Honeymoon Breakfast..Aussie Style!

Our 8th wedding anniversary is quickly approaching and it got me thinking about the amazing 2 month honeymoon we took to Australia & New Zealand back in 2001. While we were in Sydney, we fell in love with an incredible restaurant that was only a few blocks from the B& B we were staying at in Darlinghurst called Bills.

Bills is a hip place full of trendy folks who all gather around the big communal table in the center of the room and read the latest fashion & design magazines. We literally went there every morning of our 7 day stay in the hood and quite enjoyed people watching--in particular a handsome guy who came in each day (I guess we were not the only fans!) with a different girl. We would eat and make up stories about this guy and had a great time!

My stand out favorite from the menu was the Ricotta Hotcakes with Honeycomb butter- delish! And, now, thanks to Bills website, you can make it too!

Ricotta hotcakes
1 1/3 cups ricotta
3/4 cups milk banana
4 eggs, separated honeycomb butter, sliced
1 cup plain flour icing sugar for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
50 g butter

1. Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
3. Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.
4. Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of the butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don’t cook more than 3 per batch). Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides.
5. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and quickly assemble with other ingredients.

Honeycomb butter
250 g unsalted butter, softened
100g sugar honeycomb, crushed with a rolling pin
2 tablespoons honey

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll, seal and chill in a refrigerator for 2 hours.
2. Store leftover honeycomb butter in the freezer – it’s great on toast.

To Serve:
Slice one banana lengthways onto a plate, stack 3 hotcakes on top with a slice of honeycomb butter.
Dust with icing sugar. Serves 6-8

Picture & Recipe source: Bills