Paul A Young’s Chocolate-Inspired Afternoon Tea at the Grosvenor Hotel

Paul A Young trumps his Stilton, Bacon and Dark Chocolate Toastie with a Cucumber and Venezuelan Chocolate finger sandwich, in a new Chocolate-Inspired Afternoon Tea…

I am a huge fan of Paul A Young. I love his attitude to chocolate – pairing up combinations such as bacon, Stilton and dark chocolate – and chocolate and Marmite. How could you not love him? 

So imagine my excitement when an invitation to a Paul A Young’s Chocolate-Inspired Afternoon Tea pinged into my inbox one busy afternoon. After confirming my place, I couldn’t wait – counting down the days like my daughter does before Christmas. And then a family emergency happened and I could no longer go. 

But even if I couldn’t attend the tasting, I knew I wanted to share the details with you all as it’s phenomenal. 

Paul A Young Chocolate-Inspired Afternoon Tea at the Grosvenor Hotel

Paul has worked in collaboration with the JW Marriott Grosvenor Hotel in London and created an afternoon tea with a big difference. 

On the menu, there are the usual finger sandwiches – beef and horseradish, ham and Cheddar, salmon, cream cheese and dill. But it wouldn’t be a Paul A Young tea without chocolate – and so there’s also a Cucumber and Venezuelan Chocolate sandwich. I know. Incredible. 

Then you can tuck in to scones with Devonshire Clotted Cream with – wait for it – Paul’s ‘Award-Winning’ Sea Salted Caramel. There’s also an Earl Grey Tea Chocolate Tart with Salted Lemon Truffle and a Pistachio and Raspberry Slice, among many other treats. All this is washed down with Madagascan Cocoa Nib Tea and Paul’s beautifully made truffles. Or you can opt for a glass of Louis Roederer Carte Blanche champagne if you prefer. 

Scone with Devonshire Clotted Cream and Paul A Young’s Sea Salted Caramel

The Paul A Young Chocolate-Inspired Afternoon Tea is served in The Park Room of the hotel – check out the link for further details, and how to book. 

Lamb, Spinach and Red Onion Burgers

Nutritious, allergy-free burgers – time to light the barbecue? 

I’ve always loved lamb with red onions and spinach. And it occurred to me one day, that they would be good in a burger, too. You could serve these as they are (they’re egg and gluten-free) or, if you want to, in a bun with goat’s cheese on top. Or you could wrap them in lettuce leaves if you prefer it without the bun. 

 

Lamb, Spinach and Red Onion Burgers
Makes 6 burgers
Ingredients
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp cooking oil or fat of your choice
pinch salt
100g fresh spinach leaves, washed and chopped
500g lamb mince

Method
Melt the cooking oil or fat in a frying pan and add the onions and the pinch of salt, frying gently until the onion is softened. Add the chopped spinach leaves and continue to cook until wilted. Tip the onion and spinach mixture into a mixing bowl and allow to cool. 

When the veggies have cooled, break the mince up into the bowl and mix with your hands until just combined. Form into patties and fry in a dry pan (you won’t need any extra oil, the lamb will be fatty enough) for about 4-5 minutes per side, or until thoroughly cooked. 

Do you have any favourite lamb burger recipes? Feel free to link them up here…

New Egg-Boiling Gadget

Everyone loves dippy egg and soldiers. Don’t we? 

I had to tell you about a new product I’ve discovered. It’s an egg-boiling gadget called an Eiko Egg Cup Boiler. 

Looks good, doesn’t it? 

It seems to tick all the boxes for making – and eating – perfect boiled eggs. The plastic cup fits over the top of the pan you’re boiling your eggs in, so the eggs don’t bob about in the bubbles while the water is simmering, and accidentally crack. They have a different colour, so you can remember who’s egg is which and take them out of the water according to how runny you need them. And you can get colour-coded spoons, too, to go with them. 

The only problem, it seems, is if you are cooking your eggs on a gas stove. (They’re only recommended for electric hobs). 

Find out more at Cuckooland – the Eiko Egg Cup Boiler is available in a pack of four for £12. the spoons are available in a pack of four for £6. 

