Cheese, chorizo & spring onion pancakes

Brunch Weekend project

Serves 4

Chorizo is pretty much a cheat’s way to make anything delicious. These spicy, smokey pancakes make a great weekend brunch. If you want to get ahead, make the filling a day or so in advance, but the batter is best made just before you cook it.

Ingredients

FILLING
50g	cooking chorizo sausage, skinned and roughly broken into 2cm chunks
80g	comté, finely grated
80g	feta, crumbled into small chunks
1	garlic clove, peeled and finely crushed
15g	dill, finely chopped
40g	spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle
BATTER
170g	self-raising flour
2 tsp	baking powder
1	lemon - zest finely grated, to get 1 tsp, then cut into four wedges
	salt
2	large eggs, separated
150ml	whole milk
40g	unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp	olive oil

Method

Dry-fry the chorizo in a sauté pan on a high heat for two minutes, stirring, until just cooked, then tip into a bowl, add all the other filling ingredients and stir to combine.
For the batter, put the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and a quarter-teaspoon of salt in a second bowl. In a jug, mix the egg yolks, milk and butter, then whisk into the dry ingredients to make a thick batter. In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold into the batter.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan on a medium-high flame, then spoon four or five tablespoons of batter into the pan. Flatten out the pancake a little with the back of the spoon, then top with three to four tablespoons of the filling, patting it gently into the batter with your hand. Flatten again with the spoon, leave to cook for two to three minutes, then flip and cook on the other side for a minute or two, until golden. Transfer to a board, and repeat with the remaining batter and filling, to make three more pancakes. Cut each pancake into quarters and serve with lemon wedges.