Ricotta and Vanilla Bean Pancakes

For awhile now I have been considering starting a tradition of having an elaborate breakfast (read not cereal and toast) on Saturday mornings so I can use all the wonderful breakfast recipes I have and set the table all pretty as a nice start to the weekend. Saturday just gone was the first of these (as long as the motivation keeps up). I have been wanting to try ricotta pancakes for awhile. There used to be this cafe fairly close by where I would have them, sitting in the sun, overlooking the water (yes water in Canberra a stretch but the lake will do!). Anyway last time I went there the pancakes were disappointing and the service was atrocious. Now that it was on my black list I needed to make my own ricotta pancakes. I found a lovely recipe from Marion Grasby's book "Marion: Recipes and stories from a hungry cook" made a few adjustments and ended up with this:

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder (make sure it is powder and not soda!)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp table salt
• 250g ricotta
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• butter for cooking
• bananas, hazelnuts and maple syrup to serve

To Make

• Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.
• Make a well in the centre and add the milk, egg yolks, ricotta and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
• Put the egg whites in a mix master and beat until stiff peaks form (you can do with a hand held mixer of course).
• Fold half the egg whites through the mixture until combined and then fold the other half through (this makes it extra fluffy).
• Heat some butter in a frying pan and pour about 1/4 cup quantities of mixture into the pan. Smooth out with the back of a metal spoon to make them round.
• Cook until you can see bubbles coming up. Then flip and cook the other side for about 2 mins. 
• I find it best to have the oven on warm (40-50 deg C) and put the pancakes in there on a tray as you cook them to keep them warm. 
• Serve with sliced banana, crushed hazelnuts and maple syrup! Yum!

Note I need to add a special mention to Nath here as my expert pancake flipper. I am terrible at this job and always mess them up. So every time we have pancakes Nath has this very important job!

Bananas and hazelnuts go beautifully. So would fresh berries and cream.

My pretty table setting. I love this photo - not sure why. But I ove my polka dot cups and teapot

Fresh flowers always brighten up the morning. A lovely start to the weekend :)