Polish-style pancakes with sweet cheese

My parents have decided to sell the house in Eastbourne. We knew it was coming, as they've been talking about it for a long time. When our Dreszcz was alive (that's our beautiful boxer dog), they said they were keeping it for his sake and they'd sell as soon as he was gone. But he's been gone for a long time now, at least three years... It makes sense to sell, as this house is way too big for two people, with 5 bedrooms, a massive, uphill garden that backs on to the South Downs, and a living room the size of my whole flat in London in the shape of an upside-down ship. As you might have guessed from my description, it's also a completely unique and perhaps slightly weird house, which suits our unique and slightly weird family. It's difficult to say goodbye to the feeling of space and freedom you get here. The seaviews aren't spectacular but they are there, and as we're on a hill you see so much of the sky here you sometimes feel like you're flying. Well, I do anyway. For me, this has been a place of healing. I came here after that traumatising breakup two years ago, and it helped me to want something better for myself, a lighter and healthier kind of life. What I didn't know then was that it wasn't just the breakup I was healing from, it was the relationship itself

Of course, it's not just the bricks and mortar. When I come here, my mum cooks all my favourite food and we drink wine together, eat and chat. This is punctuated by walks on the Downs, films, and time on the massage chair and the jacuzzi bath. This weekend I brought my cat, Coco, here. After an epic four-hour journey (that should have taken half that time) I expected her to be thoroughly pissed off with me. But she fell in love with the place immediately. Today, my mum and I (mainly my mum) made Polish-style sweet cheese pancakes, just like I used to eat when I was little. You take some fresh cheese, the one we use is Polish "twarozek", and mixed it with some yoghurt, but I believe that something like ricotta would also work well -you would not need to mix ricotta with anything as it already has the right consistency. Add a teaspoon of cinnamon, an egg yolk, lots of raisins, and sugar to taste. Once you've made the pancakes (add extra salt to the pancake mix for that Polish sweet-salty flavour), put some of the filling on one side of the circle, in a fat line, and fold the side it's closest to. Next fold in the two sides and roll, like a tortilla. For ultimate crispy indulgence, fry the pancakes again, as a whole, before eating

Toasted corn tortillas with British asparagus, tabasco butter and goat's cheese

It's British asparagus season so it annoys me to see asparagus flown in from Peru still on the shelf at Tesco's. Why why why. Anyway, if you want to read my opinions on these matters, then read this (there's a few extra exclamation marks than I would like to see, but apart from that it's mine), otherwise let's talk about lunch instead. I made corn tortillas, but in my own way. I did a bit of internet research, but there was talk of griddle pans and special types of cornmeal, so I just ignored it all and went with my instincts and my intuition. This is what this year is about for me after all - that was one of my personal resolutions and one which recently I've had to remind myself of. It's only too easy to get lost in a world of other peoples' expectations, but I've done too much soul searching to go down that route now. And besides, I had a special type of toasted cornmeal from Lanzarote that I wanted to use - that's why the tortillas are brown in case you're wondering, I hadn't burnt them. After some experimenting, what I came up with was a cross between pancakes and socca, but since they are made from cornmeal, I've called them tortillas

I tried to make them without eggs first, but this made them too crumbly and fragile, so an egg is definitely needed. Apart from that I used 1 cup flour to 1 cup water, and a pinch of salt. As with the socca I didn't turn them over, I simply fried on a low heat, in the tabasco butter (that's butter mashed with tabasco), until the edges began to raise slightly, then layered some blanched asparagus and goat's cheese on top. I added more tabasco butter once it was plated up, because you can't have too much of that stuff

 And now you've probably guessed why I bought the toasted cornmeal. Isn't that just the best packaging? They had different colours too, for  different levels of toastiness, but the others were big, heavy bags and I didn't really want to overload myself with many bags of flour in my hand luggage

This one was very, very toasty and it tasted pretty amazing. It's kind of obscure and I don't expect I'll be able to find it in the UK, so in the future I will try these with another type of cornmeal and see how it goes... a bit of experimentation is always a good thing I reckon

Slightly avant-garde pancakes - chocolate and banana, dairy-free

You may be wondering what exactly is so avant-garde about chocolate and banana pancakes. Well, it depends on how you use the banana. I didn't mean to make that sound perverted in any way, so I hope that's not how you're reading it. Today, I messed with the very make-up of the pancake, and this, I would argue, is the avant-garde bit. If you want to imagine me wearing the banana skin as a hat while cooking, then that's OK too

When we think of pancakes flour, eggs and milk are the first things that come to mind. But what would happen if you replaced the eggs with something else that's sticky? Like a banana... Well, nothing bad actually. The pancake is a little heavier, a different consistency, but coupled with this pure coco grated on top, it's a glorious combination

