Oven pancake with bacon and apples (fläskpannkaka med äpplen)

I've been ill for the last couple of weeks, I have this very persistent cold. When I'm ill I feel really sorry for myself and wish I was home and my mum could take care of me. Unfortunately I am a grown-up, and unless I'm extremely ill like last year when I had the swine flu and had to go into to the hospital for a bit, I have to take care of myself (but must say my flatmate does a great job of taking care of me too, she's a sweetheart). The next best thing after my mum at times like this is comfort food.

Maybe this is an expat thing, but I think it probably is the same for everyone, comfort food is food you grew up eating. One of favourite dinners growing up, and still when I go home, is a thick pancake with salty bacon. In Sweden you would use rimmat fläsk, which is a heavily salted fatty pork meat, here I used smoked bacon but I think pancetta would work as well. Instead of bacon, you can make this pancake with apples but then you might prefer having it as dessert. Here I used both bacon and apples as I like the contrast between salt and sweet. In Sweden you would eat your bacon pancake with sugar or lingonberry jam, thus you would get that contrast anyway. I'm not very keen on jams so I add the apples instead. To make this a meal, I serve it with a simple salad with grated carrots, grated cabbage and oranges.

Oven pancake with bacon and apples (6 portions)
600 g smoked bacon, chopped
2 apples
50 g butter
5 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 L milk
5 dl wheat flour

Fry the bacon in the pan until it starts to be slightly crispy

Whip the eggs, add the salt, 2 dl of milk, and flour, stir it until you have a smooth batter. Add the milk, a little at the time, and whip it until you have a smooth batter.

Put a large oven tray in the oven at 225C, add the butter to the tray

Once the butter has melted, add the bacon and apples to the tray. Pour over the pancake batter and put the tray in the oven.

Cook for ca 35 min until the pancake is golden and has risen.

Serve with sugar and jam if you like, and salad.

As I'm feeling a bit home-sick and nostalgic, I've been listening to Bo Kaspers Orkester a lot today, a band I listen to a lot during late evenings over endless cups of tea with my friends during my late teens/early twenties. Here is one of my favourites, Hon är så söt (She is so sweet)