Sweet Sunday

I like having a leisurely cooked breakfast on a Sunday, and my love for things savoury and piquant usually means that I have poached eggs and bacon, or corncakes, grilled mushrooms and avocado with lots of tabasco or something equally spicy on the side.

This morning though, I decided to have something sweet for a change. I bought some lovely fresh ricotta and fruit yesterday, so this became the inspiration for this yummy breakfast dish. It could easily become a dessert dish - perhaps use blueberries and banana or mixed berries? Plums or apricots would be nice too. If you are doing it as a dessert, then I would make the hotcakes quite small - pikelet size.

I don't like things too sweet, so I haven't put a lot of sugar in the batter mixture, but if you like it sweeter, then add more sugar. Just remember that more sugar will mean they will brown and caramelise a lot faster, so watch the hotcakes so they don't burn. This recipe will serve 2-4 people, depending on how piggy you want to be!

Banana and Ricotta Hotcakes

You will need: 1 cup self-raising flour, 2 eggs, about half a cup of milk, 1 dessertspoon caster sugar, 1 large ripe banana (or 2 small ones), a few teaspoons butter (or oil ) to grease the frypan, 1 cup fresh ricotta, maple syrup, a few strawberries (optional)

Method: Blend the milk, eggs, sugar and half of the banana in a food processor till smooth.

Sift the flour into a bowl and gradually whisk in the milk to form a batter. You may need to add more milk if the batter is too stiff. The batter should easily coat/stick to, the back of a spoon.

Gently crumble half of the ricotta into the mixture and stir through gently. Let the mixture rest for 10-15 mins.

I like to transfer the mixture into a small jug to make pouring the batter easier and less messy, but you can also use a spoon or measuring cup for the next step. Heat and grease the frypan and cook the hotcakes in batches, with the hotplate on medium heat. Turn the hotcakes when bubbles appear on the surface.

Keep an eye on the heat and turn it down or up if you have to. Remember that the amount of sugar you put in and the ripeness of the banana will affect how fast it will brown/burn.

Serve the hotcakes right away, with sliced banana, strawberry and the extra ricotta, drizzled generously with maple syrup.

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