Pancakes and Lent

Four days to go and it's Pancake Tuesday. I love Pancake Tuesday, partly because I love pancakes but mostly because the days are getting brighter and spring really is just around the corner. February has great light because there are very few pollen particles in the air.

While I'm not particularly religious (what does that mean?) I do try to give up something for Lent (Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday). Last year it was gravy. This year I have decided that it will be potatoes and bread, so no chip butties.

No jacket potatoes either. My favourite meal is an oven-cooked jacket potato with butter, grated Cheddar cheese, and tuna with mayonnaise on top. So why don't they do that at the Savoy Grill? And why, if I was eating at the Savoy Grill would I order something other than jacket potato? I suppose it's because you can have jacket potatoes any time.

Also, if it was jacket potatoes every meal time you would soon get fed up of them. So that's why Lent is so useful. To deny yourself something for 40 days makes you appreciate it all the more when the time's up.

Better than sex

But first, before all that denial, there are the pancakes. Here's how to make pancakes. Well why listen to me when Delia is only a click away? [As an afterthought I'm adding this for those who can't be bothered with the Delia stuff: For 10 to 12 pancakes you will need 8 oz (200 gms) of plain flour, two decent eggs and a pint of milk (the same stuff you use for Yorkshire Puddings). Whip the eggs in to the flour in a basin, then pour in the milk gradually to avoid lumps. No need to let it stand. No more effort needed than that.] A non-stick pancake pan is ideal but a frying pan will do otherwise. Put a bit of olive oil in and make sure the pan is hot. Ease the pancake with a spatula or something like that to make sure it's loose then flip it with confidence. Blokes should be good at the flipping bit. Whimps should flip over a clean floor so they can scrape up the bits.

Ignore Delia on the filling. This is what you need:

Some orange quarters
Cointreau
Double cream,
Golden Syrup

First squeeze your orange on to the pancake, then add a bit of Cointreau, next some cream and finally drizzle on some syrup, then fold up your pancake and tuck in. Better than sex. Well as good as. Some may say better with sex but I'm not going there. Save to say that with Lent just around the corner this is a great opportunity to indulge ourselves just a little.