Pancake Day!

Pancakes for breakfast, anyone?

Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday, Anglo-Saxon Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins). A bell would be rung to call people to confession. This came to be called the “Pancake Bell” and is still rung today.

Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9. In 2020 Shrove Tuesday will fall on February 18th.

Shrove Tuesday was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients. So with that in mind, here’s Kerry’s simple pancake recipe…….

Ingredients:

100g plain flower

2 large eggs

300ml milk

1tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil, plus a little extra for frying

Caster sugar to serve (optional)

Method:

Put 100g of plain flower, 2 eggs, 300ml milk, 1 tbsp of oil and a pinch of salt in to a bowl or large jug then whisk to a smooth batter.

Set aside to rest for 30 minutes if you have time or start cooking straight away. Set a medium sized frying pan over a medium heat and carefully wipe it with some oiled kitchen paper. When hot, cook your pancakes for 1 minute on each side until golden, keeping them warm in a low oven as you go. Serve with lemon wedges and castor sugar or your favourite filling.

Once cold you can layer the pancakes between baking parchment then wrap in cling film and freeze for up to two months. Go on, enjoy. Its only once a year!