6 dinner ladies and some recipes

just spent a very interesting ten minutes reading the dissection of the restaurant undertaken by the 6 dinner ladies. i was not working the night that they came in but they will, hopefully, be happy to know that most of what they subsequently wrote in their blog, was relayed to me the following day; reviewing service and dishes on a daily basis is one of the things that we try to do. you can read their opinions here http://6dinnerladies.blogspot.co.uk/ i've put the recipe for the umeboshi tofu in the newsletter so i'll do the crespelle here. one of the comments that i didn't like, and it is one that has been made before (and i didn't like it then either) was the accusation that we use the correct terminology to confuse or look clever. we don't and when i say we i mean me, the language that i use is the langauage of the food. every pie that we do, whether it be a b'stilla, spanakopita, fatayer, pithivier could also be called a pasty. what would we gain by doing so, we would be doing a dis-service to the food. what should we have called ravioli, cannelloni etc when they were not well known. umeboshi plums are umeboshi plums, there is no alternative. we could call tofu soy cheese but would that be any clearer. i'll continue to do what i do and that is try to produce decent food. i'll call it the name that it was called in the place that it originated and if this upsets you, please feel free to close your mind off further; gregg's sell pasties, we do not. anyway with that off my chest, the pancake recipe. this is a simple dish that is anything but, involving as it does, several different processes. pancakes wild garlic or spinach, a handful plain flour soy milk silken tofu salt and pepper put about 250g plain flour in a jug and add two teaspoons of silken tofu, the salt and pepper and the garlic/spinach. add soy milk and blend with a hand blender. continue adding until you have a pancake batter. using a good non-stick pan make the pancakes. filling. vegan ricotta: place some cashew nuts in a blend and cover with soy milk. blend until smooth, adding more milk if necessary. transfer to a food processor and add a block of firm tofu and season with plenty of lemon juice, salt and pepper. now add some nutmeg and more spinach and wild garlic and blend to create the filling, checking the seasoning. take the pancakes and place some filling in the centre. roll the pancake over and place in the oven. cook until crispy. serve with a salad and tomato sauce (also in the last newsletter but i quite like the arrabiata one of lloyd grossman) cheers wayne