Pancake Tuesday is nearly here and this year it coincides with Saint David’s Day so here’s a recipe which includes pancakes of course, and celebrates some delicious Welsh produce.
Baked Leek and Parma Ham Wrapped in a Pancake, Topped with Mature Cheese and Miso Sauce
Leeks, cheese and ham are a match made in heaven so we’ve used these classic flavours but added a few twists to tempt you. The leeks are wrapped in parma ham and roasted in a miso stock. Once cooked they are each rolled in a pancake, covered with a creamy mature cheese sauce and finished in the oven to colour the cheese.
Serve as a snack, a starter or as a full meal. This dish is a great way of using up extra pancakes you have made or any leftover pancake batter.
You can even make this recipe in advance so you are super-organised and ready just to heat up and eat. Plus everyone gets to have hot pancakes at the same time!
Ingredients
Serves 2 as a main course or Serves 4 as a starter or snack
Baked Leeks
50ml cold water
1 tsp miso paste
2 tbsp white wine
1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs
generous helping of freshly ground pepper
2 leeks topped and tailed, cut in half lengthways
4 slices of parma ham
3 chopped small gherkins
Pancakes (makes 4-6 depending on the size of the pan)
70g plain flour
pinch of salt
100ml milk
50ml cold water
1 egg
12g butter melted plus a bit extra for greasing the pan
Cheese Sauce
25g butter
25g plain flour
300ml milk
75g mature cheese grated (we love Snowdonia Black Bomber Extra Mature Cheddar)
2 tsp (heaped) dijon mustard
the liquid that the leeks were cooked in.
Extra bits to remember
You will need to cook the leeks in an oven-proof dish which has a lid or can be covered with foil.
We used a 22 cm diameter crepe pan to make the pancakes but you can use any frying pan.
Here’s How:-
- Make the pancake mixture. Put the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the egg. In a jug mix the water and milk together then slowly add to the bowl and whisk to a smooth batter. Leave the batter to rest for 20 minutes.
- Bake the leeks. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
- Mix the cold water, miso paste, white wine and dried herbs together and pour into the oven-proof dish big enough to fit the leeks into.
- Wrap each halved leek with a slice of parma ham and place in the oven-proof dish. Top with a generous helping of freshly ground black pepper, cover with a lid or some foil.
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Cook the pancakes. Mix the12g of melted butter to the rested pancake batter.
- Heat the pancake pan over a medium heat, then once up to temperature add a small amount of butter to grease the pan.
- Take the pan off the heat and using a ladle, pour 2-3 tbsp of the batter into the pan and swirl around quickly to cover the base. Then return to the heat and cook for about 45-50 seconds until golden then using a palette knife flip the pancake over and cook the other side for a further 30 seconds.
- Slide the pancake onto a plate and then repeat until all the mixture has been used up.
- Make the cheese sauce. Into a saucepan melt 25g of butter, then mix in 25g of plain flour with a wooden spoon and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
- Remove from the heat and start to add the milk a small amount at a time and stirring all the time. Once all the milk is added, the mixture should be smooth.
- Return to the heat and stir continuously until the sauce begins to thicken, around 3 minutes.
- Add 2/3 of the grated cheese, the mustard and the cooking liquid left the leeks being baked, and mix together until the cheese has melted. Taste the sauce and decide if you need to add black pepper or more mustard.
- Assemble the dish. Roll each leek wrapped in parma ham in a pancake and return to the oven-proof dish and repeat with the other leek halves wrapped in the parma ham.
- Then top the dish with the cheese sauce and sprinkle with the remaining third of grated cheese.
- Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes if the ingredients are still warm or if they have been made in advance, it will take about 20-25 minutes until the cheese has melted and the sauce is starting to bubble.
- Remove the dish and serve with chopped gherkins for acidity.