Mushroom and Fennel Soup

A recipe for a fragrant mushroom and fennel soup that can be adapted for vegans and vegetarians…

Dark, woody mushrooms. And then the aniseed fragrance of fennel. It’s a match made in culinary heaven, although you wouldn’t automatically think of pairing the two up together. 

For this recipe, I use home-made chicken stock but you could use vegetable stock and it would make it suitable for vegans and vegetarians. The fennel ‘lifts’ the deep, umami flavour from the mushrooms, making it quite refreshing. And it’s good for you, too. 

Mushroom and Fennel Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
half teaspoon of cooking oil or cooking fat of your choice
1 small white onion, peeled and roughly chopped
350g chestnut mushrooms, trimmed and cleaned
1 medium-sized bulb of fennel, cleaned and trimmed
400ml stock (I use chicken, but use vegetable if you like)
pinch of salt and pepper (avoid the pepper if you’re following the autoimmune paleo plan)

Method
Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan and gently fry the onion until just softened. Quickly chop the mushrooms and add them to the pan, stirring until they begin to darken and soften. Chop the fennel bulb into 2-3cm pieces and add these to the mushrooms and onion, and gently fry on a low heat, for 2-3 minutes. Pour in the stock and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes, until everything is heated through and the fennel is soft. Blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper. 

Serve hot. 

Leftovers will last for 2 days in the fridge, or you can freeze the soup in a suitable container and use within one month. 

Making the Best Pulled Pork: Two Ways

Two methods for cooking foolproof pulled pork – one in the oven and the other in the crockpot of a slow cooker. Which one is your favourite? 

 

Pulled pork. It’s very trendy at the moment, and it’s easy to see why. 

First, it’s effortless. You bung a pork shoulder in the oven and it cooks on a low heat all day long. No stirring, no fiddling… it just cooks completely by itself. 

Second, it’s incredibly delicious and moist. I remember that I once thought pulled pork was difficult to make. It isn’t. And you’ll be rewarded with meat so tender you’ll just need a couple of forks to ‘pull’ it apart before serving. 

Buying the right cut of pork
To start with, you’ll need a nice piece of pork shoulder, about 1.6-1.8kg in weight. You might have heard of a cut of meat being used called ‘Boston Butt’ – that’s actually a cut from the shoulder and nothing to do with the pig’s other end. If it’s going in the oven, get your butcher to score it for you, so you can have some crunchy crackling – if it’s going in the slow cooker that won’t really matter too much. Don’t worry if your pork shoulder looks a bit fatty under the rind, that fat will break down slowly and baste the rest of the joint as it cooks. Lean, healthy meats don’t usually fare all that well with slower cooking styles – these are the quick-cook cuts. 

Making pulled pork in the oven
Put the pork shoulder joint on a foil-lined, shallow roasting tray, skin-side up. Where the skin has been scored, push in some sea salt – or any other flavourings you’d like, such as chilli paste, herbs, spices – and slide into an oven heated up as high as it will go – likely 8-9 gas mark or 220ºC for the first 25 minutes. This will give the skin a chance to crisp and puff up a little bit to get your crackling underway. After the 25 minutes are up, turn the heat right down to gas mark 3/170ºC/325ºF and allow to cook for the next 5 and a half hours. Once the time is up, take the meat out of the oven and leave to rest, loosely covered in foil, while you get on with the vegetables, salad or whatever else you’re serving with the pork. 

Once you’re ready, slice off the crackling (and what’s left of the fatty layer underneath) and lift the pork joint onto a plate. Pull the tender pork meat into strips using a couple of forks. It will probably be so tender that if you try and ‘carve’ it it will just fall apart. This is good. Serve while hot. 

Making pulled pork in the slow cooker / crockpot
Firstly, make sure your pork joint will fit inside the crockpot of your slow cooker. It doesn’t? Then cook it in the oven, as above. If it does, peel and thickly slice an onion and lay it, in its rings, at the bottom of the crockpot. Place the pork joint on top and then add a little liquid – I like to use beer for its malty flavour, and a pinch of salt. At this stage, feel free to add in any herbs (thyme works well) or other spices or seasonings. Replace the lid and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until the pork shoulder is tender enough to lift out onto a plate and pull apart. 

