Ricotta Pancakes with Orange Syrup

I love breakfast foods.  Since I rarely cook breakfast during the week, I always look forward to making breakfast on the weekends.  There’s just something special about waking up and being able to enjoy a latte or cup of coffee while cooking breakfast.  Plus, since I normally eat cereal for breakfast during the week, I’m ready to have something a little more involved by the time the weekend rolls around.  This recipe is involved, but not so much so that it can’t be made while you’re still waking up on a lazy Saturday morning.

Each of the components of this recipe was fabulous on its own, so you can imagine how wonderful the end product tasted.  I never considered adding sugar, vanilla bean seeds or lemon zest to ricotta, but the result was delicious.  In fact, it was hard for me not to eat it with a spoon while making the pancakes and syrup.  The mixture was sweet, but not overly so, and the lemon zest gave it a bit of brightness.  The syrup was surprisingly simple to make and was infused with vibrant flavor from the orange zest and juice.  We had quite a bit leftover, but neither of us uses much syrup on our pancakes.  The pancakes were different than other pancakes I’ve made in that they use egg yolks and whites separately, which makes the pancakes so light and fluffy.  Overall, this breakfast reminded me of something that would be served at a bed and breakfast.  The only thing that could make this breakfast any better would be to serve it with mimosas, and we’ll definitely be doing that next time.

Ricotta Pancakes with Orange Syrup
Ingredients:
For the orange syrup:
1 orange
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
For the ricotta topping:
1 1/2 cups ricotta
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean
For the pancakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fine white cornmeal (Yellow cornmeal can be substituted if you can’t find white.)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup ricotta
toasted almond slices, for serving (optional)

Directions:
To make the syrup, peel long strips of zest from the orange and julienne.  In a small saucepan, blanch the zest in boiling water for about 30 seconds.  Drain.  Add orange juice, sugar, water and zest to saucepan.  Simmer over medium heat until syrupy, about 10 minutes.  Set aside.  Prepare the ricotta topping by mixing all ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt baking powder and baking soda.  In another large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg yolks and ricotta.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combined.  Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until stiff.  Gently fold them into the batter.  Heat a small amount of oil on a griddle set over medium-high heat.  Drop 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the griddle and cook for about 2 minutes per side, until the pancakes are fluffy and golden.  Top with ricotta mixture and pour orange syrup over.  Add toasted almond slices, if desired, and serve immediately.

Makes 18 pancakes

Adapted from Food and Wine, July 2010