What to make for breakfast this morning?
I am at the point my stomach is rejecting porridge, we’ve eaten it so much. The chooks are on the blink and off the lay for the winter bar 1 egg a day so scrambled or fried or boiled eggs aren’t an option. We don’t have cereals in our house as they are mostly loaded with sugar which our kids can’t eat and we are also cutting down our bread consumption and I only bake on Saturdays now and we’re out of bread. I didn’t feel up to making pancakes either so what to do?
Hanging from the overhead cupboard handles dripping that golden green whey.
Well, you make ricotta! Yep, fresh Thermy made ricotta drizzled with raw honey to be precise. I had attempted to make ricotta the other day with limited success just using citric acid so I figured I’d just try vinegar today but also met with limited success. So I added both. Perfect! Strained lightly then served up still warm with raw honey melting through the cracks. Delicious! Decadent too. 😀
After breakfast when I went to feed the animals and let the roosters out I came across a few new arrivals too.
Life outside the egg and less than 24 hours old
Life really is beautiful!
Rabid Little Hippy 
Oh those ducklings are adorable and the ricotta looks delicious.
Do they have names yet? One more reason to get a thermie.
I had to read this comment twice! The two comments do merge a little strangely. 😉
I think the yellow one is being hailed as buttercup given the vivid yellow colouring but no, I’m not naming this time.
Amazing! But what is a thermy? The ducklings are adorable.
A thermy is a Thermomix. It’s the ultimate kitchen machine and does literally replace almost every other machine. I got rid of my rice cooker, mix master, hand blender, stick blender (wish I’d kept that one for soap making now), scales and more and I can grind grains, make cakes and biscuits, bread dough, soups, risotto, custard and even fruit sorbet in it. Have a google. 🙂
I sometimes make extra pancakes and keep in the fridge… they last… fruit salad is a good option as well….
I made a triple batch of pikelets and there was only 1 left which was munched over the day so imagine how many I’d need to make to store extras in the fridge! I have a kilo or 2 of frozen pesticide free locally grown blueberries in the freezer which is why I use them. They melt up and go all squishy too and taste ah-MAY-zing! 😀
Sweet cheese AND sweet ducks 🙂
Here’s my ricotta recipe…. it’s fool proof and absolutely delicious… leave it an hour for creamy, and longer for firmer.
Rich Homemade Ricotta
Makes about 1 generous cup of ricotta…. so I usually double (or triple) up on quantities.
3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pour the milk, cream and salt into a large nonreactive saucepan. Attach a candy or deep-fry thermometer. Heat the milk to 190°F stirring it occasionally to keep it from scorching on the bottom (basically bring it to the just starting to bubble stage). Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, then stir it once or twice, gently and slowly. Let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.
Line a colander with a few layers of cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl (to catch the whey). Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain for at least an hour. At an hour, you’ll have a tender, spreadable ricotta.
At two hours, it will be spreadable but a bit firmer, almost like cream cheese. It will firm as it cools, so do not judge its final texture by what you have in your cheesecloth.
Eat the ricotta right away or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Serve: On 1/2-inch slices of baguette that have been toasted until lightly bronzed. Serve it simply with honey and a pinch of flaky sea salt, or a couple grinds of black pepper, pinch of salt and drizzle of olive oil, and/or a few droplets of an aged balsamic.
Ricotta Pancakes
Ingredients
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Pinch of coarse salt
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese, plus more for serving
3/4 cup milk
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Unsalted butter, softened, for cooking
Honey Syrup, for serving
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the cheese mixture and mix until batter is just combined. Stir in lemon zest and poppy seeds.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into batter.
3. Heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; brush surface with butter. Working in batches, ladle 1/3 cup batter for each pancake on griddle, leaving space as they will spread. Cook until golden and top begins to bubble, 3 to 4 minutes. Gently turn and continue cooking until bottoms are light brown, 3 to 4 minutes more. Serve immediately with ricotta and honey syrup.