Of Weekends and Brunch.

There are some things in life that try, as I might- and believe me I do try, as best as I can anyway- I can never stay away from.

Like food shows, which I have rambled about incessantly. The food, the gorgeous kitchen sets and kitchenware- what can I say, I just love watching people do their thing in the kitchen all the while wishing my kitchen was half that well-stocked.

And cookbooks. Now, these I can literally never stay away from- they sit on my book shelves, on my bedside table and even delicately balanced on my coffee table in front of the tv, inviting me to sit with them over a long cup of tea.

Then of course, there’s breakfast- the kind of  good, hearty breakfast that has you start your day with a spring in your step and a song in your heart.

So I knew my willpower was no match when I came across all three neatly bundled together in the form of Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone.

And of course, Curtis’ boyish good looks didn’t hurt at all- as I suspect the publishers of the cookbook might have caught on, given how many pictures of Curtis there is in the book.  But hey, I’m certainly not complaining.

So that was essentially how I found myself making us hotcakes for breakfast (okay, most accurately, brunch) on Saturday morning.

As is the theme of the entire cookbook, these hotcakes were incredibly simple to whip up.

I was admittedly a little hesitant about adding the ricotta to the batter, given GT’s aversion to cheese. But as it turns out, the ricotta is what gave the hotcakes their delicious and incredibly light texture- and honestly if I hadn’t added the ricotta to the batter myself, I would never had guessed it was in there.

A utterly delicious and decadent brunch, if these hotcakes are anything to go by, I can’t wait to dig into the rest of Curtis Stone’s book- and I certainly don’t need any more convincing by his boyish good looks.

Hotcakes with Blueberry Compote [adapted from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone]

Ingredients
1 cup ricotta cheese
4 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
A knob of butter

Blueberry compote
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1. To make blueberry compote Combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens slightly. Remove the saucepan from heat and keep warm.
2. To make hotcakes Whisk the ricotta and egg yolks in a bowl. Whisk the buttermilk in gradually. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and stir the flour mixture into the ricotta mixture until just combined.
3. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the sugar in and whisk till stiff peaks form.
4. Fold the egg whites into the batter in two batches, until just combined.
5. Melt the butter in a hot pan over medium heat. Spoon spoonfuls of the batter onto the pan to form a medium sized hotcake and cook for 3 minutes on each side until the hotcake puffs up and is golden brown.
6. Spoon the warmed blueberry compote over the pancakes and serve with maple syrup. Makes about 8 medium sized pancakes

Posted by thecoffeesnob on September 12, 2010

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