Polenta Baby Dutch Pancake with Beef Ragout

Polenta Baby Dutch Pancake with Beef Ragout

Ragout:
30ml vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, finely diced
500g cubed beef
50ml tomato paste
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomato
30ml Worcestershire sauce
30ml thyme leaves
500ml beef stock

Polenta Baby Dutch Pancake:
45ml butter
3 eggs
150ml cake flour
30ml polenta
a pinch of salt

For the ragout:
Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and carrot. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for one minute.
Add the beef and cook until browned.
Add the tomato paste, chopped tomato, Worcestershire sauce and thyme and cook for another 2 minutes.
Pour in the stock and bring the beef to a low simmer.
Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and you have beautifully tender beef covered in a thick sauce. 

For the Baby Dutch:
Preheat your oven to 220℃.
Add the butter to a cast iron frying pan of about 24cm diameter and place the pan in the oven to heat up.
Add all the ingredients to a food processor or a suitable container for a stick blender and blend until the batter is completely smooth.
Open the oven door, swirl the hot butter around and up the sides of the pan and immediately pour the batter into the pan.
Close the door and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Do not open the door before 20 minutes, the pancake won’t rise!!
Remove the pan from the oven and transfer it to a serving plate.

Spoon the ragout into the pancake and add some tomato and fresh spinach leaves on top.
Serve with a glass of crisp white wine.


Baby Dutch Pancake with Citrus Curd

Baby Dutch Pancake with Citrus Curd

45ml butter, cubed
3 eggs
180ml flour
180ml milk, warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds
15ml sugar
10ml vanilla
a pinch of salt
125ml lemon curd
125g cream cheese, room temperature
2 blood oranges, peeled and cut into segments
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Add the cubed butter to a 23cm ovenproof frying pan and place it in the oven to heat up.
Add the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt to a blender and blitz until smooth.
Remove the hot pan from the oven and swirl the butter around so that it covers the bottom and sides of the pan.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove the pan and stand on a cooling rack.
Add the lemon curd and cream cheese to a small bowl and mix.
Spoon the mixture onto the warm pancake and spread it out.
Scatter the orange segments over the curd and sift with icing sugar to serve.

Steri Stumpie Pancake

Steri Stumpie Pancake

Steri Stumpie is a popular South African flavoured milk drink that comes in 350ml bottles. The South African chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen caused a stir when he cooked a pancake from this drink. Now is your chance to give it a try…

1 x 350ml Steri Stumpie of your choice, for one pancake

Pour the flavoured milk in to a frying pan set over a medium heat.
Bring to a simmer and wait……
Regulate the heat so that the milk cooks/evaporates but does not burn.
As long as the “pancake” sits/sticks to the pan, it is not cooked.
Remove from the heat once done and puff/fold into an interesting abstract shape.
Enjoy with another Steri Stumpie to wash it down????

Pancake Puffs

Pancake Puffs

These mini cupcakes are little bites of pure happiness and comfort! The recipe yields 24 mouthfuls.

45ml + 125ml sugar
250ml flour
5ml baking powder
2,5ml bicarbonate of soda
1,2ml salt
190ml cultured buttermilk
5ml vanilla
30g + 75g butter, melted
1 egg
5ml cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 180℃, NO FAN!
Grease a 24-hole mini muffin tin and put aside.
Add the 45ml sugar, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk together.
Add the buttermilk, vanilla, 30g melted butter and egg to another bowl and whisk together.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in a thin stream while whisking to combine.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 12 minutes.
Take the puffs from the oven and leave to stand for about 5 minutes before removing them from the tin.
Pour the 75g melted butter into a small bowl and have a pastry brush ready.
Mix the 125ml sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and mix through.
Brush each puff with the butter and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar.
Serve warm.