Yotam Ottolenghi’s Savory Green Pancakes with Lime Butter

The Lime Butter

1. Place the Butter (½ Cup or 113 g) in a bowl. Let it soften at room temperature for 30 minutes or more

2. I recommend using organic Lime as we are going to use the zest

3. Wash the Lime

4. To grate the Lime Zest (1), my favorite zester tool is the "microplane"

5.  Do not grate the fruit on the zester

6.  Instead, grate the zester on the fruit, this will ensure you are not grating the white skin which is bitter

7. Grate the zest, and then squeeze the Lime Juice (1 ½ tablespoons)

8. Dice and add 1 tablespoon into the bowl

9. Crush and add the Garlic Clove (1)

10.  Add the Chile Flakes (Crushed red pepper (¼ teaspoon) unless you don't like spicy and hot chiles !

11. Combine in a bowl: The Butter (½ Cup or 113 g), The Lime Zest (1), The Lime Juice (1 ½ tablespoons), The Salt (¼ teaspoon), The White Pepper (½ teaspoon), The Coriander leaves (cilantro) (1 tablespoon), The Garlic Clove (1), The Chile Flakes (Crushed red pepper (¼ teaspoon)

12. Mix all this together

13. Tip onto plastic wrap

14. Twist the ends of the wrap to seal

15. Hold the ends, and roll to tighten : This is what you should get

16.  Place in the refrigerator

The Spinach Pancakes

17.  Wilt the Spinach Leaves ( ½lbs or 227 g) with a small quantity of water in a pan on high heat

18. Drain the leaves

19. Squeeze hard on the leaves to remove as much water as possible (as you don't want your pancakes to turn soggy)

20.  Even though Ottolenghi doesn't mention it, I transfer the leaves onto cold water (to preserve the color)

21. Roughly chop the Spinach Leaves with a knife

22. Melt the Butter (¼ Cup or 57 g)

23. In a mixing bowl, place: the Flour (⅔ Cup or 90 g), the Baking Powder (1 Tablespoon or 12 g), The Egg (1), the Butter (¼ Cup or 57 g), the Salt (½ teaspoon), the Cumin (½ teaspoon or 2 g), the Milk (⅔ Cup or 157 g)

24. Whisk together with a fork or with a wire whip

25. Dice the Green Onions ('Scallions') (6)

26.  Ottolenghi recommends to use Green Chiles (2), which you can skip if you don't like hot spices

27. Open the Green Chiles and remove the seeds

28. Dice

29. Add into the bowl the Spinach Leaves ( ½lbs or 227 g), the Green Onions ('Scallions') (6) and the Green Chiles (2)

30. Gently mix

31. Whisk the Egg Whites (2) : you don't want to over mix it, stop beating at the soft peak stage or you won't be able to incorporate it well into the batter

32. Add the Egg Whites (2) into the bowl

33. Gently fold the Egg Whites (2) into the batter, using a hand whisk and then a rubber spatula

34. Do not whisk !!

Cooking

35. You may use a frying pan or a griddle

36.  Spray a splash of Olive Oil

37. You may use an ice cream scoop to get the same size across your pancakes and english muffin rings to shape them. To purchase online, see HERE

38. For the pancakes size : Yottolenghi mentions that pancakes should be about 2.75" (or 2 3/4" or 7 cm) in diameter and 0.39" (or 25/64" or 1 cm) thick.

39. Ladle the batter, press down

40. Shake the rings to form circles

41. Remove the rings right away and cook for about 2 minutes

42. Cook the other side for approximately 2 minutes

43. Set the pancakes aside

44. Slice the Lime Butter

45. Place a slice of lime butter on one of 3 pancakes

46. If the butter doesn't melt, heat the plate in the microwave