Pancakes

You will be suprised to know that I have never been a fan of making pancakes all by myself. 

I have always been a great assistant to the person making the pancakes (usually my husband!).

But for once I decided to indulge the children and make them pancakes for lunch. The trick being not to try and flip them over in the air. I tried it once or twice and it really did not work out well for me. Maybe it is a hand eye co-ordination thing? 

Using a spatula to flip the pancakes over turned out the best option and the pancakes were delicious. I covered them with a little cinnamon sugar and the kids gobbled them all up.

Success!

I found a Delia Smith recipe on the BBC Food website and this is going to be my standard pancake recipe from now on. I suggest you double the recipe if you have more than 3 people to feed for lunch...

Here is a link to the recipe and here is a copy:

Ingredients

For the pancake mixture
110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
50g/2oz butter

To serve
caster sugar
lemon juice
lemon wedges
Note: my kids don't appreciate lemons that much at this stage of their young lives so I made a cinnamon and sugar mixture and sprinkled this on top of the warm pancakes.

Preparation method
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing. Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs - any sort of whisk or even a fork will do - incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.
Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream. Now melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.
Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct amount of batter. I find 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. It's also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate.
Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest.
To serve, sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or else simply roll them up. Serve sprinkled with a little more sugar and lemon juice and extra sections of lemon.

Pancakes at the Hema

The Hema in Utrecht was renovated a couple of months ago.

In my opinion the best part of the renovation is their restaurant.

It is now much nicer and child friendly :-)

Order a kids pancake and your children will be happy and so will your wallet.

Ricotta Hotcakes

What to do with half a tub of ricotta... what to do?

Ricotta hotcakes! Yes!

Great idea.

I found a Nigella recipe, halved it and made some early morning 'pancakes' served with strawberries. (Yes, I couldn't be bothered to explain hotcakes vs. pancakes...)

The kids really loved it.

Happiness.

Here is a link to Nigella's recipe.

FYI - I halved all the ingredients and made about 12 delicious hotcakes.

Here is a copy:

Ingredients:

250g ricotta cheese
125ml semi-skimmed milk
2 large eggs, separated
100g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
2 teaspoons groundnut oil
TO SERVE:
250g strawberries, chopped (or other berries of your choice, of course)



Serves: Makes about 25.
Put the ricotta, milk and egg yolks into a bowl and mix well to combine. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt and gently whisk to make a smooth batter. Beat the egg whites until they become foamy - this isn't hard work even, whisking by hand, which is all that's needed here - and then fold them into the ricotta mixture.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and drop in heaped dessertspoons of batter.
Cook the pancakes for about 1 minute until golden and then flip them over and cook for another minute. Keep the cooked pancakes warm, by tenting with foil on a large warmed plate, while you work your way through the batter, and then serve with syrup - if you must - and strawberries.

Pancakes and Salads at Rhijnauwen

There is a lovely pancake restaurant on the way to Bunnik.
It's called Theehuis Rhijnauwen.
We go there often because it is very child friendly and it is surrounded by beautiful greenery. A little bit of nature near Utrecht perfect for taking a stroll with the kids.

I usually have a goats cheese salad and the kids enjoy the pancakes.
It does get busy though, so I suggest you go early!

't Berghuis in Amerongen

Yes, it is true. We went to yet another pancake restaurant last weekend... t'Berghuis.
This one is special though, it is in the middle of a forest.
It is a paradise for kids with a playground right in front of the restaurant terrace, and just a little deeper into the forest they have a zip line, fallen tree trunks and bugs. (You know how kids love bugs...)

The food is o.k. and the kids loved their pancakes.
The grownups ordered chicken sate and uitsmijters, deciding to forgo the pancakes for once. They served a mountain of fries with the sate. They also got confused with our order and forgot to bring us our bitterballen (helaas!) but all in all we had a good experience here.

It definitely deserves a big gold star for being child friendly and for that alone we will return!

Yogurt pancakes on a Rainy Sunday Morning

It is a rainy, gray and cold Sunday morning.

So I try not to think about the fact that it is the middle of the summer here in the Netherlands... Instead I find some warm clothes and head to the kitchen with this idea in my head to make pancakes for breakfast.

The only problem is that we have no milk in the house.

I do have low fat yogurt left over, which I bought for the chocolate muffins I made earlier in the week. Can you substitute yogurt for milk in a recipe? I think not.

Thus I search the Internet for some recipe ideas and found one that seems simple enough. Here is the link to the recipe from the One Green Nation website.

I eagerly whisk together the ingredients and start making the pancakes.
Observation number 1: They are quite tricky to flip over and I had to add a bit of oil every time before I added a new pancake to the non stick pan;
Observation number 2: They become very brown, very quickly so timing is important;
Observation number 3: They are more like flap jacks than pancakes;
Observation number 4: They taste very "eggy" and salty (Maybe a little bit more sugar next time?).

I served them up with maple syrup and strawberries which turned out to be a fabulous combination and that greatly improved the overall pancake experience.

Will I make this recipe again? Honestly, I am not sure.

If you want to give it a go then here is the recipe copied from One Green Nation:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (slightly more if you like thicker pancakes)
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c yogurt (vanilla or plain)
• 1 t vanilla (leave out if using vanilla yogurt)
• 1 c fresh or frozen fruit (optional)

Method:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda). Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients.

2. Add wet ingredients into the hole and whisk together wet ingredients, until just barely mixed together, leaving it lumpy.

3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until mixed. Leave it lumpy.

4. Let mixture sit for at least 5 minutes, more if you can. It will almost double in size and bubbles will form from the baking soda reacting with the yogurt (see photo below).

5. Pre-warm a pan on medium-low heat.

6. If you want to add fresh or frozen fruit, let the mixture rise first (step #4), then place the fruit on top of the mixture and carefully fold in the fruit with a spatula. Let it rise a bit longer.

7. Coat the pan with a thin layer of butter.

8. Use a 1/3 c measuring cup to pour pancakes onto pan.

9. Wait to turn pancakes until they are golden in color on the pan side, and on the upper side they form bubbles (see photo below).

10. Turn over the pancakes once the bubbles begin to become solidified. The second side will take less than half the cooking time as the first.

11. Serve with a bit of warmed syrup, jam, compote, or something else that strikes your fancy!

Pancakes at Boerderij Groenestijn

What could be better on a Sunday than having pancakes :-)
In Heidi's world that is probably the best lunch in the world.
In my world... not so much.

I am more a fan of the crepe variety of pancakes but in the Netherlands they have a long tradition of big heavy pancakes with sweet or savoury ingredients thrown in the mix.

We stopped at a pancake restaurant on the way to de Bilt called Boerderij Groenestijn.
It has a little play area for kids and a jumping castle. We sat outside and enjoyed the sun... so did the flies.

There were lots and lots of flies. I guess that is to be expected on a farm with horse stables nearby. As you can tell I am not really a big fan of flies and a large portion of my time was spent swatting at them while my husband just sat and laughed at me. He is of the opinion that you should just let them be... and he is probably right.

The pancakes were really good, despite the flies tormenting me, and most importantly Heidi had her pancakes with some outdoor fun in the mix.