John Torode's cheese pancakes
He’s back on his bike but this time John’s heading underground - into the caves of Wookey Hole for a taste of perhaps Somerset's most famous export…Cheddar cheese. John cycles to the City of Wells, famous for its majestic cathedral, before cooking his cheesy pancakes.
Cheese pancakes
Makes 10 side-plate sized pancakes
Ingredients
200ml buttermilk 50g butter, melted350ml milk 30ml olive oil 3 eggs 350g self raising flour 1 tsp baking powder1 tsp salt 1 tsp granulated sugar80g mature Cheddar cheese, grated50ml vegetable oil, for greasing 1 banana shallot, sliced thinly 4 slices of ham, roughly choppedHandful of Rocket
Method
1. In a large bowl mix together the buttermilk, melted butter, milk, olive oil and eggs until combined. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar.
2. Gently fold half of the dry ingredients into the wet buttermilk mixture. Then fold the remaining dry ingredients into the wet mixture until smooth and silky.
3. Then add 50g of the grated cheese into the pancake batter.
4. Warm a frying pan over a medium heat and add a little oil, just to grease.
5. Pour a ladle of the pancake mix into the centre of the pan. Sprinkle over a small amount of remaining cheese along with sliced shallots and chopped ham on top of the pancake.
6. Once bubbles start to form in the batter, leave to cook for a minute or so, and turn down your heat down if it smells like it may be cooking too quickly.
7. When the edges are brown and the bubbles are popping, turn it over and cook for another minute.
8. Continue to cook pancakes until all of the batter and toppings have been used up. Top with fresh rocket and serve.