Which method is best? 
I love to cook pulled pork in the oven – you get crispy, gnarly bits that are a little bit over-roasted and salty, which are amazing to nibble on when your preparing the rest of the meal – cook’s perks. But cooked in a slow cooker, you get the option to add some liquid that imparts more flavour – beer or cider, for example – and if you’re out and about a lot that day it feels somehow safer – at least for me – to leave the slow cooker going all day than the gas oven. It’s up to you which one you prefer, but either technique will give you perfect, tender pulled pork. 

I’ve linked this up to the AIP Recipe Roundtable over at Phoenix Helix – check it out for more AIP paleo inspiration…. 

How do you cook pulled pork? And what seasonings or flavours do you use? What do you serve it with? Please feel free to link up your favourite pulled pork recipes, in the comments below. 

Pork, Sweet Potato and Red Onion Hash

How’s this for a healthy storecupboard hash that you can whip up in just a few minutes…

Pork is one of the cheaper meats – especially minced – but you can get bored of pork burgers and making it into bolognese or chilli. This hash is something a bit different, and it has sweet potatoes and red onions in it (bonus veggie points there). It’s great served with some green veggies or a side salad, and only takes a few minutes to stir together in a frying pan. The hash is flavoured with a pinch of mace and dried sage, although feel free to add your own favourite spices – thyme would be good here, and smoked paprika too (but avoid paprika if you’re eliminating nightshades). 

Pork, Sweet Potato and Red Onion Hash

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tsp cooking oil or fat of your choice

400g minced pork

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

1 red onion, peeled and chopped

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated

small pinch of mace

1 tsp dried sage

pinch of salt

Method

First, melt the oil or fat in a large frying pan and brown off the pork mince until just beginning to turn golden on the outside. Straight away, stir in the garlic, onion and grated sweet potatoes  – along with a splash of water (or broth, if you have it handy) and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the sweet potato has softened. 

Stir in the mace, sage and a pinch of salt and continue to cook until the pork and vegetables are cooked through. You can add a little more water or broth, if you feel the mixture is drying out a little in the pan. 

Serve hot. 

I’m entering this into Phoenix Helix’s AIP Recipe Roundtable… go visit for more AIP paleo inspiration. 

Review of Glorious Skinnylicious Soups

I take a look at Glorious’ new range of Skinnylicious soups – designed as a lighter option for quick lunches and dinners… 

Glorious soups are one of my favourite ready-made soup brands. I don’t buy ready-made soups all that often, but they’re handy for having in the fridge for when you need something a bit more warming than a salad or sandwich at short notice. I’ve always found them to be full of flavour and they’re inspired from various flavours around the world – the West African Chicken and Peanut is one of my all-time favourites. I can’t get enough of it. 

 

And they’ve brought out a Skinny low-fat range, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a few of the soups to try. 

I was sent the Keralan Summer, Goan Tomato and Lentil, New England Butternut Squash, North African Spiced Vegetable and Fragrant Thai Carrot soups. 

The Keralan Summer soup is the spiciest – but rich, with tomatoes and Indian spices. It’s warming with the spices and chilli, and was actually one of my favourites.

Glorious’ Keralan Summer soup

The Goan Tomato and Lentil has been a regular lunchtime treat for me for a while now – it’s not as spicy as the Keralan Summer soup, though. The tomatoes are chunky and with the lentils you feel as if you’ve had a full meal after a bowl of this. I love it with a slice of white bread, thickly spread with butter (I realise that this defeats the object of the soup having only 1.3% fat, but there you go). 

The New England Butternut Squash soup is again, rich – and silky. It’s blended until smooth and the cumin in the soup gives the whole thing some gentle warmth. There’s also a slight fruity sweetness in there, as it’s finished with a little mango chutney. Lovely. 

The North African Spiced Vegetable soup was, as it says on the website, inspired by a trip to Istanbul – there’s sumac, harissa and Ras El Hanout in there, along with lots of other flavours. The flavour was quite sweet and fruity, but also tangy and mildly spiced. 

The Fragrant Thai Carrot soup is creamy and really fragrant – obviously there’s coconut there and you have the Thai flavours of lemongrass, chilli and coriander. My children had a taste of this and found they could tolerate it – it’s one of the less spicy soups from the range I was sent.

