The Cream Puff's Ricotta Pancakes from Bill Granger

I'm just going to start this post with a "pardon me for the awful pictures" disclaimer. I will freely admit that my photography skills are sadly lacking. I'm the girl who always has her camera and loves to take pictures but they're never those gorgeous, artsy pictures. Digital cameras are thus perfect for me because I can delete 50% of the pictures that I take. I took my sister's fancy schmancy film camera with me to France when I studied there (don't you just love the authentic "click" sound that a camera shutter makes when it closes? It's one of my favorite sounds . . .) and I did manage to take some nice, artsy pictures there (of course they're film so I can't post them, you'll just have to believe me) and I don't know who was more shocked, me or my sister. I lived a block, maybe two, from this amazing market in the Croix-Russe section of Lyon and this market was everything a market should be. I used to love to go and just look at all of the fantastic produce and meats and cheeses that were for sale and one morning I took my camera and managed to capture the market in the right sort of light. So, the reason for that random story? Apparently I can take good pictures maybe once every 25 years, the rest are mediocre, and the following pictures are just plain bad.

Any time I'm trying to take a picture of what I'm eating for dinner that night it's bound to be bad. I start getting hungry around 6 pm. I get home from class at 6:30 and I usually end up eating around 7:30 or 8 pm and by that time I'm starving and I generally don't care about blogging or pictures, I just want to eat! If the pictures are bad I often just hit delete and the world will have to survive without knowing about my dinner. These pancakes though . . . they are so good! They're heavenly, wonderful, light and fluffy things and I had to post about them. I found the recipe on Cream Puffs in Venice under a post with one of the best titles I've ever seen, "My Kingdom for Pancakes!" I might not give my kingdom for a horse but I'd give my kingdom for these pancakes, they're just that good. The recipe comes from Bill's Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner and I loved the pancakes so much that I attempted to purchase it but it's out-of-print right now, and darn expensive used, so I'll have to live without it for the time being. I do have a renewed desire to go to Sydney though.

I made this pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I grew up eating pancakes (and other breakfast treats) for dinner on Shrove Tuesday and I can't let that tradition die! I'm not the world's biggest fan of butter and maple syrup on my pancakes, I prefer strawberries and powdered sugar (or even better, whipped cream) but I'm also a big fan of chocolate chips too! I had Sorrento Whole Milk ricotta cheese that I used and it was perfect -- not too wet at all. I will say, this recipe isn't hard but it's another one that's long on bowls and other mixing paraphenalia. I wouldn't make it every night but I think that it's perfect for a time when you want the pancakes to be the star of the show (or you're really craving some heavenly pancakes!).

Ricotta Pancakes
Cream Puffs in Venice

1-1/2 cups ricotta (try to use a dry ricotta, otherwise drain your ricotta in a paper-towel lined colander overnight in the refrigerator)
1 tbsp. sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup plus two tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. grated orange zestunsalted butter (for cooking the pancakes)

In a bowl, combine the ricotta, sugar, milk and egg yolks. Mix well and set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the ricotta mixture. Add the vanilla extract and orange zest and mix well.
In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites until they’re stiff.
Gently fold the egg whites into the ricotta mixture.
Heat a pan or griddle and melt a few tablespoons of butter in the pan. Drop about a quarter cup of batter into the pan for each pancake. Don’t overcrowd the pan.
Cook for two to three minutes on the first side. The pancake will be golden. Flip and cook for an additional two minutes.
Serve warm with butter and syrup. Enjoy!

Side Note: Kim O'Donnel, who writes the food blog "A Mighty Appetite" for the Washington Post is hosting an Eating Down the Fridge Challenge next week. The goal is to use what's in your fridge, freezer, pantry for the week to 1) avoid a trip to the grocery store and 2) see how creative we can get in the kitchen when we can't run to the store. I'm going to give it my best shot and if you'd like to join up you can email her (the information is provided through the links on this post) and join in. It's not limited to the Washington D.C. area and people around the country have signed up!