The coco is 100% pure, therefore I sweetened the pancake mixture with a bit of honey. I essentially made a soya milk banana milkshake, then whisked it into the flour. I fried the batter with olive oil rather than butter, simply because I ran out of butter, but I guess this makes these pancakes super-healthy as well as delicious

Ingredients

Cup of plain flour - 200g aprox

Cup of soya milk

1 banana

1 Tblsp honey
Pinch of salt

Pure coco for grating

Light olive oil for frying (or butter)

Chickpea pancakes - "la socca" from Provence

I've had one of those incredibly busy and satisfying Saturdays. I went to the doctor, did the laundry, worked on a grant application, went to an exhibition with some friends, caught up with them over a margarita, did some research at the British Library, bought a present for a mate and a lipstick pour moi (I still haven't mastered the art of buying a present for someone without buying one for myself at the same time), spent forever in Sainsbury's trying to decide what to cook this weekend (I must have looked like I was trying to pull, because a man actually approached me and started telling me about his cat - I had cat food in my basket), cleaned my kitchen and now I'm blogging. I also decided to visit Provence to eat some of their famous street food. "Flavours of Provence" (my newest library acquisition) tells me that I am now "tasting some of Provence's ancient history", and although I have never been there, I'm feeling it

It's spirit, if you like. Or just "la socca", if you don't

These chickpea pancakes are ridiculously easy to make. For 4 pancakes, you combine about 100g chickpea (gram or besan) flour, half a teaspoon of salt, some virgin olive oil, and some more sea salt and black pepper to serve. Ferguson ("Flavours of Provence") suggest a teaspoon of salt, but this was a touch too much for my palette, so I'd say start with a half, you can always make it more salty at the end. You combine the salt and flour in a bowl then start adding cold water, while whisking constantly. You need about a cup of water at a guess. The thing is, I'm like my grandma Ziuta in that I never measure ingredients and do everything by eye. What we are trying to achieve here is the consistency of a thin cream (single cream, for example). Allow to stand for 2 minutes, and check the consistency. Add more water and whisk again if you feel it's too thick. Heat some olive oil in a pan then add about 5 tablespoons of batter into the pan, making sure it spreads evenly. I did this on a medium heat. When the edges become crispy, it's ready. You never turn these pancakes over - they are supposed to be a tiny bit damp in the middle. Slide it off the frying pan, and serve with salt and black pepper. Or sugar if you prefer. These measurements are enough for two. Don't be greedy like yours truly and eat 3 soccas in one sitting. That's not the Provence way

Pancakes with roasted cinamon apples

Ironically, ever since pancake day I have acquired an unquenchable desire for pancakes, and am eating them loads. I use this recipe, which Mariana would argue is a crepe recipe not a pancake one, but I honestly can't work out what the actual difference is. Anyway, I have a new filling idea for you, inspired by my friend-at-work's mum - roasted apples with honey, cinamon and mascapone

I made these for the lovely Magda when she was here last weekend. Just last Sunday we were eating these while watching The Mighty Boosh, drinking green tea, recovering from a well earned party. Happy days...

Delicious crepes with fruit and mascarpone for a lazy Bank Holiday

I really, really love it when, just when you least expect it, life gives you a little present. Like today, for no apparent reason, I had the nicest Bank Holiday Monday. I managed to do all the things that make me happy (well, most of them), like snoozing, cooking, reading, writing, catching up with friends, playing with cats, and walking around Hackney. It wasn't exactly extraordinary, but it was kind of perfect. Apart from my fractured rib, that is, which makes it a bit difficult to breathe - I did something bad to it by coughing so much over the past couple of months, and then couch raving the night away on New Year's Eve pissed it off beyond measure. Anyway, in the afternoon, I went over to the lovely Mariana's for a gossip and crepes. We'd usually have cookies with white tea, but as I have given up sugar, we needed to find a suitable replacement  - something tasty, sweet and comforting. We did a damn good job, even if I say so myself, with an amazing feast of crepes and fruit with mascapone, drizzled in honey. The amounts down there will make about six smallish ones, perfect for two

Crepes

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

Aprox 200ml milk

Aprox 70g plain flour

50g butter

Pinch of sea salt

Fruit of your choice

Mascarpone cheese

Honey

We melted half the butter for the pancake mix, then used half of it for frying, pouring the old, burnt stuff out each time and adding a little bit more fresh stuff. Beat the eggs first, add the milk, keep beating, then add the flour, with a pinch of salt and the melted butter. Make sure you blend the ingredients really well, so there are no lumps. Normal people would probably use a blender for this, however, we used chopsticks, with surprisingly smooth results. Before spreading the mascarpone, we mixed it for a while to improve the texture, then spread it as evenly as we good over the hot crepes, followed by sliced of fruit and then drizzled honey over everything, before rolling up in various different ways, and munching. I can't even begin to explain how good it tasted, an ideal recipe for a catch up with friends or, as Mariana put it "breakfast for a lover". How romantic! I'm taking notes...