Recipe: egg-white-only pancakes

Our recent interest in ice cream making has inspired me to finally get the hang of proper egg custard. It’s one of those slightly creepy kitchen transformations, like whipping cream by hand.

For ages you stand there stirring or whipping and nothing seems to be happening, then just as you’re about to give up the mix changes consistent entirely and becomes disconcertingly something else. At least the outcome in both cases is delicious.

Anyhow and anyhoo, making ice cream therefore demands a lot of egg yolks, and leaves over a lot of egg whites. That’s sent me scrambling for Things To Do With Egg Whites. The obvious course is meringue, but given the quantities of sugar and cream we’re piling into the ice cream I feel that introducing more crunchy sugar treats into the house is probably not good for anybody’s teeth, diet, or peace of mind.

Enter the egg-whites-only pancake.

Ingredients

• 150g flour
• pinch of salt
• 4 egg whites
• three tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for frying
• 400ml milk

Method

1. If you intend to pile up the pancakes to serve together once they’re all done, turn the oven on to a low temperature (say 50 degrees) and put a plate in to warm up.
2. Put the flour and the salt in a mixing jug. Make a dip in the middle and pour in the egg whites and vegetable oil. Mix.
3. Add the milk slowly, stirring as you go to get a smooth batter.
4. Put a frying pan on a high heat with a good quantity of oil. When a drop of water hisses and spits on the oil, the pan is hot enough. Pour off excess oil into a mug so that the pan has a thin, even covering.
5. Pour batter into the pan and tip to spread it thinly. Batter made without yolks is a little paler than usual pancake batter, but will brown up similarly. If you find it’s sticking more than you expect, try stirring another teaspoon of oil into the batter.
6. As the batter cooks, tiny dips should appear on the surface where bubbles have popped and the hole hasn’t closed up. When you see these in the middle of the pancake, it is ready to flip over.
   

   These little dips where bubbles have popped show up right in the middle of the pancake just as it’s ready to be flipped over.

7. The second side will cook swiftly, so 10-30 seconds later you can scoop the finished pancake onto the warm plate and return it to the oven to keep warm.
8. In between frying each pancake, pour the spare oil back into the pan and tip it back and forth to get an even coating before pouring any excess back into the mug. Replenish the oil as necessary. This will help you to have a good non-stick surface each time without getting super-oily pancakes.

This mix should make roughly ten good-sized pancakes, which we find about right for two adults and two hungry toddlers at breakfast time.

We add squirts of honey, syrup, or strawberry sauce with fresh fruit, particularly blueberries or strawberries. Alternatively, lemon juice or orange juice make them nicely tangy, and wrapping up a banana gives an extra burst of energy for a busy day.

Our three year old has recently got into orange juice and cucumber on his. The less said about that, the better.

Recipe: elderflower cordial

Spring has sprung, the sun is out, and the elderflower bush in our back garden is properly loaded down with flowers. Crane Park, a short walk from our house, is also bursting with elderflowers – if you’re used to drinking the cordial, the fragrance can make you thirsty within seconds of pushing through the gate.

The recipe I use for elderflower cordial came from my mother, who got it from her aunt, who probably copied it out of a magazine in the ’90s. It’s really easy to make, and it’s a huge favourite with our kids.

Our elderflower bush is an ornamental variety, with dark purple leaves and red stalks on the flowers. The cordial comes out a lovely bright ruby red. The more common kind you find in parks has rounder green leaves and creamy white flowers that have strong distinctive fragrance. Cordial made with these flowers is a clear pale greenish-yellow colour. If in doubt, take a sniff – if it doesn’t smell like elderflower cordial, you can’t use it to make elderflower cordial.

Sambuca nigra, the ornamental elderflower in our garden that makes very pretty red cordial.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pints boiled water
• 3 1/4 lbs plain caster or granulated sugar
• 2 oz citric acid
• 25 elderflower heads (you can get away with 20 if some of them are big)
• 2 lemons chopped roughly into thick slices

Method

1. In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the water to make a syrup. Allow this to cool.
2. Add the citric acid, elderflower, and lemon. If the pan is too small, transfer to a large bow.
3. Cover either with the pan lid or with cling film and leave for at least two days.
4. Strain the cordial through a clean tea towel or piece of muslin, then bottle up.
5. Mix the cordial with water or lemonade to make up.

Given how much sugar goes into the cordial we tend to ration it out as a kind of summer equivalent of hot chocolate for our boys.

You can also use it to make sorbet, or as a flavouring for cakes, custards, and ice cream. It freezes well in plastic bottles for a year or more, but if kept fresh will only last in the fridge for a month or so.

A note on citric acid

Citric acid is a preservative, but it has other less savoury uses and can be a bit of a faff to get hold of here in the UK. It’s sold by some large pharmacies, but you have to ask for it at the counter and specify that you have a sensible purpose for using it (ie, drink making). Boot’s don’t carry it, but pharmacies in big supermarkets are often a good bet. In a pinch you can do without if you’re confident that you’ll drink all the cordial within two or three days.