Raspberry Ricotta Pancakes

There's something about pancakes that have ricotta cheese in them that are just so delicious. Almost every recipe I've seen for ricotta pancakes uses whipped egg whites to lighten up the ricotta. What you end up with is a tiny little souffle. These are not meant to be thin pancakes like I usually like them. Ricotta + egg whites = fluffy. My housemate Ashelen and I saw this recipe in Glamour Magazine's May 2011 issue. They're called "Love You" Pancakes and they are so yummy. Lucky for us, the day we decided to make them it was beautiful out so we enjoyed them on our patio with a warm cup of coffee and a little music.

Fluffy heaven.

Raspberry ricotta yum!

These would be great for mother's day, easter morning, or just about any other special day. The great thing about these is that you can practically substitute any other fruit for the raspberries, just cut it up into small chunks. I love maple syrups with fresh berries or chunk fruit preserves mixed in which is why I chose to add some leftover raspberries to the syrup. Always heat your maple syrup up. Nothing can ruin a hot pancake, waffle, or piece of french toast more than cold thick syrup.

Happy Spring!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Raspberry Ricotta “Love You’ Pancakes

Taken from Glamour Magazine- May 2011

Serves 4

1 lemon

1 pint plus ½ cup fresh or thawed frozen raspberries

1/3 cup plus 1tbsp. granulated sugar

2 cups AP flour

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp. baking powder (not a typo, yes a tablespoon)

1 cup low fat or part skim ricotta

1 ¼ cup low fat milk

4 large eggs, separated

1 cup real maple syrup

Preheat oven to 215 degrees.

1.       1. Working over a bowl, use a grater or microplane if you have one, to zest the lemon. Be careful not to remove any of the bitter white pith.

2.       2. Add the raspberries to the bowl containing the lemon zest. Stir the 1/3 cup sugar, gently crushing the raspberries with a spoon. Don’t crush too much, you want chunks of raspberries. Set bowl aside.

3.       3. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, 1 tbsp sugar, and baking powder). In a third bowl, beat the ricotta cheese with the milk and egg yolks. Add the flour mixture to the ricotta mixture and stir until just combined. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

4.       4, Meanwhile, place your maple syrup, ½ cup berries and a squeeze of lemon juice in a small sauce pan. Simmer over low heat until you are ready to eat.

5.       5. Beat the egg whites with a handheld mixer until they hold soft peaks. Next, gently fold the raspberries with their juices into the ricotta batter. Lastly, fold in the egg whites. Little clumps of white are perfectly fine- you don’t want to over mix or your pancakes will be tough and not fluffy.

6.     6.   Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle pan over a moderately low heat. Melt a little butter or spray a cooking spray in the center of the skillet. Line a baking sheet with a silpat, tin foil, or parchment paper.

7.       7. Spoon the batter directly over the melted butter or oil.

8.     8.  Cook each pancake until the bottom is golden brown and the bubbles on the surface begin to break, about 3 minutes. Using a spatula, quickly flip the pancakes and cook on the other side about 2 minutes or until golden.

9.      9.  When each pancake is done, place it on the baking sheet and put it in the oven. This will keep all of your pancakes warm as you cook the rest of the batter. This way you will be able to eat with all of your hungry guests all together. 

Mediterranean Couscous

This dish is great to bring as a side dish to a barbecue or potluck. It's full of flavor, different textures, and can easily be adapted to how you like it. If you're not vegetarian chicken broth would be a perfect liquid to use for this, or even add little bits of roasted chicken to it.

Mediterranean Couscous

Couscous is super easy to make, I think it's almost impossible to mess up. I used whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe's, but any couscous will do. It makes TONS. I swear it makes like 10-12 servings depending on how big you make the portions. And it's so full of color... after all we eat with our eyes first. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Couscous

2 cups dry whole wheat couscous

2 cups vegetable broth

2 tsp olive oil

1 ½ tsp cumin

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup cubed butternut squash

1 can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)

¾ cup craisins

1 carrot (peeled, and finely diced)

1 zucchini (finely diced)

2-3 cups baby spinach leaves

Olive oil and lemon for garnish

Goat cheese crumbles

Preheat oven to 400 F

1.       1. Place cubed butternut squash and garbanzo beans in a casserole dish and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast uncovered for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, chop carrot and zucchini. Wash and dry spinach.

2.       2. When there is 10 minutes left on the squash, bring vegetable broth, olive oil, cumin, and cayenne to a boil in a large pot. When at a rolling boil, slowly pour in couscous and stir with a fork. Remove from heat, cover with a lid, and let sit for 7 minutes.

3.       3. When squash is done, using a cutting board, fork, and knife, cut squash pieces into dices the same size as your carrots and zucchini.

4.      4.  Fluff couscous with a fork. Add all veggies - including spinach – garbanzos and craisins to the couscous. Stir around to wilt spinach and get some heat on the veggies. Feel free to add a few drizzles of olive oil to help the spinach along. Place top back on pot and turn the heat on a very low simmer.

5.      5.  Leave the simmer and top on for about 5-8 minutes. If serving in individual bowls, garnish with a dash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a little bit of goat cheese crumbles. Toasted chopped almonds or cashews will also add a great crunch to the dish.

