Bill Granger is known for his white jeans, big smile and his ricotta hotcakes. King of the breakfast scene in Sydney, Bill’s restaurants are always packed to the rafters on the weekends. For those who prefer to stay at home with the newspaper this recipe is a nice twist on the traditional pancake. There is no sugar in the mix, so the honeycomb butter is a worthy addition.
1 1/3 cups ricotta
¾ cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
50 g butter
to serve –
banana
honeycomb butter, sliced
icing (confectioners’) sugar for dusting
Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine,
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.
Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan (don’t cook more than 3 per batch). Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and quickly assemble other ingredients.
Slice one banana lengthways onto a plate, stack 3 hotcakes on top with a slice of honeycomb butter. Dust with icing sugar. Serves 6 – 8.
Note – hotcake batter can be stored for up to 24 hours, covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
Honeycomb butter
250g unsalted butter, softened
100g sugar honeycomb, crushed with a rolling pin
2 tablespoons honey
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll, seal and chill in a refrigerator for 2 hours. Store leftover honeycomb butter in the freezer – it’s great on toast.
Bill Granger’s recipes are simple, tasty and easy to recreate. The pictures are gorgeous, the recipes are healthy and the results are always great. Most of his recipes come with handy hints as to how to use the leftovers, how to source the ingredients or why the flavours work well together.