Tuesday, August 13, 2013

blueberry syrup and wholemeal pikelets


Recently, I got around to youtube-ing some of Nigella's cooking show snippets and was really surprised by how much I liked her style and her recipes. Mainly because she seems to have a commitment to producing straightforward non fussy recipes which are the kind that you will end up pulling off again and again.

Therefore it is with much happiness and gratitude that I bring you this Nigella non-recipe for blueberry syrup which I've already made twice despite the relatively high cost of maple syrup.  I'm also reproducing a wholemeal pikelet recipe that I've made a few times; I haven't used Nigella's pancake recipe only because this recipe for wholemeal pikelets got to me first.

The pikelets can be made on a weekend morning then frozen for quick weekday breakfasts. The blueberry syrup can be concocted while practically asleep.

Nigella's Blueberry syrup

1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Place blueberries and maple syrup into a small saucepan then bring to boil. Let it simmer and bubble for a couple of minutes then serve. If using frozen blueberries, the result may be slightly more watery.

Note: Leftover syrup can be stored and it either turns into this soft set jammy mess that's great on toast, or if you've got a more watery version then simply store and reheat to turn it back into warm syrup again. I haven't tried replacing the maple syrup with honey yet but given how expensive maple syrup is, I will probably try out that substitution at some point.

Wholemeal Pikelets

(Recipe from here)

125g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp raw sugar (I used muscovado)
1 egg
170 ml milk
butter for greasing pancake pan

Place flour and baking powder into a bowl and whisk to mix. Add sugar and stir. Add the egg and milk and whisk till smooth.

Heat a non stick pan and grease it with butter. Spoon the batter in with either a tablespoon or a ladle.
Cook each for a couple of minutes until bubbles appear on the surface. Then flip and cook for another 30 s.

Serve.

Note:

The original recipe has you sifting the flour and baking powder together but whisking works out fine and cuts down on the number of things to wash.