Why don't I cook pancakes more often?

"Its surface is the softest canary yellow evenly dimpled with pale gold. Its edges are as frilly as old French lace. It is so delicate you can barely pick it up. This is the perfect crepe." Nigel Slater

Feeling uninspired I began browsing through one of my old Photos picture libraries looking for a 'moment in time' photo that I could use. I found this photograph, but it made me feel sad - the parents of the two boys split up shortly after and the two small boys certainly look sad. Because of the sadness and not wanting to wallow in that sadness - the family is still happily together, but apart and the boys have done amazingly well - I set it aside.

I pursued another couple of ideas, but was not inspired. and then found 'pancakes - Ottolenghi maple apple' in my Ideas list, which reminded me of the photograph, because that's what those little ones were doing, and so here I am with pancakes and here are the Ottolenghi ones Pancakes with maple brown butter apples and sesame praline - an utterly delicious looking dish which I really must make some time. Not for guests other than family however, because pancakes, really need to be eaten straightaway, hot from the pan, so the poor old cook is there slaving away at the stove, and never getting a chance to have one until there's only enough batter left for one pancake. These particular Ottolenghi pancakes are the American kind, however. Maybe you can make them in advance and heat them up. I don't realy know, because I now realise I have never made any.

For a while I got carried away with this kind of pancake - often called hotcakes, and found another Ottolenghi one - Ricotta and feta pancakes with orange sultanas plus, of course, I had to include the Bill Granger classic Ricotta pancakes with honeycomb butter

But lovely as they are they were not what I really was thinking of writing about, and anyway I'm pretty sure I've done them before. No I was into a bit of nostalgia, and that question - why don't I cook them more often - crêpes that is.

So let me go back to the photograph, and just to prove that although the family situation is still a little sad, I suspect it might be David and I who are the sad ones, not them. Although there are now two homes and boys move between both, mum and dad are friends, and the boys are happy, as this photo shows - dad in the bunny suit, mum bottom left. and the two boys with bunny ears. This was Easter of course, and so it was all about chocolate - maybe I should have made some chocolate pancakes.

But back there in Port Douglas celebrating my 70th birthday I think, the grandchildren were making pancakes for breakfast under the watchful eyes of the mothers - particularly the boys' mother who started the whole thing. It's such a kid friendly thing to do isn't it?

And just to underline that fact the recipe that I use, however infrequently, is the one in this lovely book. Well anything to do with Winnie-the-Pooh is magic for me, and Katie Stewart is one of those cooks of the 60s and 70s who was never really properly appreciated. The illustration on the cover is also just perfect, even if it is an Ernest H. Shepard imitation rather than an original.

I have to refer to an actual recipe when I do make them - just like I do for Yorkshire pudding, even though I used to just know how to make them and what the ingredients are. Well I know what they are - milk, flour egg - but what are the quantities? 275ml milk, 110g flour and 1 egg in case you were interested (I just looked it up) - but fundamentally you need to end up with a mixture the thickness of cream according to Nigel Slater.

"the consistency of the batter is crucial. Too thin and your crepes will have no substance. Too thick and everyone will laugh at your attempts (though secretly they will like them even more so)." Nigel Slater

He also comments elsewhere that the first pancake, which never turns out well is the cook's reward:

"I can't help thinking the perfect crepe is the one you eat at the cooker, scattered with sugar and patchily wet with lemon juice, eaten from your fingers while you calmly cook the next." Nigel Slater

My mother rarely cooked them at any other time than Pancake Day either. Maybe, like me, she was just a bit peeved that as the cook she never got to eat more than one, and that each pancake was wolfed down before the next one was finished, so two children, whose turn it wasn't were left clamouring for theirs. The way out, of course, is to let the children join in and even attempt to toss it, which I rarely do. I'm afraid I just turn them over with tongs.

Now there's just David and I so really there is no excuse for me not to have another go. Sometime soon. I could even make them a bit more special with the addition of strawberries as in Nigel's offering of Lemon pancakes with strawberry sauce.

Or of course, you could go really fancy with Crêpes Suzette, for which he has a guilty admiration:

"I know it smacks of 60s flash-restaurant cooking, but this really is one of the great desserts of all time. Light crepes in a sticky butter and citrus sauce. Be snotty about it if you want, but frankly it's your loss. I reckon it's a charming way to end a meal."

The version shown here is Nigella's - it's 'the queen of retro desserts' according to her, and doesn't it look wonderful? But fear not it's a short-cut version made with shop bought pancakes. How could she, one wonders? But then I've never bought any pancakes. Maybe they are good. Anyway, of course you can use your own home-made pancakes.

The American kind of hotcake/pancake is served most often loaded with things and drizzled with something wonderful. The French crêpe/English pancake is, on the other hand, often stuffed - and here - having given Nigel his spot in the sun - I will now turn to his competitor in my current cooking affections - Yotam Ottolanghi, who has three rather gorgeous and more complicated stuffed crêpes: Stuffed crêpes with barbados cream; Cheese crêpes with honey, orange and pistachio; and Ricotta crêpes with honey walnuts and rose.

I've stuck with the sweet kind of pancake but of course, there are vast numbers of recipes out there for savoury ones as well. Indeed for dinner we are having a kind of stuffed pancake - cannelloni. I know - not a pancake at all - it's pasta, but so similar that the difference is hardly noticeable. Make them pancakes and they are crespolini - same fillings, same sauces, even the same ingredients for the pancakey element. The only difference is that the pancakes are cooked before stuffing.

There are, thousands of variations on the pancake and mergers into other things - flatbreads, waffles, Yorkshire pudding and Dutch babies ... but really the simple is best. Maybe I should make pancakes for Bryn's birthday party on Sunday. The main dish is family nostalgia after all - Spaghetti and meatballs. And they will all be there - well one granddaughter and her mother will be missing. The have a footy party to attend.

"I love a little pancake, its freckled surface glistening with lemon juice and sugar" Nigel Slater