recipe
Zucchini pancakes with crème fraîche and salmon roe
Despite my partner and I being chefs with more than 50 years of experience between us, and despite having managed to cook calmly under all sorts of pressure, when it came time to start feeding our small person solids, we were scared and confused. Suddenly the stakes were higher, there was choking and nutrition to worry about, the threat of allergies and the harsh realities that it’s an endless task to be repeated consistently. Three times a day, no weekends. Plus snacks. It’s a lot of pressure.
Luckily for us, we managed to conquer our fears and get on with it like parents everywhere. Also luckily, we have a hungry child who, so far, seems willing to try all things. I feel it’s in part because he’s spent so much time at our restaurants where the strong food smells, the fire and the spices have seeped into his pores. I also secretly sprinkled pepper into everything he ate from quite early on.
There are a few things to consider when making food for a small child.
1. Make things you would be happy to eat too, as inevitably you will end up either snacking on their leftovers or on the bits of food they so kindly stuff into your mouth after they’ve had a little chew. Also, they may flat out refuse it, in which case you get to eat it all.
2. You need things that are quick and easy to whip up. Easy, because sleep deprivation makes everything about 75 times more difficult; and quick, because a child deprived of food can very speedily turn beastly.
3. Make things in batches, some to eat now and some to freeze for later.
4. Green things are good, healthy and important, as is variety – as much as you can deal with.
5. Unlike a frozen banana and peanut butter snack that Instagram tricked me into making one day, low mess is the goal.
Happily for us, the little beauties in this recipe fit all these categories. I have also given the option to fluff it up and make it into a grown-up canapé with the addition of crème fraîche and roe. It’s a bit of a throwback to the early 2000s but delicious nonetheless. Alternatively, you could make slightly larger pancakes and have them for breakfast, perhaps with a poached egg and some bacon on the side. Or, child or not, make a batch of these to snack on, safe in the knowledge you’re having a little bit of something healthy.
Time: 20 minutes preparation + cooking
Makes 14-17
- 1 bunch English spinach (about 220g)
- 1 medium zucchini (about 140g)
- splash of olive oil for cooking
- salt flakes and black pepper for seasoning
- zest of 1 small lemon
- 60g Greek yoghurt
- 2 medium eggs, separated
- 50g self-raising flour
- butter (about 30g) for cooking
- 180g crème fraîche
- 100g salmon roe
- Take the spinach, still in a bunch, and lay it on a chopping board. Cut across the leaves to roughly shred them. Keep chopping down to about two centimetres from the base, but when chopping through the stalks, cut a little finer.
- Wash the spinach thoroughly in a colander, as it tends to sneakily hide dirt. Leave it to drain and get as much water off as possible.
- Grate your zucchini and heat a heavy-based saucepan to a medium heat. Add a healthy splash of oil, let it heat and then add in the zucchini. Cook, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick, until it softens nicely and starts to break down (about three to four minutes).
- Turn the heat to high and add the spinach. You want to keep stirring and cooking until the spinach is very wilted and the vegetable mix becomes quite soft and dry (about four to five more minutes depending how much liquid the spinach has held on to). During this stage, add some seasoning – lightly if you are cooking for small humans, more heavily if it’s for grown-ups.
- Once the vegetable mix is ready, turn it out into a bowl and zest in the lemon. Let it cool for a couple of minutes and then add in the yoghurt and mix well.
- Next, the egg yolks go in with the vegetable mixture, along with the flour. Mix well – it should look like a thick batter.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and then fold them through the batter in a couple of goes.
- Now, get a heavy-based frypan over a high heat. Once hot, add in a little butter to coat the base, then use a large kitchen spoon to scoop about 25 grams of the mixture into the pan to make a mini pancake. Continue swiftly in this manner with as many pancakes as can comfortably fit in the pan. Once they are all in, turn the heat down. Give them about 90 seconds on the first side, flip, and then give them another 90 seconds on the other. As they are ready, transfer to a wire rack. You want a little colour but not too much. Wipe out your pan with a paper towel, add a little more butter and repeat until all the mix is cooked.
- If you have a child like mine, you will probably already be handing pancakes to him as soon as they are cool enough to hold as he yells, “More!” If, however, you want to do the canapé version, let all the pancakes cool a little before constructing, so they look like the lovely photo here. Alternatively, serve them warm with the crème fraîche and roe on the side for people to scoop at whim.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on November 15, 2025 as "Zucchini pancakes with crème fraîche and salmon roe".
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