the other day, farhad manjoo – a contributing writer for slate, fast company, and the nyt – as well as a tech genius, new dad, sometimes cook and all around nice guy – said he had no use for 0% greek yogurt. as it happens, i do. i cook with it on occasion. he apparently doesn’t, so for him, and for all of you, i thought i’d post a recipe just in time for your sunday breakfast… or maybe next sunday. unless you’re in the mood for a midnight grocery run (assuming you don’t keep some of this stuff on hand).
i decided to call these fayeh pancakes, because 1) they’re made with fage yogurt, which says on the container it’s pronounced fa-yeh and 2) because in my sometimes fucked up, bizarro fan-girl mind, fayah pancakes sounded better than yogurt pancakes since i made the recipe for farhad. i dunno. go with me on this.
or call them what you like. lemon pancakes. yogurt pancakes. ricotta pancakes. rock your world almost fat free moist delicious pancakes. whatever.
now, a couple minor things i didn’t say up in there – first of all, i’m assuming if you know how to cook at all, you know how to heat your skillet to the right temperature, whether you’re using an electric griddle or a frying pan. i use an oneida pro anodized skillet, as it heats beautifully evenly, even on my shitty electric stove. second, if you’ve been with me for a while now, you should know i only use meyer lemons. they’re the best. but that doesn’t mean you can’t use a regular lemon, or even bottled lemon juice if you must. if that’s the case, you’ll need about 1/3 cup of lemon juice, and about two tablespoons of lemon zest. and if you’re using bottled lemon juice, i’ll go ahead and assume that means you don’t have any lemon zest (for shame!) so sadly, your pancakes will still be good, just not quite as lemony. you could add a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract if you’ve got it, that might help. third, you don’t have to use wild blueberries if you don’t want to, they’re just the easiest, i think, cause they’re little, and the 10 oz bag is the right size. but basically two cups of whatever (fresh or frozen) berries you want, plus that 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water will make a great topping, and far, far, far healthier than any store-bought syrup.
also – don’t let the length of this post daunt you. after zesting and juicing your lemon (i get a little time savings there, as i have both the juice & the zest frozen already & just have to thaw it), once your ingredients are gathered, you can literally throw these together in like 10 minutes, plus 20 or so more for cooking. they’re not a huge time-suck, is what i’m saying.
leave me any feedback you want, good, bad or otherwise. i can take it. plus, if you make changes, let me know how yours come out, i’m just as willing to experiment with the recipe are you are.