Breakfast for a Birthday Girl.

January 28, 2013

Have I told you about my lovely friend Kate before? I’m sure I have, I must of. I mean, she’s amazing and not just because we share the same name! Aside from being a gorgeously generous friend (and former housemate), Kate has this adorable cheeky side and one of the most mischievous giggles going around. Honestly, it is the cutest thing and even now when we chat over email, I can always tell when she’s giggling away like mad at the other end. It never fails to make me smile.

When we lived together in Canberra, Cate&Kate dates were a regular occurence and usually consisted of a good wine (and whine) session and a more than healthy amount of turkish food and chocolate! The thing about Kate is, she has a mean sweet tooth. And I mean MEAN! Before Kate, I’d never meant anyone who loved the world of sweet quite as much as her. Perfect housemate for a wanna be baker really!

But I digress. The reason I am posting about the lovely Kate is because today is her birthday and a rather momentous one at that. Although I can’t be with her, I figured it didn’t mean I couldn’t cook a birthday breakfast in her honour and given her sweet tooth, it only seems right to turn up the sugar factor! I can’t take the credit for the hotcakes recipe, that would be doing Curtis Stone and his latest book a disservice (damn good hotcakes recipe too, way better than pancakes and dead easy to make) but the baked nectarines are all mine. Happy Birthday Kate!

Ricotta hotcakes with baked honey nectarines and cinnamon sugar (serves 4)

• 4 nectarines (or peaches), halved and seeds removed
• 30 gm unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• Chopped mint, to serve

Ricotta hotcakes

• 1 cup fresh ricotta
• 4 eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Extra butter, for frying

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. In a grill pan (or small baking tray), add the nectarines and drizzle over the half the melted butter, brown sugar and 1 tbsp of the honey. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the skins come away from the fruit easily (you can start this process on the stove top if you wish).
2. Remove the fruit from the pan and set aside. Add the remaining butter and honey and over a low heat, deglaze the pan to make a sauce for the hotcakes.
3. To make the cinnamon sugar, add the caster sugar and cinnamon together and stir to combine. Set aside.
4. To make the hotcakes, in a large bowl whisk the ricotta and egg yolks together. Add the buttermilk and whisk until smooth. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir until just combined.
5. In a clean bowl, whisk the eggs whites and sugar until stiff peaks form.
6. Fold the eggs whites through the batter in two batches until just combined (don’t worry if the batter isn’t completely combined).
7. In a medium frying pan, melt some butter (or you could use cooking spray) and spoon in the batter (I only made two hotcakes at a time as it was much easier to flip them). Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden.
8. Serve the hot cakes with the baked nectarines, drizzling the remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and mint. Trust me, the mint makes all the difference!

Post navigation

← Favourite pasta times

Call in the Caterer →