Aldo Zilli's basic pancake recipe

A classic recipe to make basic pancakes. To make them a bit more interesting you can add the following twists.

Coconut milk pancakes
Use coconut milk instead of normal milk when making pancakes. This is one for those with a sweet tooth! Top with sliced banana, toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of honey.

Gorgonzola and pear pancakes
Cook the pears in a pan for a couple of minutes before filling a hot pancake with them. Sprinkle the fruit with crumbled blue cheese - the savoury cheese and the sweet pears make an unexpectedly tasty combination.

Pancake tagliolini
Make pancakes and then slice so that they resemble tagliatelle. Deep fry and serve on top of ice cream dusted with icing sugar and a sprinkle of chocolate. I sell this in my restaurant Zilli Fish with a Grand Marnier and orange sauce which also works well.

Chocolate pancakes with ricotta
Add shaved chocolate or cocoa powder and sugar to your pancake mix. Then stuff the pancakes with ricotta - making sure you flavour the ricotta with something sweet, such as sugar, or savoury, like grated cheese, as on its own it has little flavour. If you go for the sweet option, a good thing to dress the ricotta mix with is candied fruits.

Open pancake ravioli with tiger prawns
Pan fry tiger prawns with cherry tomatoes and a dash of white wine. Then lay a pancake down, add the filling and cover with another pancake to make a sandwich. You don't need to save this for pancake day - it's a great alternative supper dish if you don’t like pasta.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese with dill
Chop some dill and combine with cream cheese and strips of smoked salmon for a delicious pancake filling with a difference. Alternatively, why not swap the smoked salmon for some smoked trout or mackerel?

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