PANCAKE DAY CHICKEN

Time for something politically correct after the reindeer recipe last month.

Hey, Pancake Day is coming! I think it's interesting how every country has its own name for it: Mardi Gras, Pancake Day, Laskiainen (Finland), etc. I suppose Shrove Tuesday is the international term for it but no one uses it. It sounds a bit boring, doesn't it? Also, people don't really notice the religious connection nowadays so I say call the day whatever you like.

OK, so Brits make pancakes on Pancake Day. Yes, the clue is in the name but the point is that that's the only way they celebrate it. Not too exciting compared to Mardi Gras or a Venetian masked ball but at least it's something, and it's very unique which is great.

The Finns are a bit impatient when it comes to special occasions. We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, Midsummer on Midsummer's Eve, Easter on Good Friday, and Shrove Tuesday on... Sunday! The festivities include skiing, butt-sliding, tobogganing and general outdoors fun, followed by pea soup and brioche buns filled with cream and jam or almond paste.

We have some Finnish in-laws coming over next week and I think I'm going to give them a feel of Pancake Day. My father-in-law makes pretty good pancakes and we tend to make our guests earn their upkeep. My husband's always making people do the washing-up for us. I think that's just cruel but making pancakes is OK, right?

This savoury recipe is great if you want to use up any leftover pancakes on Wednesday, or if you want to do a full-on pancake dinner on Tuesday. Why not have pancakes for mains and dessert? I think this needs a dessert, to be honest – a win-win situation, then.


Serves two not-so-hungry people

Filling:
50g butter
2 gently poached chicken breasts, or leftover chicken.
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
1ooml good chicken gravy (if homemade, use chicken stock, swiss bouillon powder and garlic)
green chillies to taste
salt
5ml balsamic vinegar

To asseble:
2 or 3 English pancakes, ie. very thin pancakes. I made mine with gluten-free flour mix.
Mild cheddar
(a splash of gravy)


Fry the dry ingredients of the filling, add gravy and allow to simmer until celery softens. The filling needs to be quite thick because the pancakes, unlike lasagna sheets, will not absorb any of the liquid.




Layer the pancakes with the filling. If your top layer is a pancake, pour some gravy over the top, if it's chicken, leave the extra gravy out.

Cook under the grill (broiler), or in a very hot oven, until golden.

My husband can't handle chilli so there's extra sprinkled on my half. Yummy!

Enjoy!