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Everyone has their favourite way of enjoying pancakes, personally I love them nice and simple with a sprinkle of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, sweet and fresh! Generally the more simple ideas seem to work when it comes to serving up really tasty pancakes and to be honest nothing gets more simple than a spread of nutella and scattering of chopped toasted hazelnuts. To make life easy zap the nutella in the microwave for about 30 seconds and it will be much easier to spread or drizzle! I posted this basic pancake recipe I use all the time last year but in case you're looking for one today here it is again. If you're not a chocolate fan, why not try these caramel apple pancakes!

Basic Pancake Recipe
You can easily make this batter the night before to save time in the morning. Have a little melted butter in a bowl and some kitchen paper so you can wipe the pan before adding a ladle of the batter.

Makes 12-14 pancakes
110g of plain flour.
A pinch of salt.
2 large eggs.
200ml of milk.
75ml of water.
2 tablespoons of melted butter.

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and with a spoon make a well in the center. Break the eggs into the well and using a whisk slowly incorporate them with the flour. Don't worry too much about lumps as they should disappear when you add the rest of the liquid. Gradually add the milk and water until you have a light batter. Heat a little butter in your frying pan over a hot heat, and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the batter, stir through to combine. Add a ladle full of the batter to the hot pan and move from side to side until it evenly covers the surface of the pan. Reduce the heat and cook for about a minute each side or until the batter begins to take a nice golden colour. Feel free to try your hand at flipping half way through!
Serve straight away with your filling of choice, or try the classic filling of lemon juice and sugar. You can cook all the batter off and save the pancakes for later. Simply layer the crepes on top each other, cover with some cling film and store in the fridge. They should heat up well in a microwave.

Happy Pancake Tuesday! I hope you have your batter ready! If not find the recipe in the post below. This caramel apple sauce is perfect for pancakes and ideal to jazz up pancake Tuesday. I'm in Stockholm and away from the kitchen this week so have a few pancakes on me.

Caramel Apple Sauce
I originally made this to go with pancakes but it works so well as part of other desserts like waffles, ice cream, and even my American style oaty pancakes!

75g of butter.
5 tablespoons of golden syrup.
3 golden delicious apples, peeled and cored.
1 tablespoon of caster sugar.
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder.

In a small sauce pan bring the butter and golden syrup to the boil. Allow to simmer and bubble for approximately 4-5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
Chop the apples into chunky slices. Melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the apples slices. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and caster sugar, toss to combine. Fry the apples, tossing every now and then until you get a nice golden colour on all sides and they have become soft (About 3-4 minutes either side). When the apples are ready, add them to the butter and golden syrup sauce and stir gently to combine.
Serve the sauce with homemade pancakes and some sneaky vanilla ice cream!

Since it's pancake Tuesday tomorrow, I thought I'd post a basic pancake recipe so you can prepare the batter ahead of time- Tomorrow I have a super tasty caramel apple sauce to post which goes perfect with pancakes, so stay tuned for that!

This recipe is a little nostalgic for me, it comes from a Delia Smith cookbook, "Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course", which is one of the oldest cook book's we have in our house. The first page is signed by my auntie Ann who had bought it for my mom as a belated Christmas present and is dated January the 22nd 1983. The book is full of old cards, notes, and handwritten recipes which have been collected over the years. Pancakes were one of the first things I learned to cook and when I actually went to check up the proper quantities, the pages were partially stuck together and full of splatters- which is for me, the sign of a truly great recipe!

Basic Pancake Recipe
You can easily make this batter the night before to save time in the morning. Have a little melted butter in a bowl and some kitchen paper so you can wipe the pan before adding a ladle of the batter.

Makes 12-14 recipes.
110g of plain flour.
A pinch of salt.
2 large eggs.
200ml of milk.
75ml of water.
2 tablespoons of melted butter.

