107: Raspberry ricotta pancakes, p330

Meh, these are annoying... a variation on these pancakes from earlier in the year, this time with fresh raspberries from one of the readers of this blog, they are a lot of faff for a pudding which we'd probably both prefer made with normal crepe style pancakes, instead of all this whipping egg whites and folding it all together carefully so as not to lose all the air... They are a nightmare to turn over in the frying pan as well - too early and they just mush, too late and they are blackened. Grr! Tasty, but the ricotta gives a slightly odd grainy texture which isn't my favourite. Nah, luckily no more of these pancake recipes in the book.

89: Orecchiette with ricotta, broad beans and mint, p194

Hmm, there are three broad bean recipes here... and it takes a LOT of whole broad beans to get more than a teeny palmful of beans post-podding. And I don't really like broad beans.... :( Or do I? These weren't too bad actually. A tip from a friend, which Nigel mentions too, is to remove the outer skins from all beans larger than a thumbnail, and it worked - not bad at all. Not great. Not amazingly tasty. But not the icky, grey tasting little pellets I remembered from when I was little.

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!