A bit behind schedule – but part 4 in the Maisons-Laffitte round robin took us off to Canada.  This time it was more of a brunch with Mimosa (Bucks Fizz to the British readers) – sparkling wine with fresh orange juice.  How sophisticated – although Muriel is a little concerned that we will become known as l’alcools de Maisons-Laffitte.  This time it was diluted with juice so that must be better for us?  A little bit?

The menu for today was Fruit Salad, Canadian Pancakes with maple syrup (of course) and oven baked omelette packed with vegetables.

A large bowl of fruit salad was already prepared looking colourful and healthy on the table.  I don’t think we need a recipe – choose fruit that you like, in season is best, chop into a bowl!

Canadian Pancakes

Then it was into the kitchen, glass of Mimosa in hand, to be instructed in the art of  Canadian Pancakes.  First, we mixed the dry ingredients in a large bowl – 1 cup (190g) plain flour, 1tsp baking powder, 3 tbp of sugar.

Next, we measured out our wet ingredients – 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1 tbp of oil and a couple of drops of vanilla essence/extract.

We mixed the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients – it wasn’t important if there were a few lumps in the mixture.  It would all come good in the pan!  (For banana pancakes, mix mashed bananas into the wet ingredients and carry on as described – I guess they would be pretty good with a drizzle of maple syrup!)  More akin to Scottish drop scones or American hotcakes, Canadian pancakes are smaller and thicker than the French crêpe and the batter is thicker.

Time to cook pancakes.  We heated a frying pan with a wiping of oil.  It is important not to have too much oil in the pan – a smearing with kitchen paper is enough or else you have greasy pancakes that don’t taste so good.  When it was hot we tested a little bit of batter to see if the pan was hot enough – bubbles should form in the batter and the base of the pancake should brown quickly not sticking to the pan.  When the bubbles have popped, flip the test mini pancake.  If all goes well start cooking the pancakes.

It has to be said that ours were a little on the large side and not particularly neat!  We did some prettier ones but the photographer failed to get photos!  Despite their tatty appearance, they tasted fab.

We kept them warm in the oven until it was time to serve them up with traditional Maple Sauce – would be rude not to really!

Vegetable Frittata

As I have been so tardy with this post, exact recipe for the frittata has been lost (so Tracey will have to correct me if I am wrong).  Essentially, a baked omelette or a crust less quiche, this was a perfect brunch dish.

In our frittata we had courgettes, red pepper and spinach.  The courgette and pepper were sautéed in a pan (if your pan has an oven proof handle you can use this to cook the frittata in) and once they had started to brown the washed fresh spinach was added until it wilted.  (Of course you can use what ever vegetables you have in the fridge – mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, leek, left over roasted vegetables, leftover boiled potatoes……go play!)

8 eggs were whisked in a bowl – this is a versatile recipe as it is as easy to make for one as for many depending on the oven proof dish you have available.  Our frittata was baked in a flan dish.

It was put in the oven until it was set and golden.  You could also add a sprinkling of strong cheddar or some goats cheese or blue cheese. There are as many frittata recipes as you create.  We had it for brunch but it could easily be a quick lunch or evening meal – serve it with a salad and some warm, crusty bread or with some new potatoes and steamed veg.

It is also a great way to use up leftover vegetables – boiled, roasted or those odd bits of veg in the fridge – I’ll bet there are a few frittata recipes on the Love Food Hate Waste website.

 

 

Thank you Tracey for a wonderful brunch.  Next stop Scotland but our Scottish lady has emigrated to the Middle East for the purposes of lunch….watch this space.