Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

If you are not using ricotta in your pancakes, you should begin immediately. 

I love breakfast foods.  They are good any time of day.  I like a mix of sweet and savory (omelets AND French toast.)  Lately it seems though I’ve been making a lot of pancakes.  Plain pancakes, Whole Wheat Strawberry-Banana Walnut pancakes, Blueberry Pancakes… even the we-decided-to-only-make-it-once-a-year-otherwise-we-might-have-coronaries Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle.   This time, I decided I wanted something a little different.  Something light and refreshing.  Enter these fluffy, slightly tangy, light and delicious Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce.  They are super easy.

Blueberry Sauce

I made the mistake of only getting a half pint of blueberries for our pancakes and we really could have used more.  Since you are just cooking them to make a sauce, go ahead and use frozen if you need to.  Be aware that you won’t have any fresh ones for garnish if you use frozen fruit.

Ingredients

1 pint fresh blueberries

2 Tbl. Water

1-2 Tbl. Sugar

1 Tbl. Cold water

1 tsp. corn starch

Directions

Put blueberries, 2 Tbl. Water and the sugar in a saucepan.  Heat on high until sauce comes to a boil.  Meanwhile, combine 1 Tbl. Cold water and the cornstarch.  When blueberries come to a boil, reduce heat to keep them at a simmer and stir in the cornstarch mixture.  Sauce will thicken.  Reduce heat and keep warm until your pancakes are ready.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

I made a quick and easy version.  To get even lighter pancakes you can go through the whole rigmarole (Huh.  Thought it was “rigamarole” but spell check corrected me.) of whipping your egg whites and folding in other ingredients etc, but I just didn’t have time for that.  If you are not using fresh lemon juice, I must insist that you buy at least one fresh lemon to add the lemon zest.  It really is crucial to the flavor.  And yes, I did go to what I consider the extra effort of mixing my wet and dry ingredients separately before combining them.  It really does help your pancakes to not have any lumps.  Plus, I have a dishwasher so I don’t care that I dirtied an extra bowl.

Ingredients

The recipe makes about 8 pancakes this size.

1 ¼ cups All-Purpose flour

3 Tbl. Sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt (Don’t skip this.  It’s only a ¼ tsp for pete’s sake.)

1 cup ricotta cheese

¾ liquid eggs (OR 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites)

½ cup fresh lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest  (You can put some lemon zest in with the blueberry sauce too!)

Directions

In a mixing bowl, combine the first five (dry) ingredients.  In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.  Add this to the dry ingredient mixture and still just until combined.  DO NOT overmix. 

Heat your non-stick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat.  It is okay you’re just doing this now.  Letting the batter rest a bit is a good thing.  It lets the baking powder and soda work their magic.  Spray the pan with cooking spray or, as I do, put a half pat of butter more or less in the pan and let it melt all over the surface.  Use a 1/3 cup measure to scoop out your batter onto the skillet.  Cook about 2 minutes until the pancake has started to set and the underside is golden brown.  Flip the pancakes and cook another 2 minutes (approximately.)  When you’re done making all the batter, top your pancakes with a little butter, a sprinkle of powdered sugar, and the blueberry sauce.  Enjoy!

I saved a few fresh berries for garnish.

Chicken Fried Portobello Mushrooms

Generally, I don’t even really like mushrooms but I do like items that are southern fried.  I never cared that much for fried chicken, but I really liked the crispy seasoned coating.  Recently, we had some evaporated milk left over from another recipe.  In a convoluted way, this led me to decide to make Chicken Fried Portobello Mushrooms, glazed carrots, biscuits and gravy (ah, evaporated milk!)  None of this was done with a recipe or real measurements but I will try to replicate the process here for you.  Serves two, but it is easily doubled or more.

Chicken Fried Portobello Mushrooms

Do I need to say that none of this is diet food?

Ingredients:

2 Portobello Mushroom Caps
¼ cup liquid eggs (or 1 whole beaten egg)
Splash or two of milk or buttermilk
½ cup AP flour
1 Tbl. Garlic Powder  (wait, that sounds like a lot.  I really should have measured.)
½ Tbl. Garlic Powder (There.  Try that.)
¼ Tbl. Chili Powder
Salt
Black Pepper
Oil for cooking

Directions:

Clean your mushrooms.
Most would say you could wipe them off with a damp paper towel and be done.  I like to go a bit further.  It isn’t necessary, it is just an aesthetic thing with me.  I snap off whatever is left of the stem.  I take a spoon and gently scoop out all the gills.  Then, I peel the mushroom by taking a piece from the edge and peeling in strips towards the middle of the mushroom.
Pour your eggs into a small bowl large enough to immerse a mushroom cap.  Add a splash or two of milk or buttermilk.  Pour the flour into a separate, same sized bowl.  To the flour, add the Garlic and Chili Powders.  Crack some black pepper in there.  Add a generous amount of salt.  Stir all that around.  (Just stick your fingers in there and give it a swirl.)

