Meyer Lemon + Ricotta Crepes

Rainy, cold days are my favourite. I find them inspiring and energising, no matter where and no matter how often. I guess this is why I loved living in England and why I feel that Washington State and I would be very happy together. But for now, I will take them whenever they come and greet me here in this south eastern corner of sunshine. Thankfully today is a rare, rainy, cold day which means tea time, fire side time and kitchen time.

I have made it my mission to make a new recipe at least once a week to share on Lean + Meadow (now it is in writing I have to do it right?). My aim is to expand my cooking comfort zones and to increase my food photography repotoire. Today, being the inspiring and energising day that it is, seems like a pretty good day to carry on with this mission...

A couple of days ago, as Jakob and I were finishing up the side fence to keep Taj the dog in, I got distracted - as I usually do. I picked up a pair of pruners and decided to prune the lemon tree. It was getting a little out of control and well, we couldn't have that. I have no idea if my attempt at tidying the tree up is going to help it in the long run, or kill it. But for now, it looks better. While I was trimming away, I found a birds nest neatly tucked in among the trees rather mean, thorny branches. It was a little too high up to look in, but I suspect that this is the home of the sweet sounding and incredibly loud thrush that I have been hearing outside of our bedroom window most mornings.  I also noticed that hanging around the nest were three lone lemons left over from this winters crop. These lemons, I decided, all lonely and lagging behind, needed saving. They needed to be made into something nice. I just hoped that by picking them, they didn't make the thrush's home less homely...

I remembered seeing a meyer lemon recipe for crepes not all that long ago. Perfect I thought, considering that the lemons on our lemon tree are indeed of the meyer variety. So, as an ode to the end of winter, the start of spring and yesterdays pancake Tuesday I decided to make meyer lemon + ricotta crepes. I must say, those three lone lemons turned out to be makers of a very fitting rainy day breakfast - as they go exceptionally well with tea time, fire side time and time spent in the kitchen.

Meyer Lemon + Ricotta Crepes

prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 20 minutes
total time: 25 minutes
yields: 6 crepes

1/2 cup all purpose whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 cup of almond milk
1/2 cup  ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of 1 Meyer lemon

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, almond milk and the egg until smooth. Heat a small heavy based, non stick saucepan to medium. Spray a little olive oil in the pan, then ladle a small amount of batter into the pan while quickly tilting and swirling the batter to coat the base of the saucepan in as thin a layer as possible. Cook the crepe for 2 minutes or until edges begin to curl and brown. Use a small spatula to lift the edges and turn the crepe over (I pick up the edges here and use my hands to flip the crepe). Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute on the other side until golden brown. Lay the crepe flat on a plate. Repeat until all of the batter is cooked. Roughly 6 crepes.

Combine the ricotta, zest, lemon juice, and powdered sugar in the bowl of a mini food processor. Process for 10 to 15 seconds until smooth.

Dust each warm crepe layer with powdered sugar and sprinkle lightly with lemon juice.  Roll loosely.  Top with a dollop of the lemon ricotta.  Garnish with additional zest and powdered sugar, as desired.  Serve with lemon wedges.