Blintzes, Crepes, Blini, it's all delicious!

It amazes me how much in common all cultures have food wise. Think of the simple mixture for a crepe...milk, flour, eggs. In France you buy them on the street; sweet or savory they can be a breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack. In Germany...my Grandmother used to make us German Pancakes for breakfast...a crepe filled with jelly. Of course there is my husbands side of the family stating: blintz is a Polish invention. Some say the word is clearly Slavic, as in “blini,” the buckwheat pancake Russians serve with melted butter and caviar. The Hungarian word for pancake, “palascinta,” has a similar root sound.

This recipe is so simple...get out your blender...

Crepes or Blintz Skins
3/4 cup milk...whole all the way down to skim...whatever your preference
1/2 cup water
2 eggs (egg beaters may be substituted)
1 cup flour (1/2 all purpose unbleached organic if you can and 1/2 buckwheat to make a sweet grainy blintz skin)
2 T melted butter (canola oil or smart balance works fine too)
1 T sugar (or agave nectar or leave it out)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla (if you are making cheese or sweet blintzes-for savory blintzes leave this out)

Now puree. Scrape down the sides of bowl and make sure the batter is well blended. Place in bowl in refrigerator for 1 hour. This is important to release air bubbles, allow the flour and egg and milk to mix.

Take a small non stick saute pan...7 inch will make a small crepe, 9 inch a larger. Spray with a nonstick cooking spray. Cooking Light has great detailed instructions for making blintzes.

"The trickiest part of the process is swirling just the right amount of batter in the pan. It's not difficult, but it takes practice. Even seasoned cooks use the first crepe as practice, so don't be discouraged if it takes a couple of times to get the hang of it. The crepes don't have to be uniform or perfectly round.

Success lies in preheating the pan to the correct temperature and mastering the swirl. You want to distribute a thin layer of batter quickly over the base of the hot pan so the crepe will have uniform thickness and cook evenly. Start by adding the batter to the center of the pan. Gently tilt the pan in a circular motion so the batter runs to, but not up, the sides of the pan..."

Fill the crepe skins with cheese (see recipe below) or any other fruit filling that you like. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of the crepe toward 6 o'clock. Fold the bottom edge up and over the filling. Fold in the sides to touch each other; then fold the top side over making sure all the filling is "inside". I flip it over fold side down and continue. Once filled, place in a hot buttered pan and saute on both sides till golden brown. Serve with sour cream or your favorite flavor of yogurt.

Blintzes freeze well and you can keep the crepe portion stacked unfilled in the refrigerator for a few days. Blintzes, the international food! If you are going to make them...double the recipe, fill them, and freeze them. One night when you don't want to cook, or have company and you want a first course...you'll be happy you did.

Cheese Filling
1 16 oz container of cottage cheese (full fat, fat free, large or small curd they all work)
1 egg
2 T flour
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Place cottage cheese in a sieve and using the back of a spoon press through the sieve. This will cream the cottage cheese and not make it as watery as if you pureed it in a blender. Add the remaining ingredients, blend well and refrigerate until ready to use.