American pancakes with honey-roasted pear, walnut, and vanilla ice cream recipe
This recipe makes a mouth-watering stack of American pancakes, served with honey-roasted pear, walnuts and scoops of vanilla ice cream. The king of breakfasts.
Prep time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 20 minutes
SERVES
Two
INGREDIENTS
For the pancakes:
125g self-raising flour
A pinch of sea salt flakes
2 eggs, separated
120ml milk
10g butter
For the pear:
1 pear
50g walnuts
20g butter
A pinch of ground cinnamon
50ml runny honey
Vanilla ice cream, to serve
METHOD
This pancake batter will keep for one or two days in the fridge. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the egg yolks and milk in the centre then, using a whisk, whisk the flour into them until you have a smooth batter.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold them into the egg and flour mixture and you’re good to go.
Cut the pear into quarters and remove the core. Cut each quarter lengthways into slices about 5mm thick. Set aside.
Heat a small frying pan and add the walnuts. Toast gently over a low heat, taking care not to let them colour too much.
Transfer to a plate and leave to cool. When cool enough to handle, break each walnut into two to three pieces and set aside.
Melt the butter in the same pan over a medium heat, then add the cinnamon. When the butter starts to foam, add the pears and allow to sizzle for a minute.
Add the honey and turn up the heat to high so the pears start to caramelise until they soften but still retain their shape – this should take no more than four to five minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the pears in the pan.
To cook the pancakes, heat a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add half the butter and, when it’s foaming, add two 50ml ladlefuls of pancake batter (leaving a gap between them) and cook for two minutes, or until they are light brown on the bottom and starting to set on the top.
Flip over the pancakes and cook for a further minute or so, until brown on the undersides.
Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining butter and batter to cook two more pancakes.
Quickly reheat the pear caramel if necessary and spoon over the pancakes. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and sprinkle over the toasted walnuts.
Recipe from Toast Hash Roast Mash by Dan Doherty (£20, Mitchell Beazley)
