Leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
100g ricotta or soft goats cheese
Handful grated hard Irish cheese like Caerphilly or alternatively an English cheddar
2 tbsp chives, chopped or snipped
10 asparagus tips or thin asparagus
2 eggs
Sea salt & pepper
Pancakes
250g chickpea flour also labelled as gram flour
300ml warm water
Handful frozen peas
50g baby spinach, about 2 handfuls
Handful fresh basil leaves or 2 tsp pesto
1/2 tsp sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1.5 tbsp ghee or oil, for frying
Method
Blend together the chickpea flour, spinach, peas, basil, water and salt and pepper and set aside for 10 minutes. Keep the batter still in the blender as you can pour direct from the blender jug.
Meanwhile in a large frying pan, melt the ghee/olive oil then fry the sliced mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the mushrooms release their liquid and start going golden at the edges. Add the thyme and garlic and fry for a final few minutes until the garlic is softened then take off the heat and keep the mushrooms hot in a warm oven.
Melt 2 tsp of the oil in a second medium-sized frying pan over a medium high heat. The whole base of the pan needs to be covered so the pancakes don’t stick, pour any excess oil out if you like which you can reuse for the next pancake. Add about 3 tbsps of the batter to the frying pan, swirling it around to cover the base, should be quite thin and cook on a medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip over and cook on the other side for another minute or so until lightly golden in places on each side
Tip the pancake onto a plate, making sure you remove any excess bits from the pan or they’ll burn when you cook the next pancake, and repeat – adding a little more of the oil each time- until you have used all the batter. Keep the cooked pancakes warm in the oven with the mushrooms. Once you’ve got enough for your breakfast, cover the batter and leave in the fridge for tomorrow. OR if you prefer, after breakfast, cook all the pancakes up and then leave in the fridge to have with mushroom hummus wraps for lunch in the week!
While your pancakes are cooking away, get a small saucepan of water on the boil and blanch the asparagus tips in salted water then using tongs, shake off any excess water and transfer them to the mushroom pan to stay warm. Keeping the pan of salted water on the boil, cook the eggs for 7 minutes (for softish hard boiled or for another minute if you prefer) then drain, cool and peel just before serving and halve and season them.
To serve up, lay a pancake onto each of your plates, spread some ricotta on the pancake with a sprinkling of chives, then pile on the warm mushrooms with the asparagus, add the egg halves and then finish by finely grating over your Caerphilly or cheddar.
