Crêpes

Dessert: serves 4. Total time: 20 minutes

Fill these crêpes with whatever takes your fancy, a sprinkling of sugar and squeeze of lemon juice, warmed jam, chocolate sauce, a scoop of ice-cream, or poached fruits and whipped cream. Though rarely is it that glamorous, more usually a line-up of coloured squeezy bottles. Hence the child-appeal.

75g plain flour
1/2tbsp caster sugar
a pinch of sea salt
100ml water
125ml full-cream milk
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
25g unsalted butter, melted

Whisk together all the ingredients for the crêpes except for the butter. Leave this batter to stand for one hour and just before cooking the crêpes, beat the melted butter into the batter. Heat a cast-iron frying pan with a base diameter of 18cm. Coat the base of the pan with the mixture, but not too lightly if you are planning to fill them. When the pancake appears dry and pitted on the top side, loosen the edges with a palette knife and turn it.

Cook all the crêpes in this fashion, stacking them on a plate. Cover them with foil to keep them warm. You can fold, roll or fill them with whatever takes your fancy. If you want to make a savoury crêpe, add just a teaspoon, rather than half a tablespoon, of sugar to the batter.