Brown Butter, Cardamom and Blood Orange Crepes; Buckwheat Galettes with Cheese, Eggs, Mushrooms and Ham

It's Pancake Day. Do Fat Tuesday Right

Feb 13, 2024

∙ Paid

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY MY DARLS! Shrove Tuesday is always such a treat to brighten up February, and I do love the timely excuse - not that I should need one - to share a couple of cracking pancake recipes, so today I’m coming at you with one sweet, and one savoury, and my goodness, are you in for a treat. Both recipes are based around thin, French crepes because this was always the tradition in my family, and it’s what I nostalgically hold dear from my childhood, when Shrove Tuesday excitement was SKY HIGH thanks to my mum’s fantastic cooking skills.

The first is a classic batter enriched with brown butter and finished with blood orange and sugar; the second is a Bretagne-style, folded buckwheat galette stuffed with ham, cheese and mushrooms, or whatever you might fancy, really. This is my preference for a savoury pancake, thanks to the earthy, nutty flavour of the buckwheat and the fact it’s a compellingly excellent vehicle for cheese, and any stray veg you may have in your fridge, too. I have previously struggled to land on a recipe that I’m fully happy with, but trust me when I say these are the one: thin and yielding but pleasingly crispy at the edges. They are so adaptable and such a treat. My 2-year old absolutely devours these (and enjoys making them with me) and they are such a good one to get to grips with as they make for a really fabulous weekend brunch or lunch. I’m definitely going to be making more of them over the next few weeks.

Yes, I am absolutely a lemon and sugar person. I can eat about a dozen in a row, and still feel ready for more. But also, blood oranges are out in force and they are absolutely delicious on pancakes - plus their added sweetness means you use less sugar. This particular pancake batter has had a boost of nutty browned butter, and is spiked with the heady aroma of cardamom. It just works. Trust me. Purists can roll their eyes all they want, but if you’ve got the wherewithal, please give this a go - it's just a slightly elevated tweak on the all-time classic and it takes it into next level territory, plus it looks absolutely gorgeous on the plate, and makes for a supreme dessert. And I would argue that we should be making pancakes for dessert more than we do. In fact, we should be making pancakes more than we do. They are such a joyful, happy-making thing, and you can fry them off in advance to get the tricky bit done, stack them on a plate, and reheat them in a pan brushed with butter. It makes things easier.

TOP TIPS

If you love pancakes as much as me, invest in a proper non-stick pancake pan. I got mine from Green Pan and it’s made me far more proficient at pancakes and also means I make them more often, which is no bad thing.

I use a silicone spatula or silicone pastry brush to disperse the melted butter in a thin layer over the pan before I fry off the pancakes, and both work a treat, but you can also use oiled kitchen roll. If you mix a little high smoking point oil like rapeseed with the butter it stops the butter burning and your kitchen from getting too smoky. And don’t forget it’s fine to let the first pancake be a disaster. I always assume it’s going to be and treat it as a chef’s perk to gobble up while I fry the others to perfection.

Not so crucial for the sweet crepes, but for the buckwheat galettes, it’s really worth trying to rest the batter for as long as it says in the recipe — I’ve found it does make all the difference so take head. If you’re not confident in flipping with the pan, try and find yourself a nice flat flipper to use to flip your crepes once they are coming away from the pan with no resistance.

Have the oven on a warm setting and plates keeping warm before you start frying, and get that extractor on high. Let’s go!

Brown Butter, Cardamom and Blood Orange Crepes

Makes 10-12

For the batter

110g plain flour
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
A pinch of salt
Crushed seeds from 6 green cardamom pods
2 eggs
30g butter
300ml milk

Rapeseed oil and more butter, for frying

To serve
Blood orange or lemon juice
More golden caster sugar

1. In a non-stick frying pan or pancake pan that you’re going to use for frying the pancakes melt the butter and cook until frothing, then browning and smelling nutty. Swirl the pan to distribute the brown flecks as the milk solids brown. Before it burns, pour the butter into a bowl and allow it to cool.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, tbsp of caster sugar, salt and cardamom, briefly whisk together, then make a well in the middle and crack in the eggs. Whisk them to beat them together, incorporating a little of the flour from the edges as you go. Pour in the cooled brown butter and whisk that in, bringing in more of the flour, then slowly pour in the milk, whisking in the flour until you have a smooth batter with no lumps remaining. Rest the batter for at least ten minutes and put a bowl of golden caster sugar and your citrus juice on the table, ready for people to help themselves.

3. Set your pan over a medium to high heat and grease with a little rapeseed oil and butter. Once the butter is melted, ladle in 3/4 of a ladleful of batter, then swirl it around the pan to coat and create a pancake. Fry for a minute or so, until colouring and coming away from the pan easily, then flip and cook for a further minute. Slide onto a warm plate, keep warm in a low oven and repeat with the remaining batter. When you have a pile, carefully serve them up, then tell everyone to dust with sugar and squeeze over the citrus. Roll or fold. That’s your shout.

Serves 6 (but fry off as many as you need and keep the batter in the fridge for later)

For the batter

150g buckwheat flour