Master it: How to cook today - Rory O'Connell

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flour in the batter.

      The addition of the cooled melted butter is vital for the flavour and texture of the pancakes and makes them less likely to stick when being cooked.

      Cook the pancakes on quite a high heat using the correct quantity of batter to ensure you achieve a pancake that is neither too thick nor too thin.

      Makes 12 170g plain white flour

      Pinch of salt

      2 teaspoons caster sugar (omit for savoury pancakes)

      2 eggs and 1 yolk

      425ml full-fat milk

      2 tablespoons cooled melted butter

      Sieve the flour, salt and sugar (if you are making sweet pancakes) into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and drop in the eggs and extra yolk. Start whisking the eggs and adding the milk in a steady stream, gradually drawing in the flour from the edges of the bowl. When all the milk has been whisked in, the batter should look smooth and will have a layer of fine bubbles on the surface. I usually pass it through a fine sieve to be absolutely sure all the flour has been properly incorporated.

      Stir in the melted butter, which may become a little lumpy-looking. That is fine and to be expected, as when the melted butter hits the cold liquid it tends to solidify into little lumps. These buttery lumps disappear completely in the cooking. Chill the batter if possible for 1 hour before cooking.

      To cook the pancakes, I use a 20.5cm heavy-based non-stick or cast-iron pan. Place the pan over a medium heat and allow it to become quite hot. Grease the pan sparingly yet thoroughly with a little butter, making sure to go up 1cm along the sides of the pan. I do this with a bit of baking parchment or greaseproof paper, or a butter wrapper lightly greased with soft butter. Dribble ½ teaspoon of the batter on to the pan to check that it is hot enough. The batter should start to colour and cook immediately. If it doesn’t, let the pan get hotter.

      Add about 2 tablespoons of the batter per pancake and quickly lift, tilt and swirl the pan to coat the bottom evenly with a fine layer. If you miss a spot and there is a hole in the pancake, just dribble in a tiny bit more batter to fill the hole. Allow to cook until the edges of the pancake start to curl and loosen. Turn the pancake carefully and continue to cook for another minute, until it is a golden colour. Lift out of the pan and place on a plate while you cook the rest. The cooked pancakes can be stacked one on top of the other and, blissfully, they will not stick together.

      The cooked pancakes can be eaten there and then in the old-fashioned way with a little butter, lemon juice and caster sugar, or may be reheated later according to your taste.

      Sweet pancakes

      Serve with: chocolate sauce, roasted hazelnuts and a blob of softly whipped cream; caramel sauce and thickly sliced bananas and a blob of softly whipped cream or crème fraîche; a warm compote of raspberries and geranium and softly whipped cream; a collapsing roast peach and its cooking juices, a sprinkling of almond praline and thick pouring cream.

      Savoury pancakes

      Stuff savoury pancakes, using the method below, with: broccoli with lemon and Parmesan and a drizzle of hollandaise sauce; chard and Gruyère, as in the gratin recipe; leeks with olive oil, Parmesan, toasted pine nuts and pangrattata.

      First preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

      Lay a pancake one at a time on your work surface. Spoon 1½ tablespoons of the chosen filling on to the centre of the pancake and fold in the edges to make a neatly sealed parcel. Place them, folded side down, on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Sprinkle a very few drops of water with your fingertips over the pancakes to create a gently steamy atmosphere in the oven. Cover with a sheet of baking parchment and reheat in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until bubbling hot.

      Serve as soon as possible, with a leaf salad.

      Tomato sauce

      This is a general-purpose sauce which is versatile and can be served in a variety of ways, ranging from a simple pasta dish or with grilled meat or fish. It’s good with meatballs, and I sometimes use it as a cooking medium for mussels and mackerel, finishing off the dish with a blob of garlicky mayonnaise.

      As with any tomato dish, the quality and ripeness of the tomatoes is crucial. If you try making this sauce with watery winter tomatoes, the result will be dull and disappointing. Summer is without doubt the best time of the year for making it, when deep red vine-ripened tomatoes are at their best. You could make a large batch at that time of year, when the tomatoes are also good value, and freeze it in small containers to defrost on cold wintry days and remind you of summer’s sweet flavours. Failing that, a very good result can be achieved in winter using best-quality tinned or bottled tomatoes.

      The ingredients

      Tomatoes for this dish need to be brilliantly ripe, almost to the point of bursting. In fact if they are slightly softening due to their readiness, that is fine, as they will melt into the sauce.

      Basil is an obvious choice for this sauce, but other herbs such as marjoram and tarragon are also excellent.

      Serves 6–8 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

      225g red onions, peeled and finely chopped

      2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

      2 sticks of celery, cut into 5mm dice

      1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 5mm dice

      Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      1.8kg tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped (or the

      equivalent quantity in canned or bottled tomatoes)

      2 tablespoons basil leaves

      Pinch of sugar

      Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized heavy-based saucepan. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrot, and coat them in the oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook uncovered on a moderate heat. Stir the vegetables regularly with a wooden spoon and control the heat to prevent them from both stewing and scorching. After 10 minutes the vegetables will be beginning to soften but in no way collapsing.

      Add the prepared tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and stir. Cover the saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the temperature and allow the tomatoes to cook at a gentle simmer and melt into a sauce. This will take about 20 minutes. Stir the tomatoes a couple of times as they cook. If the sauce seems a bit thin and watery, remove the lid and cook uncovered to thicken the sauce slightly. On the other hand, the sauce should not be too thick and strong. You are looking for a consistency that will just hold its shape on the plate, but still be full of flavour.

      Add the basil leaves, torn into smaller pieces if large, and stir in. Taste and correct the seasoning. If the sauce seems a little dull, add a small pinch of sugar to lift it.

      With cinnamon to serve with grilled lamb

      Add a broken cinnamon stick to the vegetables and do not retrieve it until the sauce is cooked.

      With dried chilli to add some heat

      Break a small deseeded dried chilli into coarse pieces or use a pinch of dried chilli flakes and add to the vegetables at the beginning of cooking. Use rosemary as the herb in this case.

      With rosemary in winter

      For a robust and warming winter sauce, add 2 large sprigs of rosemary to the vegetables at the beginning of cooking. The herb stalks can be removed at the end of cooking. Some of the leaves will have fallen off the sprigs – that’s fine.

      Salsa verde

      Salsa verde – or call it Green Sauce if you like, though it doesn’t sound quite so good like that – is a delicious and most useful sauce. Full of herbs and piquant from the addition of the anchovies and capers, it packs a punch and will stand up to and sit happily alongside robustly flavoured meats such as beef and lamb or grilled oily fish like bass, mullet and salmon. Though it will keep for a day or two, it is without doubt best eaten within a few hours of being made. This way the flavour of the herbs

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