Ricotta Hotcakes

One-fourth of the month of August is already gone. That is an even more depressing fact when I realize this is my first post of the month.  It's been a super busy summer for us and I'm sure your household is no exception.  I realized, by accident, that we recently ate a week's worth of vegetarian meals.  This isn't really a big deal for us accept my husband is a meat and potatoes man.  Even more ironically, my husband admitted that the vegetarian meals we had were so good that he didn't even miss eating meat. So I decided to run with it and add another vegetarian meal to the list.

This picture may look like ordinary pancakes, but I guarantee you, they do not taste like ordinary pancakes.  As the recipe title suggests, these are made with ricotta cheese.  This recipe comes from Bill Granger's cookbook, Bill's Sydney Food.Bill lives in Sydney, Australia and runs a tiny little restaurant in the Darlinghurst region of the city.  It's unfortunate that I didn't cross paths with Bill's restaurant when I was living in Sydney because surely I would have become a regular there. His cuisine offerings focus more on breakfast and light lunch fare but that wouldn't stop me from preparing any of his dishes for dinner. I think I really enjoy his recipes because he is not a classically trained chef.  He has simply dabbled in food all of his life, cooks for his wife and children daily, and he worked hard to get his restaurant up and running. His focus, like many of my favorite chefs, is fresh, quality ingredients as the base for simple yet flavor-bursting dishes. 

These pancakes are true to that mentality. I love pancakes but absolutely refuse to make (or eat) them at home.  I can never get them to taste as they do in the restaurant. These hotcakes are my one and only exception and they are the only ones that I will make for my family.  Admittedly, these are a bit more work than your average "just add water" pancake mixes, but I don't care.  I will gladly dirty an extra bowl or two just to bite into one of these babies.  You don't even taste the ricotta.  It simply brings creaminess and body to the plate.  The key is in the egg whites.  You must beat the egg whites to a stiff peak before folding them into the batter. However, it is really easy to hand your 5-year-old the hand mixer and have them beat the egg whites while you prepare everything else.  This is a great recipe for involving little helping hands and you can essentially eat them any time of day.

Ricotta Hotcakes
Adapted from Bill's Sydney Food
Serves 4-6 (depending on the size of the hotcakes)

1 and 1/2 cup ricotta
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
butter

For Serving:
confectioners sugar
maple syrup


Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into another bowl.  Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.

Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.  Fold egg whites through the batter (the book says in two batches, however, I have sometimes done it all at once and didn't notice a difference) with a large metal spoon.

Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of butter (butter tastes better, but you can substitute a cooking spray) and drop approximately 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan.  Don't cook more than 4 at a time as you need a little extra "flipping room."

Cook over low to medium heat for 2 minutes or until the undersides are golden.  Flip hotcakes (carefully! they are delicate) and cook on the the other side until golden and cooked through. 

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar or maple syrup and serve immediately.

NOTE:  The book indicates that the hotcake batter can be stored for up to 24 hours, covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator.  I have not yet tried this but I image they do it at the restaurant all the time.