The truth is, I’ve become one of those intolerable Londoners who can scarcely get through a weekend without at least the promise of brunch.
Forgive me friends, for I have brunched. This week, Nigel Slater offered up this delightful little dish which we gratefully adapted and then happily scoffed. In a way, the term ‘pancakes’ is a little misleading – the flour content across the three portions is too low for that kind of texture so my advice is to adjust your expectations. Think a light, herby, savoury cheesecake patty. This is a great recipe to use up miscellaneous herbs in the bottom of the salad drawer. It’s also a great recipe to bring joy to your tired little Saturday/Sunday morning soul.
Some ideas for variations:
Add a poached egg
Add streaky bacon and a poached egg
Ditch the avocado and use hot flaked salmon and a poached egg
Eggeggegg
Sorry where was I?
Try wilting and then pressing the moisture out of a handful of spinach and adding it to the batter before cooking
Also add a poached egg
If you’re feeling particularly up to it, finely slice a small radish or two into the avocado salsa for colour and texture.
Adapted from Nigel Slater’s, Eat.
Makes 6 pancakes. Serves 3 if you’re being good, 2 if you’re being quite naughty (410 cals per portion (3 servings))
Ingredients
Pancakes
3 medium eggs, egg whites and yolks separated into bowls
250g ricotta
50g plain flour
30g of your usual spread (we use flora light, butter would be even yummier, I am sure)
A large handful each of 3-4 herbs that you have on hand (chives, parsley, coriander, basil, etc will all be lovely), finely chopped
seasoning
Topping
1 avocado, diced
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
A handful of watercress shoots
3 tbsp of greek yoghurt
Seasoning
Method
- Make the salsa first by combining the diced avocado, the lemon juice, the olive oil and some seasoning together. Add a pinch of salt. Cover and set aside.
- Beat the ricotta and flour into the bowl with the egg yolks. Melt the spread/butter and add to the ricotta mixture and then fold in the herbs
- Whisk the egg whites until they are light and fluffy. It’s worth disclosing at this point that I gave up before this point and our pancakes were just fine. Season generously.
- Brush some olive oil or spray some calorie spray in a heated wide, heavy bottomed pan. Spoon the batter into the pan to make approximately 6 pancakes. They should be roughly the circumference of the top of a coffee mug, or slightly wider. Cook for approximately 2-3 minute per side or until they’re nicely browned. Use a gently heated oven to keep them warm if you need to use batches.
- Serve each portion with a tablespoon of greek yoghurt, a third of the avocado salsa and a flourish of watercress sprouts. Put on a pot of the good tea. Pour a large glass of orange juice. Flip open the weekend papers. Perfect.
MAD AVOCADO 