Unique New York

 Mmm I’m sitting on my bed eating a vegan blackberry muffin that Tristin and I just made, while listening to my honorary little brother’s fabulous new mashup mixtape thingy on SoundCloud (yay, David!). And in the midst of all this excitement, I’m reminiscing on my recent trip to New York, counting down the months til I can move there. So this trip was essentially a foodie adventure in that – I kid you not – all I did was eat eat eat.  Let me break it down for you…

Looking out over Union Square

 Tuesday night- Dos Toros: Basic Burrito with Guac. This burrito rivaled the size of Chipotle’s which I never ever finish but Sara gave me fair warning that there would be no trace of this burrito except in my full belly. She was right – as usual.

Wednesday: Sara started us off right with a shared scrambled egg with spinach, onion, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese. Then we walked to City Bakery and got coffees, a pretzel croissant, and a raspberry bran muffin. She went to class and I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City at her apartment to pass the time and get excited for the upcoming week. I met her at ‘Wichcraft, a sandwich place (sandwich- ‘wich…get it??), and got a roasted eggplant sandwich with chickpeas, watercress and balsamic vinaigrette on toasted ciabatta bread. This sandwich was so different and one of the yummiest things I’d had in a while. I want to figure out how to make it at home. After lunch we walked through Dean and Deluca, which was basically food torture, then to the Met. After night yoga at Yoga To The People, we walked a few blocks to S’mac.  S’mac is a little restaurant that serves mac and cheese. We got a Spanish one with manchego cheese, fennel, and onion, and a Mediterranean one with spinach, goat cheese, tomatoes and kalamata olives. We were so pleased that the fennel flavor was mild because we’re not exactly part of the fennel fan club. THEN (!) I happened to have run into my childhood best friend within my first 5 minutes at Sara’s apartment so I met up with Tammy for dessert Wednesday night. We went to Spot, a dessert bar, and got some crazy good tapas style desserts. They were a yuzu Eskimo, a chocolate truffle cake with green tea ice cream, and a white miso cake with passionfruit sauce.

Raspberry Bran Muffin, Soy Au Lait, Pretzel Croissant.

The most wonderful food creation to date.

Warm eggplant and chickpea sandwich.

Cookie sandwich!

Yuzu Eskimo

Truffle Cake with Green Tea Ice Cream

White Miso Cake with Passion Fruit Ice Cream.

 I’m actually a little bit embarrassed after writing all of that out. Too much food!! (wait what?)

Thursday: We made Challah French toast Thursday morning with a gorgeous loaf of challah we bought at the green market in Union Square. We also made a berry sauce with blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries reduced down with a little sugar and orange juice. Sara went to class and I watched more Sex and the City. After class we went to John’s Pizzeria of Bleecker Street (Ohhhh my GOD) and had the best pizza of our entire lives. We shared a 14 inch pizza with cheese and basil and ate the entire thing. Yep three slices each for two little ladies… and we didn’t think twice about it. We’re a big deal. Since it was about 5 pm when we had the pizza, we decided to have a late (and semi-healthy dinner) at an Indian Restaurant called the Royal Bangladesh. We shared a Vegetable Kurma which is mixed veggies in a really mild yogurt sauce, and coconut samosas. It was good, nothing too special but I’d like to look up some recipes for the yogurt sauce.

Challah French Toast.

The pizza I wish I could have at any given time.

Friday: We skipped breakfast because we woke up a little late, and I met up with my Uncle and good family friend Jason at Artichoke’s Pizza. They are famous for something quite the opposite of a classic new York pizza: a thick crusted pizza topped with artichoke dip. You could tell by looking at it in its creamy fatty glory that it is not at the top of the healthy food chain. We got a wedge of it which was a quarter of a normal pizza and cut into teeny slices. We also shared a salad that had a super delicious dressing and a bunch of veggies on it. In the late afternoon Sara’s and my friend Michael came into the city so we all went to a Venezuelan restaurant called Caracas Arepa Bar that made fantastic arepas! I had one with guayanes cheese, avocaco, and fried plantains which was exactly like the one I get at Coupa Café at home. Sara and I also shared one with black beans, sautéed peppers and onions, and some kind of cheese. Oh! And a coconut milkshake thing! After dinner we walked down the street to Butter Lane which is an adorable and homey little cupcake shop. They only make 3 types of cupcake and you can choose between about 15 different frostings. I got banana cake with chocolate hazelnut frosting and Sara got chocolate cake with espresso frosting.

Arepa with Black Beans, Cheese, Peppers and Onions.

Arepa with Fried Plantains, Guayanes Cheese, and Avo.

Banana Cupcake with Choc. Hazelnut Frosting!!

Butter Lane's fantastic variety.

Saturday: The three of us had brunch at Essex, a really cool restaurant with tons of natural light and tall ceilings. I ordered a salmon scramble with onions that came with a toasted bialy and a mixed green salad. It was simple, relatively light, and just what I was looking for. We spent the day doing various things around the city and did a lot of walking! It was so nice out that day, a perfect little Saturday. We took a collective nap in the afternoon and geared up for a delicious Chinese dinner down the street at a restaurant called the Cottage. I had sweet and sour prawns with broccoli and brown rice. I could go for another plate of that right now. Strangely we skipped dessert…

Salmon Scramble, Salad, Bialy, Potatoes.

Sweet and Sour Prawns with Broccoli.

Sunday: The day of rest. That’s fitting actually, because we went to this adorable Latin restaurant with tons of opened windows for brunch. It’s called Esperanto which is some variation of the verb “to wait” in Spanish. I had huevos rancheros (sadly with no avo) and coffee. This brunch was so relaxed and gave me the chance to reflect on my wonderful spring break. Before leaving town, Sara and I walked back to City Bakery so I could grab a pretzel croissant for the plane. I’m so glad I did that, it was a very long plane ride. 

Take me back, please!