February Magazine

chocolate and orange pancakes
When it’s Pancake Day, everyone loves taking part in the
Shrove Tuesday celebration of cooking up some simple
ingredients to make a delicious pudding. These chocolate
and orange pancakes make a nice change from plain
versions.
INGREDIENTS :
METHOD :
90g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
25g caster sugar
1 large egg
300ml semi-skimmed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Sunflower oil, for frying
For the filling:
2 medium oranges
250g tub ricotta cheese
25g plain chocolate, grated
25g sugar
Grate the zest from one of the oranges into a bowl.
Cut away the peel and pith from both oranges and cut
into segments, allowing the juice to drip into the bowl,
but put the segments on a plate to one side. Beat the
ricotta into the orange rind and juice until smooth and
fold in the grated chocolate.
To make the pancakes:
Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl and add the sugar.
Beat the egg, milk and vanilla extract together then
add to the dry ingredients and whisk to make a smooth
batter. To cook the pancakes, warm a non-stick frying
pan, add a teaspoon of oil, then pour in a very large
tablespoon of batter which should be enough just to
cover the base thinly. Tilt the pan to distribute the batter
evenly. Place on the hob and cook over a medium
hot setting. When the edges are golden and the batter
looks set, toss or turn with a palette knife and cook the
other side for about 1 minute until golden. Remove
from the pan and keep warm. Lift the pan off the hob,
add another teaspoon of oil and add another spoonful
of batter. After tilting the pan, set back on the hob to
cook. Continue cooking the pancakes in this way until
all the batter is used. Place a tablespoon of the ricotta
filling onto each pancake and either roll up or fold into
a cornet, and decorate with two orange segments.
BOOK review - french
kissing
If only every girl could have a French penfriend like
Alexandre...
28-year-old Anna Mitchel has been writing letters to
Alexandre since they met on a school exchange trip
as young teenagers. Exam results, first jobs, and new
partners are detailed in their letters as time goes by,
but Anna never seems to have the time to hop on the
Eurostar and see her friend again after all these years. But
when Paris-based Alex, now a successful photographer,
is offered a job in London
and needs a place to stay,
Anna offers to put him up.
To her surprise, the
shy, skinny boy she
remembers is now tall,
broad-shouldered - and
gorgeous. Anna’s female
friends are soon swooning
over Alex, but he has just
broken up with his longterm
girlfriend, and has
no intention of embarking
on a relationship with
anyone else. Anna’s
steady boyfriend Nick is jealous of her friendship with a
handsome single man. Months go by, and Anna and her
penfriend grow closer and closer, till one day, Alex has
to return to Paris for a photography exhibition, and asks
Anna to accompany him, finally giving her the chance to
see the city he adores...
Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Strolling along the banks of the Seine and exploring the
narrow winding streets of Montmartre, Anna discovers
that Paris is also a city where it would be very easy to fall
in love. Even if the man you long to kiss still has feelings
for his ex, and regards you only as his amie Anglaise - his
English friend.
French Kissing is an original and witty novel, a pageturning
contemporary romance that is, at different
times, both light-hearted and sensuous. As the action
moves from London to Paris, these two vibrant cities are
brought vividly to life, while the chemistry between the
main characters simply leaps off the page.
22 Cestria Magazine