Palatschinken

So let's tee off with something simple that can be delicious as a starter, a main, or a dessert. Pancakes with a difference! A halfway hit between thick and fluffy American pancakes and French crepes. Palatschinken. (They have little to do with "Schinken" - German for ham - and lots to do with your palate(e).)

Let's go!

Palatschinken

Take 1/4 litre of milk and one egg. Beat together in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Take about a cup of flour out of the bag and shake it in gently until you get a thick runny mixture. Size it up like you do your ball on the green.

Now take a medium-size teflon-coated frying pan and put it on the stove on low heat (2 electric at most or a small flame). Dribble some oil into the pan, just enough to cover the whole surface when you flex your wrist gently. Not too much, not too little. Just like that perfect putt into the hole. Now take a soup ladle and fill it with the runny mixture - one ladle full makes one pancake - and pour it into the pan, covering the whole surface. To see if the oil is hot enough, just dribble a drop of the dough into the pan. If it spits not too fiercely the time is right. At first the dough will stick to the pan and the surface will remain liquid. Flex your wrist gently so that the liquid can fill all of the pan and then wait a moment or two. When the edges of dough start coming away from the hot pan you'll know that the dough isn't sticking anymore. The surface shouldn't be liquid either. That's the time to turn it. Take a large spatula and flip it over so that the dough can slide into the pan the uncooked side down. If you're feeling adventurous you can try flipping it in the air and have it land with the cooked side up. (The first time you try this it might hit the ceiling - it's just a matter of force or luck - like a hole in one.) But, it's maybe safer and easier with the spatula. Now wait for the sides to come away from the pan and your first one is done and you can slip it onto a plate. Dribble some more oil into the pan and continue ladle by ladle until you have all the Palatschinken you want.

So there you have your plate piled high.

Let's start with dessert or an afternoon snack or just a sweet meal on its own. Spread the Palatschinken with jam, honey or Nutella and roll it up. Or you can do the same with vanilla ice cream and top it with chocolate. Not far now from a brandy flambé of a crêpe Suzette!

As a main you could fill the Palatschinken with a spinach paste, a mushroom mix or some spicy mince meat. As a concession to your diet you could fill it with creamy cottage cheese and chopped chives. Maybe you have some favourite savoury fillings of your own. Let me know.

My favourite is as a starter. Let the pancakes cool and roll them up. Then slice them so that when they unroll you have thin strips. Take half a litre of water and bring it to the boil with a cube of bouillon soup (beef, chicken or vegetable). Then let it simmer a bit until it's steaming hot. Put the Palatschinken strips into your soup bowl, pour on the bouillon, the clear soup, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve. A delicious and easy to eat soup.

Do you want more? This golfer has lots more easy recipes. I guess you're wondering where I got them. Well, that's the way my grandmother cooked, and she was always young at heart.