Grapefruit Mascarpone Pancakes with Maple Creme Fraîche

One of the things I’ve been doing to entertain myself during this lock-down is to buy foods I don’t usually buy, to force myself to get creative and cook things I don’t usually make. This weekend, I went citrusy. While I love citrus fruits, I rarely buy grapefruit - I’ve always found it a little too bitter for my liking. So the thing to do, of course, was to buy myself some grapefruit. The search for inspiration that followed took me to cookbook author and food photographer Eva Kosmas Flores, whose website ‘Adventures in Cooking’ is an absolute delight. So was her recipe, which I’ve adapted slightly for you below.

Ingredients (serves 2):

grapefruit mascarpone pancakes
90g mascarpone
80mL milk (room temperature)
1 egg (room temperature)
3 tbsp honey
zest of 1/2 grapefruit
2 tsp grapefruit juice
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup self-raising flower
dash of cinnamon

* additional butter for cooking the pancakes

maple cream
1/2 cup creme fraiche
3 tbsp maple syrup

to top
1 1/2 grapefruit, sliced
sprinkle with cinnamon

Instructions:
1. Start by making the pancakes. First, mix together the mascarpone, milk and egg until smooth. Then add the honey, grapefruit juice and zest and melted butter, and mix in well.

2. Place the self raising flour in a large bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon. Make an indentation in the middle and pour the mascarpone-egg mixture in slowly, using a whisk to mix it with the dough. Keep adding the liquid, little by little, stirring all the while to incorporate the flour. Stop when all the flour is absorbed and the mixture is smooth - don’t over-mix.

3. Heat a large skillet, then add butter. When the butter is hot, pour in enough of the dough mixture to make pancakes about 8cm in diameter (I used about 2 tbsp dough per pancake). Cook each side until lightly browned on each side (I’m not going to give you an exact cooking time here, because this will take shorter as your pan gets hotter).

4. In the meantime, stir together the creme fraîche and maple syrup. Slice the grapefruit, then cut the slices into pieces (I retained a couple of slices as garnish, and ate those too). :)

5. Divide over two plates, sprinkle the grapefruit over and drizzle with maple creme fraîche. Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon over, then serve.