Real pancakes, from a box

That's what she said.  And she meant it...without irony.

I suppose the phrase wouldn't have struck me if she and her troupe hadn't just spent the previous so many minutes trying to convince the rest of us that they were so much more advanced than us in every way: general sophistication, professional knowledge and the almighty and indisputable measurement of Twitter followers.  One even made a veiled comment on those of us sipping cups from a nearby coffee shop by calling a disaster when her ceramic travel mug from her favourite ubiquitous overpriced coffee house tumbled and smashed upon landing on the icy pavement.  Yeah, you know the type.

It's amazing how one little phrase, not intended to be heard by anyone other than the two who accompanied her, can not so much chink an armour, but tear a hole in dollar store tin foil.  No, I didn't buy their earlier assertions of superiority: her phrase simply confirmed my first impressions.

I know there are people who don't cook.  And I know there are people who think heating a frozen dinner and serving it in china serving dishes is counts as cooking, or filling frozen pastry shells with tinned pie filling is scratch baking.  I'm fully that there are those who, because of an accident of wealth, think their opinions are worth more than those who don't have the means to buy top end ingredients or eat at the finest restaurants.

I also know that someone's inability to make pancakes from scratch does not mean s/he is any less capable in areas that really count in life.

But really...these are pancakes.

Flour
Fat
Sugar
Salt
Eggs
Bicarb
Milk

The above is my version...I'm sure there are versions which don't use eggs, milk or other ingredients.  And I'm positive there are versions that add fruit, nuts, spices and other flavours or textures.

It's not as if you need esoteric equipment or source an ingredient that's only available in a remote region half a world away to make nummy nummy pancakes.  Heck, I'd argue using a box mix is probably a guarantee that you won't get nummy nummy pancakes.  Just pancakes.

But it was Pancake Tuesday and I was already in a pancakey-type mood.  Instead of either following Nigella Lawson's recipe or finding my lost recipe for blueberry buttermilk pancakes or even going back to my ricotta pancakes, I decided to trawl the web for something new.

With a small tub of cottage cheese in my fridge (why, I no longer remember), I decided to follow Whole Foods' recipe, but add a splash of vanilla to the batter.

Delicious, creamy and so easy to make.

No box needed.

Recipe: Fluffy Cottage Cheese Pancakes


cheers!
jasmine
 I'm a quill for hire!

Happy New Year: Ricotta Pancakes

Happy New Year!

All the best to you and yours in and I wish you a happy and healthy 2012, filled with good people, amazing adventures and (of course) good food.

And how best to start off a new year than with a good breakfast?

My appreciation of all things breakfasty isn't that much of a secret. Breakfast for supper is a regular occurrence, meeting friends (old and new) over brunch (which is just fancy breakfast) is my preferred meal, and what I look forward to most--when visiting Ireland and the UK--is a good full Irish/English breakfast.

Even though I usually make blueberry pancakes or plain buttermilk pancakes, I decided to play with some leftover ricotta in my fridge and try to make ricotta pancakes.

After looking at a number of recipes including these, I couldn't quite wrap my head around what made for a good ricotta pancake...thin batter or thick, stiffly beaten whites or whole eggs, even citrus or vanilla was in question.

After a couple of attempts I came up with the following recipe. Its batter is of a wet, dropping consistency, but not so much so. For fluffiness I decided to treat the pancake as I did my favourite waffles and beat the egg whites separately. The partial bowl of clementines on my dining room tilted my flavouring decision (but to tell you the truth, my first version used vanilla (which was fine, but I think citrus zest adds a lovely brightness to the pancakes).

Tender and fluffy pancakes--a nice way to welcome the New Year.

Ricotta Pancakes
Yield: approx 6 quarter plate-sized pancakes or approx 15-20 saucer-sized pancakes

Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
250g (250ml/1c) ricotta cheese
125ml (0.5c) milk
1.5Tbsp (20ml) sugar
1.5Tbsp (20ml) melted butter
1tsp grated orange or lemon zest
90g (185ml/0.66c) all purpose flour
0.5tsp (2.5ml) bicarbonate of soda
0.5tsp (2.5ml) baking powder
pinch salt
Butter or oil for frying

Method
Whip the four egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside.

Sift together the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a jug. In a separate bowl, mix well the two yolks, ricotta, milk, sugar, butter and zest. Stir the wet mixture into the dry, until it has barely combined (it's fine if it's lumpy with dry bits and wet bits).

Fold in the egg whites, in the usual three stage method: stir in well one third of the whites, fold in the next third, with a lighter hand, and then lightly fold in the rest of the whites doing your best to keep the batter as airy as possible.

Drop about a teaspoon or two of fat into a pan and let it become sizzling hot. Pour the batter, by spoon or by ladle, and let cook. When the pancakes start to bubble and spurt little bits of steam like geysers, carefully flip them over to let the second side cook.

Serve with warmed syrup, some honey, yoghurt or citrus curd.


cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!