Green Pancakes with Lemon Basil Butter and a Poached Egg

These Dr Seuss inspired verdant pancakes are adapted from a recipe of my ultimate food hero Yotam Ottolenghi. They make a healthy alternative to American Pancakes and can be whipped up quickly for a yummy brunch.

Ok - enough with the food porn and onto the important stuff:

Ingredients

For the pancakes:

110g self-raising flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1 egg & 1 egg white
50g melted unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
150ml milk
8 spring onions, finely chopped
1 chilli or 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
Handful of mint, basil and coriander
250g baby spinach
Olive oil for frying

For the Herbed Butter:

50g unsalted butter
Squeeze of lemon & lemon zest (lime can be used)
Small bunch of finely chopped basil & mint
1/4 clove of crushed garlic
Salt and Pepper

Serves 3-4

First, beat the butter until soft and add a squeeze of lemon and its zest. Stir in the finely chopped basil and crushed garlic and season to taste. Set aside.

Fill a wide heavy bottomed pan with water, add salt and a couple of capfuls of vinegar, which will help the egg to set whilst poaching. Bring to the boil.

For the pancakes, wilt the spinach in a pan with a spoonful of water. Once cool, put into a sieve and squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop the spinach finely.

For the batter, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, 1 egg, melted butter, cumin, milk. Beat until smooth.

Stir in the spring onion, chilli, spinach, finely chopped herbs. Whisk the egg white into soft peaks and fold into the batter.

At this point this little fella gave me the fright of my life:

Pour a little olive oil into a wide frying pan and place on a medium/high heat.

For each pancake place 1-2 desert spoons of batter into the pan, smooth out and cook for around 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

For the poached eggs, turn the heat down under the pan of water until it is still. Crack an egg into a cup and carefully drop into the water. It should take around 2 minutes to cook. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place onto some kitchen roll.

Serve the pancakes topped with a smear of herby butter and an egg.

 YUMMM!!!