Yoghurt and ricotta pancakes with bacon, basil eggs and roasted tomatoes

I was one of those strange kids growing up – I didn’t really like pancakes. They never excited me. 

This disinterest in pancakes stayed with me throughout university. However when eating breakfast with a friend at Billy Baxter I decided to try their savoury ham and cheese pancake. Its cheesy and meaty goodness transformed my opinion of the humble pancake. Then when joining Mr Bball at an annual Christmas eve pancake breakfast with his friends I was officially hooked.

So when friends were coming over for breakfast, I thought I would make a savoury pancake in honour of my Billy Baxter pancake experience.  

Yoghurt and ricotta pancakes

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup wholemeal plan flour
• ¾ teaspoon bi-carb soda
• 2/3 cup of Greek yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pepper
• ¼ cup fresh basil roughly chopped
• 70g ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup milk

Method:

• Sift flour and bi-carb soda
• Add the Greek yoghurt, salt, pepper, basil, ricotta cheese and egg and beat on low until mixed
• Beat in the milk until it has a runny consistency
• Heat a non-stick pan and spray with olive oil spray
• Put 2 ½ tablespoon of mixture for each pancake (for small pancakes)
• Cook until brown on each side (around 2 minutes on each side depending on how hot your pan is). 

Oven roasted tomatoes:

Ingredients:

• 10 cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic diced
• 1 tablespoons dried oregano
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees fan-forced
• Mix cherry tomatoes with oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper
• Cook for approximately 20 minutes depending on how large the cherry tomatoes are. They should be soft to the touch and the skin will just start to split.

Scrambled basil eggs:

Ingredients:

• 9 eggs
• 150mls milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• ¼ cup fresh basil finely chopped (add more if you love basil)

Method:

• Mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper and basil with a folk until well combined
• Heat pan to medium (not too high as the eggs with overcook) and spray with olive oil spray
• Add egg mixture to the pan and slowly move the folds of cooked eggs from the outside in until just cooked through.
• Turn off when still a bit runny as it will keep cooking.

Putting it together:

• Put two pancakes on each plate
• Add 2 pieces of cooked bacon
• Add scrambled eggs
• Add 4-5 cherry tomato halves
• Top with fresh basil.

You can serve it with a tomato chutney if you like, or even a little hollandaise however we ate it just like that and it was light and yummy.

This is a nice alternative to standard bacon and eggs on toast. It will impress at a breakfast party and looks harder than what it is.

My farewell fun yoghurt fact… “Both Greek and regular yogurt make convenient and healthy snacks. However, Greek yogurt packs an extra punch with nearly two times the protein compared to more traditional varieties.”*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/26/yogurt-fun-facts_n_4952223.html