Glorious’ Fragrant Thai Carrot soup

In all, I enjoyed the Glorious soups in the Skinny range – some are a lot more spicy than others, like the Keralan Summer, for example – but soups like the New England Butternut and North African vegetable soups are milder. I like the soups because they taste natural – and they’re a fuss-free and simple way of experiencing different flavours from around the world – lunchtimes can be a bit boring with the same old ham sandwich and these soups help perk it up, with the added bonus of being lower in fat than many other brands.

Do you like the Glorious range of soups? Which are your favourites? 

Win a You Crack Me Up Hotel Chocolat Easter Egg

Yayyyy! A giveaway!! (Everyone loves giveaways)…

The lovely people at Hotel Chocolat have asked if I would like to host a giveway for one of you guys to win one of these:

 

A You Crack Me Up Thick Chocolate Easter Egg.

Hotel Chocolat always have a great range of chocolate eggs over Easter – I’ve tried a few of them in the past and I have to admit I’ve never been disappointed. The quality is always superb and they pair up some unusual flavours in their chocolates, too. This egg is extra thick and cast in milk and high-cocoa white chocolate. There are 12 smiley face and chick praline chocolates, too (as if you needed cheering up any more). 

To be in with a chance of winning a You Crack Me Up egg, all you have to do is imagine the best chocolate Easter egg you can. Got it? Then briefly describe it in the comments form below. You will get extra entries for liking the blog’s Facebook page and also for Tweets… (see the Rafflecopter widget)

Rules:

• The giveaway is for one You Crack Me Up chocolate easter egg, to be delivered directly to the winner by Hotel Chocolat. Their decision on the giveaway is final. 
• Delivery to the UK mainland only, please
• All entries to be received by Saturday 5th April, 2014. At midnight on this date (UK time) the giveaway will be closed and one winner will be randomly drawn via Rafflecopter.
• The egg will be sent directly to the winner by Hotel Chocolat and their decision is final. 
• Comments should be about your perfect Easter egg. Any spam comments, or comments like ‘nice post’ aren’t in the spirit of the giveaway and will be removed. 
• I will contact the winner by email or social media on the 6th April, but if there is no reply after 48 hours, I will draw another winner. 
• You must register your activity using the Rafflecopter widget below. 

Ready? Go! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chocolate Mini Cakes with Guinness and Vanilla Buttercream

It’s that time where we all start splashing about the Guinness and celebrate everything Irish for St. Patrick’s Day. And yes, I’ve made some little cakes. Have a look: 

Chocolate and Guinness is a bit of a classic combination – if you like the cakes a bit more chocolatey, use a darker chocolate or experiment with a bit more of it in the batter. The Guinness buttercream is great – it’s made by simmering the Guinness down for a few minutes until it reduces and thickens. You start with 100ml of Guinness, and you end up with just under 50ml – which is plenty, to be honest, and you probably won’t use all of it to make the icing. If you have any reduced Guinness leftover, then freeze it and add it to your stews, pies or for the next time you make these cakes. 

 

Chocolate Mini Cakes with Guinness and Vanilla Buttercream
Makes 12
Ingredients
For the cakes:
125g butter plus extra for greasing the tin
125g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
50g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence 
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

For the icing: 
150g softened butter (I use salted butter, if you’re using unsalted, add a small pinch of salt)
150g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100ml Guinness

Method
To start with, reduce the Guinness for the icing. Pour the Guinness into a saucepan and simmer on a low heat for 7-10 minutes. The Guinness will have reduced to just under 50ml. Put to one side and cool. 

To make the cakes, preheat your oven to gas mark 3/170ºC. Rub a little butter into the holes of a 12-hole mini cake tin. Mix together the softened butter and the caster sugar and then crack in the eggs. Add the chocolate and the vanilla essence and then sift in the flour and baking powder. Divide the mixture between the holes of the tin and slide into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a cocktail stick pushed into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Leave to cool. 

To make the icing, beat the butter and the icing sugar together and add the teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Gradually, drop by drop, trickle in the reduced Guinness mixture until you have a fluffy, pale icing with the Guinness flavour that is also a good piping consistency. 

