Ricotta and Lemon Whole-Wheat Pancakes

I do love to experiment with pancakes and since ricotta and lemon work so well together, that’s what I put in the recipe this time. It was a refreshing, fairly healthy breakfast.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
½ cup flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour (or spelt flour)
2 tbsp sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1½ cups milk
¼ cup ricotta
zest from 1 lemon
juice from ½ lemon
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
oil
agave or honey to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Melt the butter.
2. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
3. Add the yogurt, milk, eggs, and vanilla to the butter. Mix well.
4. Warm oil over medium heat in a frying pan.
5. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, then pour tablespoonfuls into the pan. Brown the pancakes on both sides.
6. Serve with agave or honey.

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

This is a really moist, flavourful recipe. Lemon and ricotta go so well together and I decided to combine them into a light cake. You can also make the recipe into muffins or a bread shape. I got lots of compliments on it!

Ingredients:
170 g butter, plus extra for the tin
1 cup ricotta
½ cup yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups flour
1½ cups sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 lemon
3 eggs

Instructions:
1. Cream the butter, ricotta, yogurt, and vanilla together.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.
3. Mix the moist and dry ingredients together well.
4. Grate the zest of the lemon into the mixture and add the juice of half the lemon.
5. Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture. Grease the tin.
6. Bake for 25 minutes at 180 C (or for 15 minutes if you make them as muffins).

Rhubarb Crumble

It’s still rhubarb season, so I’m trying out all sorts of recipes with it. My guinea pig M doesn’t seem to mind!

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
1 clementine (or half an orange)
¼ cup sugar
an additional ¼ cup sugar
¾ cup oats
¼ cup flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp butter
1 egg
cream or ice cream, to serve with it

Instructions:
1. Chop the rhubarb and spread it in a pan. Juice the clementine or orange over it and sprinkle with the first ¼ cup sugar. Bake at 190 C for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix the other ¼ cup sugar with the oats, flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. Crumble the butter in and beat the egg and then add it as well. The mixture should be a bit crumbly.
3. Top the rhubarb with the oat mixture.
4. Bake at 190 C for 30-40 minutes. Serve with cream or ice cream, as desired.

Avgolemono Soup with Tofu

I already posted my recipe for avgolemono soup, but when I had the flu one night after work, I wanted that soup, just a bit heartier. So I added tofu. Thus, here is my version of avgolemono soup with tofu.

Ingredients:
75 g rice (I used brown basmati)
water
2 onions
olive oil
200 g tofu
1 vegetable stock cube
1 lemon
3 eggs

Instructions:
1. Cook the rice in the water in a soup pot, according to directions.
2. Chop the onions and then fry them lightly in the oil in a frying pan. Dice the tofu and fry it too.
3. When the rice is almost ready, add the onions and tofu, along with the stock cube. Add another ½ l of water.
4. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pot.
5. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Then pour them into the soup, stirring the whole time. Do not let them boil.
6. Serve.

Rhubarb Compote

Hurray! It’s rhubarb season. I love the long and beautiful blushing pink stalks and I plan to spend the next weeks trying out a variety of recipes that use them. The first thing I made this year was a rhubarb compote. It can be served with yogurt or cream or ice cream, or you can use it in the rhubarb cake recipe I’ll post next.

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
1 clementine or orange
1 vanilla pod
5 tbsp sugar

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the rhubarb. Put it into a pan.
2. Juice the clementine or orange into the pan. Halve the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Add them and the halves to the pan as well.
3. Add the sugar. Stir everything together.
4. Cook over low heat for about 10 or so minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove the vanilla pod and serve the compote.

Suzette Sauce

This simple orange sauce can be used over crepes, as in crepes suzette, or regular pancakes, or spooned over a dark chocolate cake.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
4 tbsp sugar
a dash of vanilla

Instructions:
1. Grate the peel of the oranges. Juice the fruit and put the juice and the peel in a saucepan.
2. Add the sugar and vanilla and warm over low heat into a syrup. It takes about 5 minutes.

Creamed Aubergine

I love aubergine (or eggplant, as I grew up calling it) and I love it when it’s been creamed. It tastes so rich, but it’s actually very healthy and there is no real cream in it. It’s great with pita or over pasta or as a base for a stew. You can serve tofu or even fish on a bed of creamed aubergine.

Ingredients:
1 aubergine
olive oil
salt
lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Rub the aubergine with olive oil and salt, then wrap it in aluminium. Bake for about an hour at 220 C.
2. Using a hand mixer, blend the aubergine until it is creamy, adding in more olive oil (about 3 tbsp). If you wish, you can peel it first, but I like it with the peel.
3. Season with lemon juice.
4. Eat on toast or with pita or use it with pasta (see tomorrow’s post).

Endives in a Citrus Sauce

Endives (also known as chicory) are quite bitter, so when I cook them, I like to add sugar, agave, or honey to tame some of that bitterness. Thus I was intrigued by a recipe I noticed for braised endives with tangerines. I thought the bright citrus notes would definitely work against the sharpness of the endives. It only took a few minutes to put this dish together and it was a simple dinner on an evening when I was exhausted. If I’d had more energy, I would have made it as a side dish and served it with something like a chickpea stew.

Ingredients:
2 endives
water
sea salt
olive oil
3 clementines (or 2 tangerines or 1 orange)
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp sugar
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the endives, then boil them in the water with sea salt for about 5 minutes.
2. Drain the endives and put them in an oiled casserole dish. Peel and segment the clementines.
3. Pour the juice and more oil over the endives, then sprinkle with sugar. Braise in the oven at 175 C for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the citrus segments and season with salt and pepper. Toss to mix. Braise for another 10 minutes, then serve.