26: Orange and ricotta pancakes, p156

Feeling a bit bad about making T eat squash again, and having been a bit grumpy and snappy at him for no real reason, I decided to make another pudding (two, in one weekend! No wonder we're getting podgy...) and made these pancakes for a late pudding/supper. T got a jar of gourmet handmade chocolate fudge sauce in his Christmas foodie hamper, so I thought these might go nicely... and use up the pot of ricotta in the fridge. An unusual pancake recipe - no milk! And the egg whites are whisked separately until firm and then folded in, eugh. It was 10pm and my initial enthusiasm started to wane slightly, especially when I split the egg whites all over the place when I started whisking. Damn damn damn. But they were whisked, and folded, and dolloped in the frying pan four at a time. Because of the egg whites they are fluffy and thick, and the cheese makes them very soft too, so it's difficult to tell when they are cooked - let alone turn them over. I'm not very patient waiting for little pancakes to cook, and couldn't quite get them at the right point - not cooked enough and they splurge on turning, too long and they're a little over-brown on the pan-side. Unfortunately I seemed to keep getting a combination of the two, even with the pan on the lowest heat. Hey ho! What's a bit of aesthetic carbonisation and raw egg between husband and wife? Eek.

The orange zest wasn't too strong and the pancakes soft and fluffy still at the end, if a little brown on the outside, and the chocolate fudge sauce melted gorgeously all over them. Yum! Happy T, and me, order and calm restored.

However... although they were extremely good, and it was a novel use for ricotta, I can't say I'd honestly be likely to bother to make them again - partly because I love normal crepe-style pancakes (which are so easy and quick anyway), and partly because if I want to make little scotch-pancake-style pancakes, a couple of months ago I discovered Jamie Oliver's recipe for apple pancakes and they are so so quick and easy, I'd make them instead. Sorry, Nigel!