Pancake day

Today is Shrove Tuesday - the day when people traditionally used up all the rich foods they wouldn't be able to eat in the subsequent six weeks of Lent, like butter and eggs - hence they got made into pancakes.

We've had a spate of pancake breakfasts, the high-protein variety, using cottage cheese (recipe below), which makes quite a delicious difference. You can add blueberries or other fruit, eg apples grated or chopped small.

Don't you think this one looks miraculously like an upside-down teddy bear? Grayson Perry's Alan Measles, perhaps?

And now the recipe. My version dates back to pre-metric days, so I've done some conversions which may or may not be helpful. There is room for some latitude in the measurements. Nowadays the cottage cheese comes in 300g containers, and I think the cook uses 4 eggs rather than 6. Nor does he measure the flour and milk - but he knows the consistency of the batter and aims for that.

Cottage Cheese Pancakes (serves 4 or 5 people)

Separate 6 eggs. Beat the whites till stiff and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks with 375g cottage cheese, then mix in
   100g plain flour (3/4 of an 8 fl oz cup)
   2 Tbsp (50g) sugar
   125ml (1/2c) milk
   a sprinkle of cinnamon
Fold in the egg whites. Drop by large spoonfuls onto oiled griddle or pan, and fry until golden brown on both sides and puffy.

My recipe has these "serving suggestions" - sour cream, jam, honey, apple butter, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar - but these days we mostly have maple syrup ... a little luxury.