Shrove Tuesday: Pancakes

Being gluten free shouldn't mean missing out, and you certainly shouldn't miss out on pancake day. I find using Delia's recipe and just swapping in my usual Doves Farm Gluten Free flour works a treat. The only thing to remember is to stir the batter each time before taking your scoop for your next pancake... the gluten free flour has the tendency to settle to the bottom, so if you don't stir it, you end up with wafer thin early ones, and quite stodgy ones near the end.

My favourite filling is always the most simple: lemon juice and sugar. Nothing beats it, nothing comes close. Maya and I had quite an in depth conversation about the options today while on a lunchtime walk: ice-cream, maple syrup, nutella, fruit (all sweet things!) and much more, but we both came back to the old favourite of lemon & sugar, especially if it's a crepe and not one of those fat American pancakes...if it's one of those, then blueberry compote and vanilla ice-cream.

Delia's recipe is simple (and I'm going for 'old' measures here, because they work better):

Sift 4oz GF flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Mix 3 fl oz water with 7 fl oz milk (I use soya). Make a well in centre of your flour and break in two large eggs. Start beating the eggs (I use my good old Kenwood beaters), incorporating bits of flour as you go. As it starts to thicken, gradually add the milk & water mix, until you've incorporated all the flour and milk & water mix. Add 2 Tbsp of melted butter, and then cook... The mix will make about 10-12 pancakes. Remember to stir the mix before each pancake.

Best eaten warm straight out of the pan while the next one cooks!

Gluten Free Sponge

I've been using this recipe for years...decades probably. I remember the original, cut off the side of a cornflour box and stashed in mum's recipe index. It's odd because I am sure it came from a box of Edmonds cornflour, and the Edmonds cookbook is one that every household in New Zealand posseses at least one well-loved and food-covered copy of, yet this recipe doesn't actually appear in there. Similar versions do, but not this one, and it's this one that I use, religiously, when I want to make a sponge.

The sponge is really simple, and can be used as a cake, obviously, but is also great for a trifle base, or any other recipe that requires a simple sponge.

The reason I made this recently was for a colleague's 30th birthday at work. I didn't have much time, and recently we've consumed a LOT of cake at work, so I needed something simple and light, so I settled on this.

• Heat your oven to 190C, Gas Mark 5.

• Line the base of 2 x 20cm tins with greaseproof paper (I use washable and re-usable bake-o-glide circles...or I did, until Binks creased them to smithereens when washing them!).

• Separate 3 large eggs, putting the whites in a large, clean bowl, and reserving the yolks.

• Beat the egg whites until peaks just fold over. Slowly add 1/2 C sugar. (125mls - not sure of weight).

• Beat until the mix is stiff and the sugar has dissolved.

• Add the reserved egg yolks and beat until well blended.

• Sift in to this mix, 1/2 C cornflour, 2 tsps gluten-free flour (I use Doves farm GF white flour mix) and 1tsp baking powder.

• Fold the flour gently into the egg mix with a metal spoon.

• Pour the mix evenly into the two tins and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

A few additional sponge making hints:

• Have your eggs at room temperature.
• From the moment the dry ingredients are added until the time the sponge is in the oven, speed is essential.
• Fold dry ingredients in very gently using a metal spoon and an up, down and over movement - do not stir.
• Drop the tins from a short height onto the bench before putting them in the oven and after removing from the oven.
• Test whether the sponge is ready by pressing gently with your fingertip. If it springs back, it's cooked. The sponges will also shrink slightly from the sides when cooked.

I like to ice this sponge with a simple butter cream icing and good strawberry jam. If it's summer, it's delicious with fresh cream and strawberries. I just dust the top with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Seafood risotto...

Tonight's dinner was lush. Binks had the idea of doing risotto and then decided he wanted seafood...which was all fine by me. I'd been feeling a bit cooped up, what with being home with laryngitis, so started preparing a few bits before he got home. I diced a few tomatoes, and finely chopped the peel (no pith) of half a lemon.

Binks arrived home and emptied his bag of the shopping. He ran home from work with a 'special offer' pack from M&S of raw prawns, scallops and squid rings, along with a few other necessaries... shame one of the packs split in his bag and he had to scoop the last few bits of seafood from the bottom of his bag. I wouldn't want to be wearing that when the weather warms up!

Anyway a few diced cloves of garlic went in the saute pan with a few lugs of olive oil over a low heat. Once the garlic had softened, I added the diced tomato and lemon peel plus a finely sliced red chilli and let that cook down for a few more minutes. Whacking the heat up high, I added half a box of canarolli rice, stirring it to coat the rice in the oily sauteed veg mix, and then added a glass of vermouth.

Before long I was stirring in the prawn stock - rescued from the depths of the freezer where it had been lurking since we had a seafood splurge some time ago & I boiled up the shells. When the rice was *almost* ready, the heat was turned down and the seafood stirred in to gently cook in the warmth of the rice.

To finish off, I stirred in a handful of parsley and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Oh my word, it was delicious.