Pancakes and Omlettes

Walked today from Dorking to Leith Hill - what a day for it! I think I may be a little sunburned! I had made some American pancakes for breakfast, so I took the left-overs for the girls. The recipe is below. If you are having them on a schoolday - yes, it is possible - measure out the ingredients the night before, mix the batter in the morning and put the pan on to heat while you are in the shower!

This evening, I couldn't think what to cook for dinner. Then I spied the pack of 15 eggs hanging around near the cooker - aha - omelettes! My children love omelettes (what a strange word now I have typed it twice....) and we sometimes have them for brekkie. Tonight, I gave them the option of plain (with salt for Jolie), cheese (her friend Neva), ham (Barney) and fried onions (Jake). I had a sort of Spanish affair with onions, peppers and left-over potatoes. Delicious. Apologies for the picture; I forgot until I was halfway through!

Omelette (serves one)

3 eggs, lightly beaten
knob of butter
seasoning

Heat a small frying-pan over a medium heat. Add a knob of butter and wait for it to stop sizzling. Add the eggs all at once. Leave for a minute or two, then pull the cooked underneath gently aside so the runny eggs fill the space left in the pan. Repeat until there is not much left running on the surface. Season with salt and pepper.
Now, purists will have you gently slide a palette knife under one side and flip it over, with runny egg inside, which does continue cooking for a while.
But I don't like runny egg AT ALL, so I leave it to cook longer, and sometimes finish it off under the grill.

You can add, grated cheese, chopped ham, herbs, fry some onion before adding the eggs, cooked sliced potatoes, the list goes on.


Breakfast Pancakes (serves 4 hungry people!)

200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
milk to mix (about 200ml)


Put a frying pan on a medium heat.
Measure the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla and mix with enough milk to make a very stiff batter. You want it so that it only just drops off a spoon. Add some butter to the pan, then table-spoonfuls of the batter. Wait until bubbles appear on the surface before flipping them over.
Eat with maple or agave syrup and butter. Americans eat these with crispy bacon too.