Ricotta Pancakes
I lived in Sydney, Australia for 6 months back in 2002. (check out my new about page to learn more) While there, I worked in the kitchen at a French restaurant. No one has peeled as many shallots as I have…trust me! Along with being a professional shallot peeler, (among other dinner prep tasks) I got a front row seat to the inner workings of a fancy, famous restaurant. It was such a fun and educational experience…one I’ll never forget!
Before returning back home, I stocked up on a few cookbooks that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get in the US. My favorite among them being ‘Sydney Food’ by Bill Granger. I cooked from this book A LOT when I got home. Every single recipe is just perfect and so delicious. Bill is a self-taught chef and the owner of Bill’s along with other restaurants in Australia and England. Bill’s ricotta pancakes (or hotcakes as he calls them) are my favorite and I make them all the time. They are light and airy thanks to the whipped egg whites. I like to add vanilla to the batter for extra flavor. We had them this weekend which made our Sunday morning so much brighter. I recommend making these ricotta pancakes if you want a brighter morning too!
Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 cups ricotta
- 3/4 cup milk
- 4 egg, separated
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- A pinch of salt
- Butter
- Maple syrup and powdered sugar to serve
Directions:
Place ricotta, milk, egg yolks and vanilla in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Sift the flour and baking powder together and stir into the ricotta mixture. Beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt to stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the batter in two batches with a large spoon or spatula. Heat a grill pan over low-medium heat, melt butter and ladle a couple tbsps worth of batter per pancake onto the griddle and cook for about 2 minutes until just golden, flip and cook 1-2 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Serve right away with lots of salted butter, warm maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar.
To keep pancakes warm
Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet, line the pancakes in a single layer on the cooling rack and put them in a 200F oven. This will keep the pancakes nice and warm but they won’t get soggy because they’ll have good air circulation as they sit up on the cooling rack.
Oh man, it’s been way too long since I’ve had these! May need to make them this weekend….but I like them sooooo much better when you make them for me!
I could try and ship them!