February always strikes me as a month with an identity crisis ... some years it can be spring-like and I'll be able to start collecting wild garlic and other herbs from the countryside in sunlight and other years it's still frost and snow and miserable.

Writing this in early January its too soon to tell but as an immigrant to this country, it's one of the things that always fill me with delight, being able to watch the seasons unfold.

Shrove Tuesday is one of the last days to eat fatty food before the fasting of Lent, the Swedes even calling it Fat Tuesday, a name I'd love to use more! We know it as the day to eat pancakes or even compete in a pancake-flipping race, ostensibly on your way to church.

Each year there's always a flurry of pancake recipes at the start of February with savoury ones and all sorts of flavours suggested but for me the simpler the better.

My recipe is for a thin, crepe-like pancake, perfect for a drizzle of maple sauce or lemon and sugar, my favourite toppings.

They get cold quickly, so eat them as they cook.

The first pancake 'seasons' the pan but will also stick a little, don't worry the rest will be fine !

Pancakes

  • Serves 4
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 dsp Plain flour
  • 4 tsp Caster sugar
  • 400ml milk
  • Pinch of salt

Mix eggs, flour, sugar and salt to a paste, slowly add the milk, mixing continuously until it becomes the consistency of paint Pour into a flat, hot, lightly buttered pan.

Lift the pan moving the mixture so that it evenly coats the base of the pan to form a thin pancake After about 2 minutes the pancake should be loose.

Tease the edges and then with a rolling motion, toss the pancake and catch it again to cook the other side for approx 1 minute.