Now, turn to your completely cooled cakes and cut them in half along the centre. Pipe a swirl of the icing over the top of the bottom half of each cake and then sandwich the other slice on top. Dust with icing sugar and serve. 

Are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? What will you be cooking?

Vegetarian Comfort Food Challenge Write Up

I wanted to share what Corina from the blog Searching for Spice made for my Comfort Food Challenge last month. It’s….

Spanakopita!!!

 

Looks incredible, thank you Corina for taking part. I love Spanakopita – and I was really grateful that it was linked up to this challenge as not only is it a comfort food in its own right, with all that flaky pastry and cheese, but it was a firm childhood favourite of Corina’s. 

It’s really easy to focus just on slow-cooked meats for sustenance over the winter. But some of my favourite dinners at this time of year are vegetarian: spinach and ricotta canneloni, Glamorgan sausages and rich, lentil soups. Last month I posted some cracking Caerphilly, Leek and Walnut filo parcels that I love to eat while they’re just slightly warm from the oven. 

 

What are your favourite vegetarian recipes? 

Autoimmune Courgette Bolognese

When you’re following a special autoimmune protocol diet, you can’t eat pasta, tomatoes or sugars – so what do you do when you get a craving for Bolognese? Well, you make this…

A long time ago, I went to a fish restaurant in Christchurch, near Bournemouth, with my husband. They served a starter of grilled vegetables with fresh basil. And it was amazing. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked by the flavour of courgettes and basil.

And then, more recently, I had a think about the autoimmune protocol – the diet designed to ease symptoms of autoimmune disease – which eliminates (among lots of other things) tomatoes. And I thought ‘Crikey – what happens here when you get a craving for Spaghetti Bolognese?’ 

And so I developed this recipe so you can still satisfy those Spag Bol cravings. It took me a while to get it right. There’s bacon – that’s for saltiness, so you don’t miss the Parmesan cheese on top. I’ve used lamb mince instead of the usual beef – lamb has a sweeter, richer flavour – this was designed to balance the fact that the sauce doesn’t have tomatoes or sugar in it. And I’ve used courgette ‘noodles’ (just courgettes peeled into slices with a vegetable peeler) instead of the pasta. And, obviously, lots of fresh basil. It’s light, gluten-free, dairy-free and, to be honest, knocks the socks off my usual Spaghetti Bolognese. 

Autoimmune Courgette Bolognese
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
250g bacon lardons
400g lamb mince
half a batch of my no-mato sauce
small handful fresh basil leaves
4 courgettes; washed, trimmed and peeled into thin slices using a vegetable peeler

Method
First, fry the bacon lardons in a dry frying pan until golden – you won’t need to add any extra fat as it will render down from the bacon pieces. Once the bacon has started to turn golden, add the lamb mince and stir-fry until browned all over. Drain off any excess fat. 

Next, add the no-mato sauce. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so, until everything is heated through. The courgette slices will just take a few minutes to cook. If your pan is big enough, you can just lay the slices on top of the sauce and they will heat through – otherwise you can stir-fry them in a separate pan until tender. 

Season the sauce, if you think it needs it (the bacon will already have made it a little salty) and serve with courgettes. Sprinkle liberally with the basil and eat while hot. 

No Mato Sauce

A vegetable-packed sauce that pretends it’s tomato sauce…

Maybe nightshade veggies don’t agree with you (it happens to many), or maybe you fancy packing in a few more veggies into your kids’ meals. Well this tomato – sorry no-mato – sauce is proof that you don’t have to go without your favourite Italian recipes.   

There are other ‘no-mato’ sauce recipes on the internet. And I tried a couple of them. But neither of them exactly hit the spot – they were nice and fresh, and strangely tasted sort of like regular tomato sauce – but seemed to lack the ‘richness’ that I love in my Bolognese-style sauces. So I upped the garlic, added a splash of red wine and also some rich beef stock, for a meatier flavour with more ‘umami’. And it worked. 

The recipe below makes a good batch – enough to feed a family of four over two meals – so I usually make it for that night’s dinner, split it in half and then freeze the rest. 