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and with a spoon make a well in the center. Break the eggs into the well and using a whisk slowly incorporate them with the flour. Don't worry too much about lumps as they should disappear when you add the rest of the liquid. Gradually add the milk and water until you have a light batter. Heat a little butter in your frying pan over a hot heat, and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter to the batter, stir through to combine. Add a ladle full of the batter to the hot pan and move from side to side until it evenly covers the surface of the pan. Reduce the heat and cook for about a minute each side or until the batter begins to take a nice golden colour. Feel free to try your hand at flipping half way through!
Serve straight away with your filling of choice, or try the classic filling of lemon juice and sugar. You can cook all the batter off and save the pancakes for later. Simply layer the crepes on top each other, cover with some cling film and store in the fridge. They should heat up well in a microwave.

We have a visitor staying with us at the moment, and he eats a lot, no wait, A HELL OF A LOT! After a big dinner of chicken and rice, the other night, he ate two big bowls of Special K, a Banana, and a bag of popcorn. I wouldn't mind, and apologies for being crude, but what worries me is that the amount of toilet paper were going through does not reflect the amount of food being eaten. As you can imagine I am a little worried about his well being, so I decided that healthy longlasting breakfast, full of fibre would do the trick and perhaps keep him running a little more regular.

I do hope, I haven't put you off the recipe completely, because it's a darn good one, a healthy twist on classic American pancakes. Don't get put off by the use of oat flour, just whizz up some oats in a blender it takes seconds and is much healthier than the refined white stuff. I got the recipe from Stella's Kitchen Blog which gives lots of different options- we used goats milk out of personal choice- so adapt it whatever you want just make sure the balance between your wet and dry ingredients stay the same.

Oatmeal Pancakes

1 cup fat free milk (or water, or goats milk)
3/4 cup oatmeal (uncooked, quick or regular oats)

3/4 cup oatmeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 large whites

1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground

For baking recipe's like this I like to be able to attack it systematically, I'm not sure why. So First of all, heat your milk in a saucepan until warm and set aside. Blend your oatmeal flour and mix with the rest of the oatmeal, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In a seperate bowl whisk your egg whites until they reach a stiff consistancy.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients in one bowl and mix until blended. Then add the egg whites and fold into the mixture. To cook simply add a full ladel of the mix to a warm pan and it takes just less than a minute each side or until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup, fresh fruit, or whatever takes your fancy!

Yes we arrived safe and sound on Saturday morning and to settle in to Parisian life we spent a lovely evening with some old friends in their home just outside the city. I am here as you probably have read in my earlier post to cook for 500 people on Wednesday night at an event called Foodstock organised by Parisian magazine, Le Fooding. Knowing that the few days before the big night would be a little crazy, I thought it would be important to have the weekend to get reacquainted with the city I loved so much during my teens. One of the biggest things for me, was to come back with a really good camera and photograph the amazing scenery.

When I spent some time here during my teens I used to sketch things and I guess that was how I interpreted the beauty, but now I am back armed with my trusty Canon 5 MK II and there is no stopping me! Of course, the other thing to note since I was last here, is my increased interest in food, while I would have been preoccupied with the sights and sounds of this stunning city, I may have overlooked the vast and varied amount of endless foodie haunts to be discovered. As if to make up for the shortsighted choices of my teens, we spent the whole of Sunday trawling through as many of the foodie recommendations as possible, which had been made to me by people on twitter, our Parisian friends and of course the lovely Noreen from Bord Bia.

First stop on the list was the amazing Raspail Organic Market which is based on Boulevard Raspail quite close to St. Germain de Pres. After a somewhat failed attempt at searching for foodie stops the day before, it was an absolute pleasure to walk up the steps from the metro right into the market itself, which at 10am on a Sunday, was already a hive of activity. It is quite clear that while the rest of world is still shivering with the cold, spring has most certainly sprung in Paris, with bunches of daffodils being sold for €1 each, the trees above the market showing signs of buds already, and of course the fantastic array of new season produce on offer at the stands. The market which operates normally on a Tuesday and Friday morning, changes things up on a Sunday and provides only organically grown produce. Apparently it is where the jet set shop, on Le weekend, and Sofie claims to have spotted Christian Audigier but I'm not so sure!

