Ricotta hot cakes

Sometimes it's nice to put a bit of effort into breakfast... And this is a good one for a special occasion - Bill Granger's ricotta hot cakes...

I first had these on the last day of a trip to Australia, at the excellent Sydney cafe, Bill's. It's feels like quite a decadent breakfast, and they definitely look pretty impressive, covered in fruit or syrup, but the light, open texture, means they don't slow you down too much for the rest of the morning.

At Bill's cafe, they are served with banana and honeycomb butter, which is very, very tasty, but the honeycomb takes a while to make, and seems a bit more indulgent than just using fruit. Having said that, as well as strawberries, I made a cheats version of blueberry sauce, using some jam, some berries, icing sugar and water, so I suppose mine still had a fair sugar kick. But I did throw in a couple of handfuls of rolled oats to make it (seem) a little healthier.

It seems like there are a few steps involved in this, but it's not that much effort really, and your breakfast companion(s) will certainly be impressed... Have a go.

Serves 4.
For the hot cakes:
225g ricotta
170ml milk
4 eggs, separated
140g plain flower
1 tsp baking powder
2 handfuls of rolled oats
a pinch of salt
a few small knobs of butter
For the blueberry sauce:
a punett of blue berries
2-3 tsps of strawberry or blackberry jam
1 tsp icing sugar
a splash of water

To serve:
Strawberries or seasonal fruit

Method:
Whisk the egg whites so they form stiff peaks.
Mix the egg yolks, ricotta and milk together in a mixing bowl, and then sift in the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt. Stir in the oats if you're using them. Fold the egg whites into the other flour and ricotta mixture, so it's just combined.

Put a small pan on a medium heat, and add the jam, blueberries, water and icing sugar, and bring to the boil. Turn the heat right down then leave to simmer until the berries have softened and the liquid has reduced slightly.

Heat a frying pan on a medium heat, and grease with a small knob of butter. Add the hot cake batter a spoonful or so at a time, and cook in batches.

The hot cakes will take about 3-4 minutes on each side, but you'll know when they're ready to be flipped because they'll come away from the bottom of the pan. Flip them and cook for another few minutes. Breakfast, Sydney style...

A smokey ricotta

One of our canapes is grilled flatbreads with garden herb lentils and home made ricotta.

I was tasked with researching the ricotta recipe. I have to admit, I left this until the very last minute. But did find a few suitable recipes. What looked like the best one used buttermilk, whilst others used cream, or even just milk. Some included salt, some didn't. Some vinegar, some lemon...

We opted for milk, cream, and yoghurt, in place of buttermilk. We also heated it too high because we got our fahrenheit and our celcius mixed up. Which caused it to burn. but that has given it a smokey taste, which should work ok with the lentils.

Here it is, just before the flatbreads were grilled

4 pints of whole milk.

3 pints yoghurt

1 pint double cream

juice of half a juicy lemon

a pinch of salt

Rinse a stainless steel pan with cold water.

Put the milk, yoghurt and cream in the pan, and heat on a medium heat. Give it an occasional stir to stop it catching. Once it gets to a simmer, tip in the lemon juice, and stir again.

When it gets to 180 degrees fahrenheit, take it off the heat, and leave it to settle for an hour or so. We burned ours buy letting it get too hot, which has given it a smoked ricotta taste...

Fold a muslin cloth a few times, or place a clean tea towel over a colander, and scoop the curds (the thick white mass, not the translucent liquid) into the colander. Leave it to drain for a good couple of hours, before gathering up the corners and giving it a final twist. Put in an airtight container and leave overnight.

The texture should be quite light and fluffy, but also creamy. The longer you leave it to drain for, the drier it will be.

See how you get on.