Breakfast in bed

Next Sunday (the 2nd Sunday in May) is Mother’s Day in Australia, and lots of kitchens will be preparing breakfast in bed as a special treat for mum.

I first got the idea of using cottage cheese in pancakes from a Cheesecakelets recipe by Nigella Lawson, in her book Feast. Nigella’s recipe calls for separating the eggs and whisking the whites. This does produce lovely light pancakes but I think facing a whisk first thing in the morning is a bit much, especially if you have little helpers assisting with the cooking.

Cottage cheese is an under-utilised ingredient, it is a great alternative to ricotta cheese in cooking if you are trying to watch your fat intake. I am not using cottage cheese in this recipe because of it’s low(er) fat properties, but because the cottage cheese retains its curds, and once cooked, they melt and give a delicious oozy texture to the pancakes.

If you haven’t tried strawberries marinated in balsamic vinegar you may be skeptical, but the acid from the vinegar draws out the strawberry juice and you end up with a sweet sauce. You could add a little sugar to the vinegar and strawberries if the strawberries are especially tart, but I don’t find it is required. My only tip is to not leave the strawberries marinating too long (I wouldn’t leave them overnight) or they will continue to break down. Preparing the strawberries just before you start making the pancakes is sufficient time to allow the flavours to develop. Strawberries are expensive in Sydney at the moment, so if you wanted to skip them you could serve your pancakes with maple syrup, lemon and sugar or other fresh or defrosted berries.

What I was cooking this time last year: Bircher Muesli

Pancakes with Marinated Strawberries

Serves 2 – 3

Ingredients

Pancakes

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 250g cottage cheese
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 100mls milk
• 20g butter (plus extra for frying if you don’t have a non-stick frying pan)

Marinated Strawberries

• 1 punnet of strawberries
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Method

• Wash then hull your strawberries and roughly chop. Add your chopped strawberries to a bowl and add the balsamic vinegar and stir to combine. Set aside to marinate.

• Measure out the  flour, sugar and cottage cheese  into a bowl.
• Add the egg to the bowl with the flour.
• Zest the lemon peel into the bowl.

• Juice the lemon and add to the bowl.
• Add the milk and stir everything to combine.
• Melt the butter in a frying pan over low heat. Add the melted butter to the pancake batter and stir to combine.

• Heat your frying pan over a medium heat and add spoonfuls of the pancake batter to the pan.

• Cook on one side, your pancakes are ready to turn when bubbles start to appear on the top of the pancakes.
• Flip your pancakes and cook on the other side until golden brown.
• Dish up straight from the pan or place in a low oven to keep warm until all of the pancakes are cooked.

• Top the pancakes with marinated strawberries. Enjoy.

What is your favourite breakfast in bed? Has this post inspired any new ideas?