Mountain

a third parent, better tasting protein pancakes

Food news of the week:

I talk about whether the Brat team bringing Mountain to central London was a good idea, in today’s review. Then pancakes, in honour of Shrove Tuesday next week, higher in protein and thankfully not low in taste. Also went to try Alley Cats with

Marzipan

and enjoyed stretchy, well-sauced slices that hold stiff and flat when released from the pie. They have the perfect selection of dips and a crisp, bouncy crust.

Science of the week:

What if you had a third parent?

So we have DNA from each of our parents, and also mitochondrial DNA that’s passed from our mothers only. But there’s a whole cluster of metabolic disorders associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, and now scientists are looking into fusing healthy mitochondria from a donor egg cell, with the nuclear DNA of a mother, to improve the recipient’s metabolic function. Some say it’s unethical, but if metabolism is as core to our overall health as the genetic factors that make up who we are, then aren’t we in a good position to assume that mitochondrial DNA is just as vital as nuclear DNA?

Insight of the week:

I’ve dipped in and out of Brianna Wiest’s 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think, a simple compilation of her essays old and new. She discusses the interplay between thoughts and experiences and the way we move through the world. One of my favourite quotes is ‘Fear and pain let you know that you are doing something worthwhile’. Not everything should be easy and smooth-sailing. Sometimes fear should let you guide you towards an unexpected adventure, instead of making you shy away from it.

Recipe of the week:

In honour of upcoming Pancake Day, here’s one of my favourite pancake recipes in the archives. They are the easiest to make, using a very underrated ingredient: cottage cheese, for pleasant tang and lots of protein.

Cottage cheese white chocolate pancakes (makes 6-8 medium pancakes)

Ingredients

250g (one tub) cottage cheese

2 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

50g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

30-40g (large handful) white chocolate, chopped

30g (2 tbsp) melted butter, plus some extra for cooking on the pan

Directions

In a bowl, whisk together the cottage cheese, eggs and sugar well. Leave the lumps, you want them for both texture and flavour. Then fold in the flour, baking powder and white chocolate with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Finally, add the melted butter. Whisk until everything is well incorporated. Add a pat of butter to your pan, then put your pan on medium heat and wait for the butter to completely melt. Add 1/4 cup of heaping tablespoons of the batter to the pan and let them cook for at least 2 minutes on the bottom side before flipping. The pancakes tend to look nicer as you go on cooking, the first ones usually aren’t very pretty. These take slightly longer than normal pancakes to cook, so be patient. The second side will take about a minute to cook.

Enjoy warm with butter and maple syrup. Yummmmm.

Restaurant of the week:

The Brat team hit central London and in doing so somehow lost even more of its pizzaz.