Do you prefer American style pancakes or European? Photo: Katerina Niuman

Are you ready for pancake Tuesday?

With Valentine’s just over and we are still full of chocolates and other sweet treats, Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Tuesday as we love to call it) is here.

The reason we all eat pancakes on that day is dating back to ancient times when fasting was indeed fasting and people had to get rid of eggs as they didn’t last (pickling eggs wasn’t a thing back then) and the best way to do that was to make batter for pancakes – this tradition can be traced back to the 16th century.

I like the skinny pancakes – the thick ones (or American) are not to my liking but that’s me being very picky (if you serve them to me, I will eat them).

Here is my recipe for pancakes that I have used since childhood:

Take 200g flour, 3 eggs, a pinch of salt and 250ml milk – mix it all together until you have a smooth batter.

That’s it – no hassle, no need for some ready-made mix where the ingredient list is as long as my elbow!

Pan-fry a small ladle full of batter in hot butter (I prefer ghee as it doesn’t brown as much as butter does). You can also use sunflower oil but I have to admit that I prefer the buttery flavour notes.

The first pancake is said to be for the cook – it’s never perfect so I nibble away on it while I cook the rest of the pancakes.

These pancakes should not be as thin as crepes but slightly thicker while still thinner than the American style pancakes.

It wasn’t until I came to Ireland that I heard that you can drizzle lemon onto your pancakes – I grew up with sugar sprinkles. I tend to mix caster sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle this over my pancakes before rolling them up and eating them with my hands (for me the epicentre of comfort).

Mr T’s granddaughter Holly will not be swayed by her love for Nutella on her pancakes and there is no discussion on what’s for breakfast when she stays the night over.

It is actually better to prepare the batter the evening before and just to give is a quick whisk before you cook the pancakes (I do the same when I make Yorkshire pudding).

What to do with leftovers? I am glad you asked – have you ever heard of crespelle? It’s basically (and I apologise profoundly to all my Italian friends for this generalisation) like cannelloni but instead of pasta tubes you use these fine pancakes.

Fill them with ricotta and spinach, roll them up, place them in a buttered oven dish, pour tomato sauce over it, sprinkle it with cheese and bake – it is delicious and a nice change to the sweet version.

When you still have batter leftover, you can turn it into Yorkshire puddings or a toad-in-a-hole (you can make it either with sausages or for a sweet version, slice apples into the batter and serve it with custard – delicious). Happy Pancake Tuesday!