Spinach, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Pancakes
Candice Brown's savoury pancakes are packed with mushrooms, spinach and two different types of cheese.
From the book
Happy Cooking: Easy uplifting meals and comforting treats
A cookbook to lift the spirits and soothe the soul
Packed with nourishing and restorative recipes
From nostalgic comfort dishes to indulgent bakes
Introduction
I eat pancakes a lot and always choose savoury over sweet. They are so versatile and can be filled with pretty much anything you have in your fridge, but cheese, oozing and stretching as you take a bite always wins for me. Can’t be arsed to make pancakes? Then whack this on toast for an even quicker pick-me-up. Perfect fast and filling food.
Ingredients
| For the pancake batter: | |
|---|---|
| 60g | plain flour |
| 60g | buckwheat flour |
| 2 | eggs |
| 300ml | whole milk |
| Small bunch of | fresh chives, finely chopped |
| 30g | unsalted butter, melted |
| salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
| For the filling: | |
| Glug of | olive oil |
| Knob of | butter |
| 250g | mixed mushrooms, sliced (chestnut, small portobello and button work well) |
| ½ | onion finely chopped |
| 1 | garlic clove, finely chopped |
| 200g | baby spinach |
| 150g | Gorgonzola cheese |
| 30g | pine nuts |
| 25g | Parmesan cheese, grated |
Method
Preheat the grill to medium-high.
To make the batter for the pancakes, add both flours to a large bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Mix together using a whisk. Add the milk and chives and mix in, whisking energetically to remove any lumps. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and leave to sit for about 15 minutes while you get on with the filling.
Set a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the olive oil and butter. Drop in the mushrooms and onion, stir and cook for 4-5 minutes until they start to colour.
Stir in the garlic and keep frying for 2-3 minutes until everything is slightly golden and cooked. Add the spinach and move about until wilted, then remove from the heat. Drop in the Gorgonzola and stir until melted together. Season to taste. Set aside.
Wash out the frying pan, dry and set over a medium heat. Dip a piece of kitchen paper into the remaining melted butter and wipe around the pan. Add a ladleful of the batter and swirl to cover the base of the pan. Fry for about 2 minutes until bubbles start to form and the edges of the pancake lift. Flip over and cook the other side until golden. Slide the cooked pancake on to a baking tray and fry the next pancake. While you are doing this, add a good helping of the mushroom mix on to one half of the cooked pancake. Fold that in half, then into quarters. Repeat with the next cooked pancake and then the rest of the batter and mushroom mix, placing the filled pancakes on to the tray so that they are slightly overlapping each other.
Sprinkle over the pine nuts and Parmesan, then place under the grill until the Parmesan is melted and bubbling, the pancakes are crispy, and the pine nuts are golden. Serve hot and gooey.
