Spinach, ricotta and lardon stuffed pancakes with a roasted red pepper sauce

It’s pancake day soon, and continuing from the ham and mushroom ones I made last year, here are some delicious spinach, ricotta and lardon pancakes.

There are a few steps in this recipe, and it can be quite time consuming, so if you have someone to help you, now is the time to get them aproned-up.

Spinach, ricotta and lardon stuffed pancakes

For the pancakes:

100g flour

A pinch of salt 
2 eggs
200ml milk (or 100ml milk and 100ml of beer)
50g melted butter

You should get about 7 pancakes from this.

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl with the eggs using a whisk. Then dribble in the milk (or the milk and beer) a little at a time, making sure that you mix everything together well before adding the next bit. Your batter should be the consistency of thick pouring cream.

Leave this to rest for about 30 minutes. Just before you’re ready to use it, add in the melted butter and stir it through until the butter is fully combined.

In the meantime, roast two red peppers in a hot oven (190 degrees Celsius) with some garlic cloves and a quartered onion for about 30 minutes. Then blitz these in a food processor with some salt and pepper and a stock cube until you get a smooth paste. If you like, you can add some chilli powder.

The roasted red pepper sauce 

In a separate bowl make the pancake stuffing. You will need:

A fried, finely chopped onion

A packet of lardons, also fried (you can cook the onion and the lardons together)
A tub of ricotta

About 400-450g of spinach (fresh, frozen, whatever you have, just make sure it’s well drained)
A good grating of nutmeg if you have it
100ml cream
Salt and pepper

Mix everything together until they are well combined.

The spinach, ricotta and lardon stuffing

Right, to cooking… For the pancakes, heat a frying pan until it’s very hot. Grease the bottom of it with a little butter and pour in a ladleful of batter, swirling the pan to evenly coat the bottom. Return the pan to the heat and cook for about one minute. Take a peak underneath: if it’s brown, flip the pancake over and cook the other side for about a minute. The first pancake is usually a test – quite often it is not right, so don’t worry if this one gets chucked in the bin. Once your pancakes are cooked, pile them up on a plate next to you, covering them with tinfoil to prevent them from drying out. Keep going until you’ve used all the batter. You don’t need to butter the pan for the rest of the pancakes.

When you’re ready to complete the dish, get an oven-proof dish ready beside you. Lay out a pancake and pile on the ricotta and spinach stuffing in the centre, roll it up and put it in the dish. Keep going until you’ve used up all the filling – I got 5 well-stuffed pancakes out of the mixture. 

Three of the five stuffed pancakes

Cover the whole lot with the red pepper sauce and little grated cheese if you have some, and cook it all in a hot oven (190 degrees) for about 30 minutes, or until the dish is hot through and the cheese browns.  

Pancakes stuffed with ricotta, spinach and lardons in a roasted red pepper sauce

Quinoa and chicken yummy simpleness

I admit that have been very busy over the past few weeks and as a result, have been falling back on tried n tested recipes, many of which are already in this blog. However, I tried these two for dinner during the week. They are both from Domini Kemp in the Irish Times from over the summer and were simple, tasty and fast, which is exactly what you need when you’re short on time and everything else. I’m loving Domini’s recipes the more and more I try them as they are always good and most importantly, they work every time. Thanks Domini!

Quinoa and spiced chicken, from Domini Kemp

Quinoa salad 

Serves 4

200g quinoa

Few tbsp olive oil

Black sesame seeds or nigella seeds

Bunch coriander, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

2 preserved lemons, finely chopped or juice and zest of 1-2 lemons

Cook the quinoa in boiling water according to the pack instructions and then drain it and rinse until cold. Let it drain really well, otherwise it tastes too soggy. Simply toss with the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.

Lemon spiced chicken with chickpeas 

Good glug of olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

4 skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized chunks

Salt and pepper

½ a cinnamon stick (approx 8cm)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

2 tins chickpeas (approximately 400g) drained and rinsed

350ml chicken stock

1 x 250g bag baby spinach

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan with a lid and saute the onion until it is soft. Add the chicken, turn up the heat and season it well. When you’re starting to get good colour on the chicken, add the spices and continue to cook and get even more colour on the chicken. After another few minutes, add the lemon juice and zest. Then add the chickpeas and stock. Mix well, put the lid on and simmer very gently for about 12-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning then add the spinach just before serving and let it wilt.

You can add water or stock if you would like it to be a bit more soupy or stew-like. Likewise you can simmer it without a lid if you prefer something dryer. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick before serving.

Aubergine, spinach and ricotta rolls

I made these vegetarian rolls for dinner last night, and they went down a treat.

Oozing cheesy spinachy yummyness

For four people, you’ll need:

2 aubergines

a bag of fresh spinach (I’m sure that frozen will be fine ;-) )

a tub of ricotta

a jar of tomato sauce – I think I used a Scala one

some parmesan cheese (or whatever is festering at the back of the fridge)

Turn your grill on. Slice the aubergines about 1cm thick slices down the length and lay them on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush the aubergine with a little more oil and grill for about two minutes on each side.

Switch your oven on to 200° and boil the kettle.

Wash your spinach well (the amount of meals I’ve ruined from finding grains of sand in the fresh spinach here is unreal. I find the best way is to fill the sink with water and shake handfuls of spinach through the water). Put it on a large colander and pour some boiling water over the spinach to wilt it. Squeeze the spinach well to get rid of the excess water.

In a bowl, mix the ricotta with a grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper. Mix the spinach through it.

Get a large oven-proof dish ready beside you. Take one of the aubergine slices and put a good spoonful of the cheesy spinach mixture in it and roll the aubergine around to close in all the cheesy goodness. Lay it closed-side down in the dish. Keep going until all the cheese and aubergines are used up.

Pour the jar of sauce over the aubergines and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until piping hot and bubbling and golden.

Devour.