Now, heat your oil in a pan.  I planned on only using vegetable oil but I didn’t have enough and added a bit of olive oil.  Vegetable oil works great because it can get hotter and remember, you want your food to fry, not poach.  The oil should be deep enough to cover about half the mushroom.  You will know your oil is hot enough when you drop a few specks of flour in there and it sizzles up gently around it.  If it looks like a hot tub gone mad with bubbles, it is too hot.  When your oil is about ready, you can bread your mushrooms.  (I did one at a time.) 

First, toss the mushroom in your flour bowl.  Get it all coated then shake off the excess.  Next, put this powdered mushroom in your egg bowl.  Coat it completely.  Finally, transfer that mushroom back to the flour bowl.  Make sure it is all covered with flour.  This makes your yummy crust.  (When you’re done breading, save the seasoned flour for your gravy.)

Now you’re ready to fry them.  (I started one while I breaded the other.)  Put breaded mushrooms in hot oil and fry.  They won’t need more than a couple minutes each side.  Flip the mushrooms over when the bottom is golden and crispy.  After done, remove to a paper towel covered plate and let drain for a minute.

This was my first attempt at making these.  The edges of the mushrooms being thinner came out a little softer and full of that earthy flavor.  The thicker middle of the mushrooms still had a nice firm bite to them.

Here is my “recipe” for the carrots.

Ingredients:
Ten Carrots
Olive Oil
Salt
Honey
Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

Cut the carrots to all be about the size of baby carrots
Did you know that most baby carrots are really just larger carrots shaved down to be that size anyway?
Toss them with a little olive oil and salt.  Spread on a cookie sheet and roast for about 20 minutes at 400°  Drizzle a little honey and a little balsamic vinegar, stir around and cook another 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Grey Plume

The Grey Plume

www.thegreyplume.com

220 S. 31^st Ave., Suite 3101, Omaha, NE 
(402) 763-4447

I have been to The Grey Plume half a dozen times now.  I have waited to write anything about them because they are Just. So. Good.  It is difficult to give a review when you don’t have anything bad to say. 

One of the things The Grey Plume does well is the attention to detail.  When they bring around warm crusty bread and house-made butter, the butter is delightfully spreadable soft.  That may seem like an insignificant detail, but spreading cold butter that tears up your bread is annoying. 

The menu is ever changing to keep up with what is fresh and available.  Some dishes are variations on a theme and simply incorporate new ingredients.  The comments I will make about the food are therefore, a bit general. 

My favorite thing at The Grey Plume is the soup.  I have tasted Butternut Squash Bisque, Beet Soup, and Parsnip Chowder.  All have been the smoothest, most velvety soups I have ever had.  The Beet Soup was served with smoke and when the dome was lifted, it was fantastic.  The Parsnip soup was served with coffee crumble, kumquats, roasted parsnip and huckleberry.  The combination seemed odd, but all worked. 

When it comes to entrées, I have experienced beautifully prepared halibut and the single best bite of scallop I have ever had.  The portion of halibut was buttery and moist and had been seared on one side until it had the perfect crust.  The halibut came with parisienne gnocchi which were as light and pillowy as gnocchi are supposed to be.  The pasta is always cooked spot on.  The vegetables are fresh and truly delightful. 

I like my desserts more spicy than sweet as I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.  The Grey Plume usually has scoops of house made ice cream as an option.  These ice creams are also smooth and velvety.  Perfect little rich and creamy quenelles that are a terrific after dinner bite, but not overwhelmingly sweet.  On a recent visit, they offered a take on Lemon Pie.  The dish was served with cubes of dill gel.  I thought this was brilliant as I love herbs, dill in particular.  It was a great complement to the lemon curd atop a puff pastry with a side of creamscicle ice cream.  I’m totally stealing the idea of putting dill with my lemon when I made my own ice creams this summer.  If you like your desserts more traditional, I’ve also had apples served three ways which came out as the best of apple pie, apple crisp and apple fritters all re-imagined and put on a plate. 

Best of all, the service is outstanding.  The staff is well informed.  They make excellent suggestions and offer thoughtful wine pairings.  Every person on staff you come in contact with during your visit strives to make sure your needs are attended to. 

THIS is fine dining.