lashings of maple syrup with a side of smokey crispy bacon.
Lovely…look at the pancakes. DROOLICIOUS my dear, FAB! I saw a post at Nics earlier on and she mentioned Morrisons too! Woot, at least I can say I know 3 of the 4 UK pancake bloggers!
Oooooh give-away! Right me too plesae. Jus in case I get lucky, I shall pay for my postage. Does that seem OK?
xoxo
I love pancakes. Man, I could have used those scales, too.
OMG, no chance of a diet with THAT lying around, is there!! I wish I had been given more sweet ingredients – mine were all savoury, bar the hazelnuts… and I'm afraid I've been rather tardy with posting what with my holiday slap bang in the middle of the week that this al went live. But my first recipe is now UP, as well as a chance for yet more people to win pancake kit suspiciously similar to yours (my kitchen is WAY too full already!!)