They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You know what I say? If it's so important, you should get to eat it twice - once at normal time and once at dinner.
Yep, I'm advocating breakfast for dinner.
The "meal" was a staple at my house growing up, especially during Lent. Scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles ... mmm, waffles. Even as a single gal, I'd whip up an omelet for dinner.
Then I got married.
It seems Mark has never been too keen on the idea of breakfast for dinner. He'd rather have pizza or pasta or pizza-inspired pasta for dinner, keeping the pancakes to our post-run breakfasts.
But this week, when I was discussing our menu, I got him to sway. Maybe it was the argument that National Pancake Day is Tuesday. True, we won't be indulging in my pick of Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes until Wednesday but whatever. Semantics, schamantics. The pancakes will still taste celebratory a day later.
Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
Salad oil
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, egg yolks, and lemon peel to blend. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture just until evenly moistened. Gently stir in ricotta cheese.
In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. With a flexible spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter just until they are incorporated.
Place a nonstick griddle or a 12-inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat; when hot, coat lightly with oil and adjust heat to maintain temperature. Drop batter in 1/2-cup portions onto the griddle and cook until pancakes are browned on the bottom and edges begin to look dry, about 2 minutes; turn cakes with a wide spatula and brown other sides, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes longer. Coat pan with more oil as necessary to cook remaining pancakes.
The recipe suggests serving with sliced bananas and warm syrup, which sounds delicious. BUT, I think I might try blueberries and honey.
