Shrove Tuesday - Surprise dinner guests.....

As you all know today is pancake Tuesday, we had pancakes for lunch - decadent may I say. Now the catch is for dinner we are having guest over, at the last minute, and this has thrown me. Never let it be said we did not follow through with the theme - Pancakes.

Our main meal will be fish, as the guys went out yesterday and caught fresh fish. Between the three of them they caught 6 dolphin, 3 red snapper, 2 barracuda, 5 jumping jacks - not bod for a days work. It is there intention to cook it in a pit on the  beach, this is where this girl steps aside and says go for it boys..... some of the fish we are having tonight;

Here are the lads cooking the fish, did I mention that the wind decided to pickup but that would never stop an Aussie boy and his beach BBQ;

and the fire aka cooking;

Great job guys.

For my part I am sticking with the Pancake (aka crepe) theme with my version of an apple pie, pancake style;

This may appear difficult but it is very easy and can be made ahead, you can even make it and freeze the cake, unfortunately today I did not have this foresight........

ingredients for the crepes:

• 1 cup plain flour, sift
• 2 large eggs
• 11/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

ingredients for the apple filling:

• 14 large cooking apples
• juice of 1 lemon
• 75g butter, unsalted
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

ingredients for caramel sauce: (optional)

• 50 g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

lets begin making the crepes:

1. Place sifted flour, eggs and mil in a food processor and blend till smooth.
2. Add melted butter and blend again briefly.
3. Pour batter into a jug and allow batter to rest for a minimum of 10 minutes.
4. Heat your crepe pan and brush with butter all over.
5. Pour in enough batter (approximately 3 tablespoons) to cover the base of your pan with a thin coating of batter, tilt the pan to distribute evenly.
6. Cook over medium/sub medium heat until the top of the crepe sets and the edges turn golden brown. Briefly remove the pan from the heat, this will allow you to turn the crepe with a spatula and fingers easily (careful not to burn yourself, some of you may be able to flip, I congratulate you)
7. Slide the crepe from the pan onto a plate and cover with light tea towel.
8. I tend to wipe the pan with kitchen paper after each crepe, so in essence I am starting with a new pan for each crepe (for me it makes a difference in the final product)
9. Also I tend to gently stir the batter between making each crepe.
10. Continue this process until all the batter is finished and set aside

lets make the apple filling:

1. Peel and core all apples, place the apples in a bowl of water containing the lemon juice (this prevents the apples going brown)
2. Cut each apple into thin even slices
3. In a frying pan place some butter, sugar and spices.
4. Add some of the apples and cook on medium/high for about 10 minutes until tender, but each should still continue to hold there shape (VIP), turn occasionally, when read place aside gently in a bowl.
5. Repeat this process for all you sliced apples (may I suggest you do similar sizes together as this allows for regulated cooking in your pan)

lets assemble the cake:

1. On an oven tray place one crepe.
2. Cover this crepe with a thin layer of apples (place apples around the edge first and then fill in the centre area)
3. Continue to layer crepes and apples till you have eight layers to your cake.
4. Cover your cake loosely with foil and refrigerate, remove from the fridge 1-2 hours before baking.
5. Bake in a preheated oven 170C for 30 - 45 minutes or until warm

lets make the quick and easy caramel sauce:

1. Place the butter, cream and sugar in a microwave bowl and microwave on medium for 90 seconds
2. Blend with a hand beater until smooth and you are done
3. Heat prior to serving, serve in a jug

Due to the construction of this cake it is very important to use a sharp knife with a cake lifter, place the cake lifter under the cake first then cut and lift (learnt this from experience). I serve this with either cream, ice cream plus caramel sauce.

At the end of the night we all had a great time, you can never beat fresh fish, nor can you ever beat Pancake Tuesday...... XXoo S