Ricotta Pancakes and Orange Syrup

Pancakes, what can I say? An American staple? For breakfast at least. My first pancake experience was in Common, one of the dining halls at my college. I wasn't a fan, perhaps because the pancakes weren't good (I don't blame them, it's hard to serve quality ones to hundreds of students) and the syrup was just too sweet for my taste. Then a few years ago I first made my own. That was a completely different experience. And so now and then when I wake up on weekends, sometimes I feel like making pancakes.

This pancake is really moist and fluffy thanks to the whipped egg white and ricotta cheese. The corn meal also adds a nice textural difference to the cakes. The down side is that you kinda do have to put some ingredients on your shopping list as it's not your usual pancake recipe. Well, I made this last weekend for brunch before watching the Women World Cup final between the USA and Japan. Anyway, the US team lost, albeit being the stronger one, which made me too sad to bother posting this earlier. I'm still sad :((, but the pain has subsided.

INGREDIENTS:

Make about 8-9 pancakes, for 2-3 servings

For the syrup:
1 large orange

Granulated sugar

For the topping:

3/4 cup ricotta

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

1/4 tsp vanilla extract (or seeds from half a vanilla bean)

For the pancakes:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tsp fine white cornmeal

1 Tsp sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg, separated

1/4 cup fresh ricotta

Vegetable oil/spray, for frying

METHOD:

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the orange rind and cut into strips. Blanch the strips in boiling water for 30s.

In a small sauce pan, cook the juice from the orange, orange strips and sugar over medium heat until a syrup if formed, about 10min. How much sugar to use? Well, that's up to your taste. If you want more syrup, you might consider adding more water/orange juice. Cool completely.

Mix all the ingredients for the topping together.

In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg yolk and ricotta together until homogeneous. Fold the wet ingredient into the dry one. 

In a medium bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped egg white into the batter.

Heat some oil/spray on a cast iron skillet over moderately high heat. Drop in 1/4-cup batter, cook for about 2 min each side. Serve with the ricotta topping and orange syrup. Add powdered sugar on top if you prefer. Here's my brunch:

That first pancake needed some heat control ;) Nonetheless, I certainly enjoyed mine, hope you do yours!