Daffodil Soup London

Lazy Sunday mornings were made for these heavenly light American-style pancakes, which we used to call Scotch pancakes or flapjacks whenI was growing up. Now I know flapjacks are something very different indeed, made with oats and golden syrup and lots and LOTS of butter (a recipe for another time).  These clouds of joy are so easy – and if you make up a small container (or ziplock bag) of the dry ingred ients and keep it in your dry store cupboard, it's ready when the urge overtakes you.  The wet mix can then be whisked and the two combined while the frying pan is heating up … job done.   Pimping your pancakes is personal choice: classic blueberries and maple syrup, crisp strips of streaky bacon or pork sausages, simple summer fruit, peanut butter or chocolate spread with crunchy toasted hazelnuts; the options are endless.  Most good supermarkets sell buttermilk, but if you can’t find it you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to t...

Well, that's what it felt like when I started out to do a canapé party for a client. 70 people, 10 different canap é s (8 savoury, 2 sweet), roughly 1.5 of each kind for each person, served over a 2-hour period. That's 70 x 15 = just over 1,000 morsels. Trust me, it felt like a lot more! When a client requests such an event, the first thing is to draw up menus for them to choose from. I evaluate the function (hopefully with a good indication of the client's profile and spending base) and offer 6 or 8 in each category (meat, fish, veggie, sweet), with a back-up list in reserve if those don't appeal. Into the costing must be factored the time each canap é might take to prepare, and to assemble and serve, bearing in mind that a canape's size and delicacy is directly inverse to the time it takes to prepare and serve. In this case I cannot have been thinking clearly when I pre-selected the list and my client, correctly, chose the most expensive and time-consuming m...