Pancake Day UK: Spelt Pancakes with Creamed Spinach, Traditional Lemon and Sugar Pancakes

British Pancake Day is a tradition I've come to love after living in the UK for many years. This is the day, also known here as Shrove Tuesday, when you indulge before forty days of Lent. In America they have wild Mardi Gras style street parties, in Rio there's Carnival, and in Britain, well, they make pancakes. Everyone lets loose in their own way...

The traditional way to eat pancakes (note to Americans: when I say pancakes I mean the British version which resemble crepes; they are thin) is with lemon and sugar, but I have a savoury tooth and like to make a heartier version as well. This way you can have an entire pancake meal, which seems fitting for Pancake Day!

This year for the first course I whipped up spelt pancakes and topped them with warm, rich, melt-in-your-mouth delicious creamed spinach. Alex was initially very skeptical about the inclusion of a savoury round, but I've convinced him with this combination.

Tasting Menus: PipsDish Pop-up Restaurant at Islington Barn in London

Walk up a little alleyway off of Upper Street. Enter a disused car repair garage. Duck behind a curtain. Grab a seat on a hay bail. Relax. You've arrived at Islington's most exciting new restaurant.

Chocolate Custard Muffins Recipe

Sunday morning we awoke to find London covered in a thick duvet of snow. Big feathery flakes had started falling before we fell asleep — the first snow of winter illuminated the city in a pure white glow. Hello? Are you listening to me wax lyrical about the enchanting affect of frozen water? No, you're fixated on the image above, the glistening, cocoa-saturated handful you want to get your teeth into, instead of hearing about the weather. Yeah, I don't blame you, (I've been eating them and you really need to soon) let's get down to the business of chocolate custard muffins.

Violet Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake with Treacle Fudge Frosting Recipe

Our neighbours welcomed a cute new flatmate recently — a baby.  Many visitors bestow infants with onesies or hats topped with animal ears, but I like to treat the parents. Parents love cake. When their little girl's name was revealed I was instantly inspired to find some crystallised 'Violet' petals to add a personalised touch to a cake recipe I've been eager to try. Almost nine months later (new parents are quite busy!) Violet Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake was born in my kitchen. 

Sure, the kid couldn't eat any of it (she has many years ahead to juggle a conflicted love affair with desserts) but she seemed happy enough watching us scoff thick chocolaty slices as she gnawed on green beans.