MUSHROOM, BACON & ONION PANCAKES

Starting your weekend with a proper breakfast or a late brunch always feels like a treat. These small, fluffy pancakes – flavoured with mushrooms, bacon and onion – make a great savoury all-in-one brunch dish to enjoy. Make a tall stack of them and share with friends.

SERVES 4–6

● ½ tbsp sunflower oil

● 3 slices of bacon, cut into short strips

● ½ onion, finely chopped

● 100g button mushrooms, chopped in half

● 225g plain flour

● 1 tbsp baking powder

● ½ tsp salt

● 2 eggs

● 200ml milk

● 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

● 1 tbsp freshly snipped chives

● 25g butter, melted maple syrup, to serve (optional)

1. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan. Fry the bacon and onion for two minutes, stirring. Add the mushrooms and fry over a high heat until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Break the eggs into the centre of the flour and pour in the milk, folding the ingredients together quickly, without over-mixing, to form a thick batter. Gently fold in the mushroom mixture, parsley and chives. Stir in the melted butter.

3. Thoroughly heat a large, heavy-based frying pan. Dry fry the mixture in batches, using a tablespoon of the batter to form each small pancake. Fry for 2–3 minutes over a low to medium heat, until the pancakes have set and begun to dry out around the edges. Using a spatula, gently turn them over and fry for a further 2 minutes until golden brown on both sides. Serve at once with maple syrup, if you like.