I love Autumn, the colours, the seasonal foods, the rich smells of the forest floors and pumpkins! In our village, just about everyone grows pumpkins, all shapes, sizes and colours. They sit ripening on window sills, on outdoor furniture and we use them to decorate the table, it’s such a treat. Then, as the season progresses, we start cutting them up one by one, for soups, salads, sauces and these delicious little pancakes.
Butternut pancakes with sage brown butter
Makes 10
Ingredients
300g butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
1 large, free range egg
90ml creme fraiche
40g parmesan cheese
160g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
80g unsalted butter
fresh sage leaves
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C, roast pumpkin for 20 minutes, or until very tender.
2. Puree with a food processor and place into a large bowl.
3. Mix the pumpkin puree, egg and creme fraiche together. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the parmesan, flour, baking powder and season with salt and pepper, mix until smooth.
4. Lightly butter a large heavy based frying pan and set over a medium heat.
5. Drop 3 pancakes of 2 tbs batter each and cook until bubbles start popping on the surface and the underside is golden. Turn over and set aside, keeping warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.
6. In a small saucepan, heat the butter over a medium heat. Add a pinch of salt and the sage leaves, cook until the butter turns golden and the sage leaves are crisp. 7. Serve the pancakes drizzled with the sage butter.
