Category: Pancakes

Heavenly Rhubarb

This is seriously the BEST way to cook rhubarb.  I discovered this when making a raw cake that included cooking rhubarb for the longest time at a low heat.  I’ve played around with the timings and this is about as good as it gets.  Honestly, if you like rhubarb this is the way to go!  If you have anyone in your family who doesn’t – try them with this.  You can make it in big batches so you’re not wasting too much oven time.

The quantities below makes enough for 2-3 portions – although if I’m honest I could easily eat all of this in one sitting.  Use it for overnight oats, as a pancake topping, mixed through yoghurt or just eat it on it’s own.

Heavenly Rhubarb

Turn the oven onto almost it’s lowest setting – so 80-100c /180-200f or Gas 1/4 -1/2

  • 200g raw rhubarb, chopped into small slices (about 1cm slices)
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar  (any brown sugar will work – I like soft brown sugar best.)

Put the chopped rhubarb into a baking dish or tray and add the syrup and sugar and coast it well. Put into the oven for 1.5 – 2 hours.  It should still hold it’s shape but be tender – the picture shown is of the cooked rhubarb so you can see how its held it’s shape.

Eat immediately or put in a container and keep in the fridge, save the juices too.  I prefer eating this at room temperature rather than straight from the fridge, but hot, cold or warm, it is truly delish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advertisement

P&J brekkie tortilla

My latest supply of one of my favourite peanut butters (Manilife) arrived yesterday and so peanut butter had to be part of my brekkie today (although I had already eaten a fair few spoonfuls from the jar within seconds of it arriving.)  With a packet of flatbreads languishing in the bread bin, this simple P&J tortilla was envisaged, made and eaten within 5 minutes.  If you love peanut butter and jam, you’ll love this.  I used raspberries and raspberry jam, but you could use strawberries with strawberry jam, blueberries etc., anything would be lovely.

Possibly not the healthiest of breakfasts due to the high sugar content of the jam, but it was worth it and in my defence I had walked the dog.  You could of course use a low sugar jam or make your own chia seed jam, but for now, the original stuff did the job beautifully.

P&J brekkie Tortilla

  • 1 flour tortilla (large)
  • 1 tablespoon of your favourite peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons Raspberry Jam
  • Handful of fresh raspberries
  • Yoghurt (I used coconut)

Heat a frying pan (no oil required) – and when it’s hot, add the tortilla.  After a minute, take the tortilla out of the pan and put it on a plate cold side down.  Spread your peanut butter over the hot side, and then spread the jam on top and top with some raspberries.  Fold the tortilla in half over the filling.  Put this back in the pan (heat on) and dry fry for a minute on both sides – the tortilla will start to brown.

Cut in half and serve with some more fruit and yoghurt.

 

 

Spiced Squash Pancakes

I was filling time looking at recipes last night and a pumpkin pancake one caught my eye. It was an American recipe using pumpkin puree, which seems to be hitting our shops in tins at the moment.  Yet it’s really easy to make up fresh and with my bumper squash harvest this year, I’ve got plenty to play with. Mixed with the right spices it becomes a delicious sweetly spiced puree that is crying out to be used in sweet recipes.

So here is my take on the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pancake craze.

The Puree

Pumpkins and squashes I think are pretty much interchangeable.  I’ve been using crown prince squash in place of pumpkin, and butternut squash can be used as well. To make a sweet puree I cut the squash into big chunks  (like big watermelon slices) take out the seeds but keep the skin on. Then put the chunks into a roasting tin, add some small dollops of coconut oil and roast for around 20-30 mins until really tender. The use of coconut oil keeps the sweet theme, you could use olive oil, but I would avoid vegetable oil or any other more savoury flavoured oil.

Once cool, slice the flesh off the skin and put into a food processor.  Blend for around 20 seconds into a soft puree.

You can add the spices here as well – roughly 1 teaspoon of mixed spice to every 100g of skinned squash – just blend it in for 1-2 seconds then the puree is ready spiced to use. The puree will keep in the fridge for a few days.

spiced-squash-pancakesSpiced Squash Pancakes (serves 2 – makes 4 -5 pancakes)

  • 60g spelt flour (or wholemeal)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 40g oats
  • Pinch salt
  • 125ml milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup (more for drizzling over the cooked pancakes)
  • 8g melted butter (more to grease the frying pan)
  • 100g squash puree with 1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method

  • Mix the flour, baking powder, oats and salt into a bowl.
  • In a separate bowl whisk the milk, egg, maple syrup, butter, puree and spice, until well combined. Add this mix to the flour mix and whisk to combine.
  • In a small frying pan, add a small knob of butter and melt this to coat the pan. Once melted add a ladle of the pancake mixture. Cook for around 2-3 minutes per side.

Enjoy with some raisins or sultanas, yoghurt and more maple syrup.