SAVOURY PANCAKE STACK

Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday, otherwise referred to as Pancake Day, the day in February or March preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes – yum, yum!  Do pancakes mean breakfast or dessert to you?  Do you ever have them for dinner?  My mother used to make us a gorgeous, lasagne like, savoury pancake stack when growing up in the 80’s.

This recipe makes a great pasta alternative to lasagne and you get to eat any surplus pancakes for dessert –  my favourite pancake topping being a sprinkling of caster sugar and a squeeze of lemon !

These are the last lemons from my tree – enormous aren’t they!

Today being the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year I’m featuring mandarins in my pictures too.  I bought these rather large mandarins from the supermarket the other day – they are even bigger than my lemons!  Mandarin oranges and tangerines are a traditional symbol of abundance and good fortune and are often displayed as decoration or presented as gifts during Chinese New Year celebrations.

Ragu Sauce

To make these savoury pancakes for dinner you need to first start by making the Ragu Sauce. Click here to see link here to my ragu recipe.

I recommend making the ragu sauce a day ahead if you have the time, or at least a few hours ahead of time in order to let it cool down and set a little before assembling, otherwise you may end up with a sloppy and slippery pancake stack. You can even make your cheese sauce and pancakes a day ahead (keep them separated with baking paper until ready to assemble).  Then all you need to do on the day is to assemble your three dishes and pop in the oven for 30-35m at 180C.

Cheese Sauce

Once the Ragu is on the hob simmering prepare your cheese sauce followed by the the pancake mix.

The cheese sauce can be made ahead of time too.  Just reheat slightly on the day if you need to loosen it up a little.

Pancakes

For the pancakes you’ll need a 6″ to  8″ frying pan for the pancakes.  This recipe quantities will yield 12-14 small pancakes.  I used a 6″ pan and this mix yielded 13 pancakes.

I used 9 for the stack and had 4 left which I filled with some chopped ham mixed with the remaining cheese sauce.

“Kung Hey Fat Choi!”

How do you like your pancakes?

Thick, fluffy, American style, or  large, thin European style?  Savoury or sweet?

Let me know, drop me a line either in the comments below or by email.

2 from 3 votes

Print

Savoury Pancake Stack

Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

1 hr 30 mins

 

Ultimate comfort food and probably a classic 80's dish in need of resurrection.

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Western

Servings: 4 -6

Author: Gillian Thompson

Ingredients

For the Ragu Sauce

• Click here for link to Ragu Sauce recipe

For the Cheese Sauce:

• 25 g /1oz butter
• 25 g /1oz plain flour
• 600 ml /1 pint milk slightly warmed
• 80 g /3oz cheese grated (e.g. mature cheddar, Gouda or gruyère)
• pinch of salt
• pinch of mustard powder or white pepper as an alternative

For the Pancakes:

• You'll need a 6" or 8" frying pan for the pancakes. Makes 12-14 small pancakes
• 110 g /4oz plain flour sifted
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 200 ml /7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
• 50 g /2oz butter

Instructions

For the Ragu Sauce:

1. See link here

For the Cheese Sauce

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.
2. Stir in the flour and mustard powder, cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the warmed milk to get a smooth sauce. Return to the heat and, stirring all the time, bring to the boil.
4. Simmer gently for 8-10 minutes and season with salt and white pepper if not using the mustard powder.
5. Remove from the heat and stir in cheese and allow to melt.

For the Pancakes

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing.
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Whisk the eggs with a whisk or a fork.
3. Gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, whisking all the time - any lumps will eventually disappear as you whisk. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula to clean off any stray bits of flour from around the edges into the centre and whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.
4. Melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan or microwave and spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk to incorporate.
5. Keep the remaining liquid butter to to use to lubricate the pan. Use kitchen towel to smear it round before you make each pancake.
6. Get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and ladle about half to a three quarter full ladle full of batter into the hot buttered pan - depending on size of pan you are using add more or less.
7. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook. Lift the edge with a palette knife to check it's golden tinged, then flip the pancake over with the palette knife - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate lined with baking paper.
8. Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper.

To Assemble:

1. Start with a pancake layer as the base and top with a few tablespoons of ragu sauce.
2. Add another pancake on top of the ragu sauce and continue as such until you've used up all the pancake and ragu sauce.
3. Finish the savoury pancake stack with a pancake and cover with cheese sauce.
4. Grate some parmesan or gruyere and a few shavings of nutmeg if desired.
5. Transfer your ragu pancake to the oven and bake for 30 mins at 180C, or until hot all the way through and golden brown on top.

Recipe Notes

Serve with side salad or greens. Serve any leftover pancakes with caster sugar and lemon juice or save for another meal by filling with any remaining cheese sauce and some chopped ham.

For a vegetarian alternative replace the ragu sauce with cooked vegetables of your choice and a drizzle each layer with some of the cheese sauce.