Pancake Day!

I love pancake day: Pancakes for every meal should be the rule of the day.

Handily, I found a pancake recipe that used egg whites, so I could use up the remaining whites from my icecream making at the weekend. I feel a bit bad actually, because I was terribly sniffy about Sophie Dahl's cookery/life style programme when it was on the BBC, but it was an adaptation of her Buckwheat blini recipe that I ended up using this morning. It was pretty good too. I still don't think she was particularly skilled or inventive, but the girl can come up with a decent breakfast pancake.

So, this morning's menu was Buckwheat blinis (basically a fluffy American-style Buckwheat pancake) with smoked salmon and scrambled egg. A very decadent start to the day.

Buckwheat Blinis (for 2-3 people)

85g buckwheat flour
1 tspn baking powder
150ml milk
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
salt and pepper
Chopped chives
2 egg whites - beaten until they hold soft peaks

Mix together the flour, baking powder, milk, mustard powder, chives. Beat well and season with salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites, then gently fold them into the flour batter using a metal spoon.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over a moderate heat, add a little vegetable oil to the pan. Ladle in a scoop of pancake batter and allow to cook for a couple of minutes until bubbles appear on the upper side and the underneath is a toasted brown colour. Flip the pancake and cook for a couple of minutes on the other side. Keep warm while you cook the rest of the batter.

Sophie Dahl also added cheese to her pancake batter, but I thought that was a bit heavy and greasy for breakfast. It might be good at lunchtime. If you omitted the mustard powder you could add fruit to these and serve them just like American pancakes.