Leek and Blue Cheese

I like pancakes, I like them a lot. So with that out of the way onto the blog and why I'm going to fill it with (hopefully) lots of interesting ideas for pancakes both sweet and savoury.

Since moving to London my food budget has been greatly diminished and so I have had to get used to a much more frugal way of eating. Trying a few options I was quickly scuppered by minor annoyances like cooking times (I'm impatient) and flavour/texture (I'm not good at eating the same thing over and over). One day, having very little in my cupboard aside from condiments, flour, an egg and some milk, I found myself sat eating some very tasty, very quick to prepare pancakes. The clock struck, the light bulb lit, the penny dropped. I had found my budget food for my day to day scrimping.

As I sat there almost tens of recipes came to mind that I could conjure up for both sweet and savoury meals. Then, as I am often inclined to do, my imagination ran wild with thoughts of opening up a cafe that specialised in hundreds of varieties pancakes and had a stupid pun as a name. This very un-International House of Pancakes has been added to the growing list of pipe dreams I have had but I will endeavour to post my ideas and results here.

So, until I am able to start up my as yet unnamed pancake place or grow sick of eating them, the recipes are free for you all to try, taste and feedback on.


Pancake 1: The Leek and Blue Cheese

I should state that I have been playing around with a few traditional fillings before this mainly to just improve my pancake cooking skills. I have dabbled with mostly berry filled sweet things but this was my first proper attempt a savoury one. I tried to pick two things that I knew worked well together, had strong flavours and would not need much in the way of extra preparation.

Make some savoury batter and set to stand on one side. Shred about half to three quarters of a leek and add to a medium/hot pan with a little olive oil. Stir occasionally until soft and remove from the heat. Crumble some blue cheese (I'll leave the specifics of variety up to you) ready for sprinkling.

Cooking the pancakes needs some quick temp changes so if you are unlucky and have electric hobs I would preheat one to the highest setting and one to a medium one. That way you can transfer the pan from one to another quickly. While your average shrove tuesday, super thin pancake takes seconds to cook these are a thicker and require more time. The idea is to quickly seal one side and then move to a lower heat before flipping to help it cook through. After a couple of minutes (you'll see the pancake start to cook on the top side around the edges) flip with a skillet and put back onto the high heat for a few seconds before moving back to the medium one.

I have found that making a 4-5 inch diameter cake is about the best for my pan to cook evenly with two on the go at once. This equates to about half a standard serving ladle of batter (I only use highly accurate measuring techniques). So, fillings at the ready, spoon some batter into the pan and after a second or two add a sprinkling of cheese and leeks. Don't overload the pancake as the batter won't hold and you'll end up with a pancake jigsaw. When the edge of the pancake is starting solidify you should be able to scoop it up and flip it. Then cook for a few minutes on this side before flipping again. This particular filling took about 4-6 mins in total to cook.


Tasting

I served it with a bit of tomato chutney as my condiment selection was a little thin on the ground. This worked really well with the pancake but next time I might try a cranberry (or any other sharp berry) coulis as I think this would sit better with the cheese. After the second bite I did regret quite how much blue cheese I'd put in, 'twas a bit overpowering. I think next time I will use something with a softer flavour or just use less, which is hard as I really like blue cheese. The leeks browned just nicely on top and, surprisingly, didn't make the cake soggy which I half expected to happen. Top tip for next time? Mix the cheese into the batter before cooking. This might make for a less even spread of the cheese amongst the pancake but the sprinkling caused some of the cheese to stick to the pan when cooking which was annoying to clean. If this works I'll post a note to celebrate.

Now to think of the pun-tastic title for this pancake in my imaginary cafe....