Blood orange ricotta pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

The night before Lent commences, we gather up our eggs and dairy to make pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. Virtually every culture has some kind of pancake: crepes, blinis, waffles, clafoutis, hoppers, hotcakes, dosas.
Something one should eat in winter is citrus. In this month’s recipe, I’m calling upon blood oranges to add flavour, colour, gloss and Vitamin C to sweeten these almost weightless billowy pancakes. Blood oranges are only available from January until March, so use them now.
See the rest of this post on the Ham and High website, where there is also a recipe for bergamot sorbet.
If you want a vegan version of this recipe, go to my post on aquafaba pancakes.

Blood orange ricotta pancakes

Makes 10 to 12 pancakes

2 blood oranges plus extra for garnishing
200ml water
200ml sugar
1 vanilla pod
250g ricotta
Zest of a lemon or bergamot
150ml milk
3 eggs, separated
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
A big knob (50g) of butter to melt on top and for cooking

To make the blood orange syrup:

Prepare the blood oranges by cutting off the top and bottom then removing the peel and pith. Slice thinly. Using a small saucepan, add the water and sugar. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved, then add the blood orange slices and the vanilla pod. Simmer until the syrup is crimson and thick. Once finished, you can sieve out the oranges pieces or keep them in.

To make the pancakes:

In a large bowl, add the ricotta and the zest of a lemon or bergamot. Add the milk and egg yolks, stir. Then add the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing together to make a thick batter.
In a separate bowl or stand mixer, whisk the egg whites until fluffy. Gently fold the egg into the batter.
On a medium heat, place a flat frying pan or a ‘crepiere’ (a cast iron crepe pan you can get in French supermarkets for about 15 to 20 euros, well worth picking one up on your next trip) and rub a knob of butter over it using kitchen paper. When making crepes or pancakes I rub over the pan with the same buttery paper between every crepe. This way it doesn’t stick but neither does it get too greasy.

Put two large tablespoons of the mixture for each pancake. Let it set and after a few minutes flip it over. Keep cooking until fluffy and golden.

Serve in a short stack with salted butter, and drizzle the syrup over the pancakes. Add more blood orange slices if you like. If you want to turn this into dessert, add some cointreau to the syrup.