RECIPE - Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you might as well make it good, right? Breakfast food really resonates with me; salty pork, crispy potatoes, runny eggs, toast...it really doesn't get much better. I don't really have a dog in the fight between pancakes and waffles, unless the pancakes are stuffed. Chocolate chips or blueberries are classic additions, but add a mixture of lemon zest and ricotta cheese, and you'll create believers in the almighty pancake.

I took this recipe directly from CHOW; follow up with it there if you like, or use my shorthand directions here. 

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for coating the frying pan and serving
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon packed finely grated lemon zest (from about 2 to 3 medium lemons)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
• Powdered sugar, fruit, or maple syrup, for serving (optional)
• 
  
• 1. Melt the butter in the milk and let cool.
  2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and 1/2 tea. of salt together.
  3. Separate eggs, keeping whites and yolks. Mix yolks, 1 tab. sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla together. Add cooled milk/butter mixture slowly in doses so you don't cook the eggs. Mix until smooth, then incorporate dry mixture from step 2.
  4. Whip egg whites until you get soft peaks. Halfway through, add the rest of the sugar and salt. Fold the whites into the mixture. 
  5. Add ricotta. The ricotta should be streaky and lumpy in the mixture; do not overmix the batter.
  6. Heat pan and add butter. Use 1/4 cup doses to make pancakes. Flip once you see bubbles on the top of the pancakes. Cook second side for only a minute or two.
  
  
  Now, I served mine with a fruit salad. I really like the salad from Chez Shea, a mix of pears and pecans. I made a simple homemade version, dicing a pear, a granny smith apple, some mint, and adding some roasted pecans. Instead of a champagne vinaigrette, I used some lemon-lime soda and lemon juice. The salad was alright, but I suggest you chop the pecans or season them. It was definitely better as leftovers, when the soda had a chance to permeate the fruit. Happy eating!