There was truly a wonderful selection of fresh vegetables and mouthwatering fruit and nothing gets me more excited than seeing such a wide array on offer. My only problem is I want to cook it all, but have nowhere to cook, so I have promised myself the next time I come to the city, we will rent a place with a beautiful kitchen to make some fantastic dishes fresh from the market.

As if there wasn't enough excitement from the fruit and vegetable stalls, there was amazing cheese on offer from countless stalls, with one of the stands offering samples of a delicious soft cheese on top of some crusty bread, and a really gutsy butcher counter with cuts of meat which would scare off even the toughest Irish supermarket shopper!

We came to the end of the market with our mouths watering and just in time for Le petit dejuener! In a small cafe nearby, I ordered the simple French dish of crepes avec fromage et jambon (savoury pancakes with cheese and ham) which certainly hit the spot as we watched people walk past with bags full of ingredients ready to cook up a big Sunday lunch!

We have guests staying with us in our new place this week and one of my favourite things that happens when people stay over is that breakfast time becomes a bit more of an occasion. While most mornings are spent rushing around desperately trying to shove a piece of toast into your gob while you struggle to put on your shoes, the beauty of guests means there is a bit more pressure to entertain in the morning. I don't mean firing up the hob and pulling out a full Irish brekkie, as tempting as that is, I'm talking about being a little more creative. This week we had blueberry pancakes (batter easily thrown together the night before and popped in the fridge), fruit salad and these delicious and highly addictive Caramel Apple Granola Pots. At this time of year, with its dark, miserable mornings there is even more reason to go all out and make a big deal of your first meal of the day. I find the key to making sure you eat well in the morning is a little bit of preparation just before you go to bed; decide what you want to eat and lay out the ingredients you need, so you can switch to autopilot in the AM! These little granola pots will make the perfect little weekend breakfast so get cooking!

Caramel Apple Granola Pots
I admit that this is quite a sweet breakfast but it is quite filling with the addition of granola. You can buy premade granola or else toast some rolled oats with some honey, cinnamon, and raisins in the oven until golden. It will store quite nicely in an airtight jar for use throughout the week so I often make a double batch.

Serves 4
For the caramel apples:
75g of butter
5 tablespoons of golden syrup
3 golden delicious apples, peeled and cored
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder

To serve:
Handful of Granola per person
2 tablespoons of Vanilla yoghurt per person

In a small sauce pan bring the butter and golden syrup to the boil. Allow to simmer and bubble for approximately 4-5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
Chop the apples into chunky slices. Melt a knob of butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the apples slices. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and caster sugar, toss to combine. Fry the apples, tossing every now and then until you get a nice golden colour on all sides and they have become soft (About 3-4 minutes either side). When the apples are ready, add them to the butter and golden syrup sauce and stir gently to combine.
Layer the caramel apples with granola and yoghurt in small glasses and serve straight away.

Beautiful food blog, beautiful photography!
http://bonvivant.wordpress.com/

Competition via FoodFight.ie to win some Julie and Julia Cookbooks
http://foodfight.ie/julie-and-julia-competition-win-some-books/#more-6851

Great aussie food blog, stunning food shots, and some great graphics!
http://www.atablefortwo.com.au/

Some really lovely food pictures on this blog.
http://immaculate-perceptions.blogspot.com/

Aoife Mc's pretty funny account of a recent meal at ukiyo restaurant in Dublin.
http://icanhascook.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/taboo-foods-with-a-side-order-of-gonzo-anyone/

I cannot wait to try the lemon and poppyseed pancakes from this tasty blog!
http://www.pickycook.com/

RTÉ's nationwide program about food, food styling, food production and a little piece on the Kitchen In the Castle in Howth.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0914/nationwide.html

I'm going to be doing a bit of baking this weekend, so here's my baking playlist up on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A72E677CE02752B0

What are you cooking this weekend? Have a great one! :)