Lemon-ricotta pancakes with warm blueberries
Tender ricotta pancakes with warm blueberries and the fragrance of fresh lemon.
About 25 min · 415 kcal · 22 g protein per serving
Vegetarian
Polenta porridge with plum and quark
Soft polenta cooked in milk with poached plums and cool quark.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 22 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm 70 g polenta thickens 400 ml of milk in 8 to 10 minutes
- Confirm plums soften in 8 to 10 minutes covered
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 20 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 380 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 21 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- polenta. Maize is not a gluten cereal, but some polenta is milled alongside wheat; check the packet if you avoid gluten.
Cooking steps
Halve and stone the plums. Put them cut side down in a small pan with the cinnamon and a splash of water, cover, and cook over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until soft.
Bring the milk to a gentle simmer in a separate pan.
Rain the polenta into the milk in a thin stream with one hand while whisking hard with the other. Do not tip it in.
Cook on the lowest heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until it is thick enough to hold the mark of the spoon.
Divide between bowls and top with the plums and their syrup, the quark and the maple syrup.
The useful detail
Rain the polenta in while whisking, never tip it. Dropped in at once it sets into lumps on contact with the hot milk, and no amount of beating afterwards breaks them down.
Make it work for you
One serving is A bowl of polenta with half the plums and 100 g of quark. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Greek yoghurt instead of quark
Looser and richer, and it melts into the hot polenta.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about 2 g more fat.
Peaches instead of plums
Sweeter and softer; they need 2 or 3 minutes less.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Soya milk instead of dairy milk
Thinner and less creamy. The polenta still thickens it.
Per serving: about 25 kcal less, about 1 g more protein, about the same fat.
Allergens: Adds soya, removes milk.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A hot sweet breakfast where the milk and the quark rather than the grain supply nearly all the protein.
| Energy | 380 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 21 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 64 g |
| of which sugars | 29 g |
| Fibre | 3 g |
| Sodium | 470 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| plums | 250 g | FDC 169949Plums, raw | 115 kcal | 1.8 g |
| ground cinnamon | 1.5 g | FDC 171320Spices, cinnamon, ground | 3 kcal | 0.1 g |
| milk | 415 g | FDC 171267Milk, reduced fat, fluid, 2% milkfat, with added vitamin A and vitamin D | 206 kcal | 13.6 g |
| polenta | 70 g | FDC 168867Cornmeal, degermed, enriched, yellowCalculated with FoodData Central's degermed yellow cornmeal record; polenta is the same ground maize. | 259 kcal | 5.0 g |
| quark | 200 g | FDC 172181Cheese, cottage, nonfat, uncreamed, dry, large or small curdFoodData Central has no quark record. Calculated as dry-curd cottage cheese, the closest fresh unripened curd cheese it holds; the two are close in energy and protein, and your pot's label is the exact figure. | 144 kcal | 20.7 g |
| maple syrup | 14 g | FDC 169661Syrups, maple | 35 kcal | 0.0 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 763 kcal | 41.1 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 3 to 4 days. Polenta sets solid when cold and can be sliced and fried.
- Reheating
- Reheat with a good splash of milk, beating, until 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Vanilla skyr with roasted pear and cardamom oats
Cool vanilla skyr, tender pear and a small scattering of fragrant oats.
About 35 min · 300 kcal · 22 g protein per serving
Vegetarian