Comfort Bites’ No Mato Sauce
Makes enough for 8 servings 
Ingredients
half tsp cooking fat (or oil if you prefer)
6 medium-sized carrots, trimmed, peeled and chopped
3 medium-sized cooked (and peeled) beetroot, chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
4 small celery sticks, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 splashes (about 150ml) red wine
half teaspoon dried thyme
500ml good beef stock, or broth
pinch of salt

Method
Heat the fat or oil in a medium-sized saucepan and add the chopped vegetables. Let everything cook for 4-5 minutes and then add the wine and thyme. Let the alcohol simmer off and then pour in the beef stock. Add a good pinch of salt, put the lid on the pan and let the sauce cook until the vegetables are all soft – about 20 minutes. 

Once the veggies are all tender, take off the lid and blend the sauce until smooth. Serve straight away. 

Tip: Try this in my AIP Courgette Bolognese with fresh basil – it’s gorgeous! 

Slow Cooker Crockpot Pulled Pork Cheeks in Guinness

Like pulled pork? Then try this insanely easy recipe for pulled pork cheeks – a cheap and nutritious cut of meat that’s often overlooked…

Generally, most people don’t often buy pork cheeks – which suits me, because it makes them cheaper for those of us that do buy them. They are wobbly and a bit gelatinous, but I don’t mind that, because they become tender and soft (and therefore gorgeously pull-able) after a few hours dumped in the slow cooker. 

 

Use these to make burritos, salads, noodle dishes, sandwiches – whatever you like. The Guinness imparts a dark, malty flavour to the pork – a richer version of my pulled pork in beer recipe. 

Slow Cooker (Crockpot) Pulled Pork Cheeks in Guinness
Ingredients
700g pig’s cheeks
A large splash of Guinness
a pinch of salt
1 scant tsp dried thyme

Method
Set the slow cooker (crockpot) to medium. Put the pork cheeks into the crockpot and add the Guinness and a pinch of salt. Sprinkle in the thyme and replace the lid. Allow to cook, by itself, for 7-8 hours, by which time the pork will be so soft and tender you’ll be able to pull it apart with a couple of forks. 

What do you serve with pulled pork? Do you ever cook pork cheeks?

My Book, and Autoimmune Paleo Pancakes

I’ve written a book! *cue wild applause*

The thing is, I’ve been creating a lot of autoimmune paleo recipes lately, firstly because eating this way has done wonders for me in settling my own autoimmune symptoms – and secondly because I really do believe that food can be soothing and comforting on any diet, even one as restrictive as the autoimmune protocol (often referred to as AIP).

Imagine comfort food on a diet where you can’t eat eggs, dairy, grains, tomatoes, red peppers, chillies and potatoes. I mean potato dauphinoise is out. And pizza is, on at least three counts. So I compiled all my autoimmune paleo recipes in an ebook so that hopefully it will provide inspiration to others who are already on the diet (I use the word ‘diet’ loosely as it’s actually more of a lifestyle, rather than a quick fix thing like getting into your bikini after the excesses of Christmas, for example).

 

And, I’ll be honest. It was also a personal challenge for me. When I began eating this way, I lived off home-made meat patties, boiled vegetables and salmon. It wasn’t, if I’m honest, much to get too excited about, on a daily basis. And so I set out to create recipes that made me look forward to each meal and dishes that I craved on the way home.

As I was creating the recipes in the book, I kept thinking that if I can create comforting food on the auto immune protocol then surely anyone can enjoy good comforting food on any eating plan, no matter how restricted.

All the recipes in the book (there are just over 30) are egg-free, nut-free, nightshade-free and seed-free paleo dishes. Have a look at the book in the Kindle store here:  Simple Autoimmune Paleo Comfort Food (affiliate link). US readers, please click here: Simple Autoimmune Paleo Comfort Food

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with one of the recipes – the cover recipe from the book: AIP Friendly Pancakes. Because, those on gluten-free, egg-free and dairy-free diets shouldn’t be left out on Shrove Tuesday…

Coconut and Banana AIP ‘Pancakes’

 

Pancake recipes – even paleo ones – always seem to include eggs, which aren’t allowed on the autoimmune protocol. But when I remembered that bananas often make a good egg substitute in baking, I found I could whip up these beauties for an indulgent breakfast. In moderation only, as these are quite sweet. 

 

Serves 2. 

 

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized banana, peeled
2 x 15ml tbsp finely shredded dried coconut
1 x 15ml tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp coconut oil
blueberries and maple syrup, to serve

 

Method:

Heat the coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan. 

 

Mash the banana in a bowl, until it’s soft and runny. Stir in the dried coconut and the coconut flour to form a thick dough, a bit like a soft biscuit dough. Bananas can vary, so add a little more coconut flour if you need it. 

 

Take a heaped tablespoonful of the dough and drop into the coconut oil. Spread the pancake out with the back of the spoon, dipping it in the oil in the pan, if it sticks. Cook for 1-2 minutes on the first side and then flip – it should be slightly golden – and continue to cook for about 2 minutes on the other side. 

When cooked through, serve the pancakes while they’re still hot, with a small drizzle of maple syrup and a handful of blueberries on the side. 

Savoury and Sweet Pancake Ideas for Shrove Tuesday

Which flavours go with pancakes? And how can you make savoury ones? Relax, we’ve got it covered… 

Ah, pancakes. 

Do you eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday? We do. And not just for pudding or breakfast but for dinner, too. The thing with pancakes is that they’re predominantly eggy, so if an ingredient works well with egg, you can bet it’ll be fine with pancakes. 

And don’t think just sweet – there are so many savoury ideas too – in fact that’s how I like them the best: with some snipped chives sprinkled into the batter or a handful of sharply-flavoured, grated cheese. 

Flavours that go well with savoury pancakes:

Indian spices: So. When you think about it, a pale, flat pancake isn’t hugely unlike a naan bread, or a wrap. And soft, eggy pancakes work brilliantly with robust and aromatic Indian spices. Instead of serving rice next time you make a curry, serve a stack of pancakes instead. Add black onion seeds (also known as Nigella seeds) to the batter, or a pinch of garam masala or turmeric. I love them with my Keema Karai, made with lamb mince and a generous scattering of fresh coriander leaves over the top. 

Ham, chorizo, pepperoni, bacon: These ingredients were made to go with eggs: and they’ll give some salty smokiness to a pancake filling. Likewise with tomatoes. In fact, come up with a tomato and chorizo stew layered between some soft, chewy pancakes and you’ll have hit the spot. 

Cheese: You don’t just have to have cheese as a filling, although slices of melted Gruyere and thickly-sliced smoked ham folded between pancakes would be divine. With cheesy pancakes, I like to grate a little cheese into a sturdier American-style pancake, fried in little discs and flipped over when the bubbles start to pop on the surface. Add in ingredients like paprika, spinach, chives, spring onions, black pepper, red pepper or chilli flakes, too, for flavour.  And try different cheeses: Grana Padano and Parmesan are good, but a soft goat’s cheese would work well too, whisked in to the batter before frying. 

Chinese: In Chinese restaurants they don’t serve crispy roasted duck along with pancakes for nothing. Make your own and combine it with some crunchy vegetables – sliced cucumber, carrot, spring onion – and roasted, shredded meats or your choice. 

Sweet flavours that go well with pancakes:

 

Fruit: Anything goes, really. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mango, pineapple – and lemons, obviously – just anything. One of my favourite pancakes when I was little was a big, eggy pancake spread with raspberry jam and then sprinkled with some sugar. OK, so the sugar content was a bit OTT but that’s what I liked. Bubble a handful of blueberries or raspberries in a pan with a spoonful of maple syrup until it’s thick and syrupy and drizzle that over your pancakes, too. Or slice a banana and add a drizzle of honey or a spoonful of almond butter. 

Vanilla: Add a teaspoonful of vanilla paste to the batter itself – or the filling. If adding to the batter, you’ll end up with beautifully fragrant and speckled pancakes that taste a bit like doughnuts. Especially with raspberries alongside. 

Chocolate: Chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, bashed chocolate, melted chocolate. The pancake can take just about any chocolate in any of its forms. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate, too. Nutella, even. Check out my chocolate chip pancakes which I regularly get bullied into making on Sunday mornings for the kids.  

Caramel: In Argentina, we only ate one thing spread on our pancakes – and that was dulce de leche. Incredible stuff. 

Have I missed any? What do you like to eat with your pancakes?