Red Sauce Blintzes

I prepared all the ingredients yesterday. Before we went to bed I told Adrian he'd be in charge of the cooking in the morning. I was very excited and hopeful of this sweet blintz recipe. Think about this: silky smooth lemony mascarpone filling, and tarty raspberry and strawberry sauce. Yummm....

Adrian, too, was ready to take on the role with me breathing down his neck. Unfortunately things didn't turn out as I thought. The batter was too thick - should I have strained it? Has it thickened overnight? Adrian managed to flip up a couple thin crepes but with hole - it didn't help to contain the filling. In the end, we got one good blintz out of 6. I was very disappointed and upset.

I got rid of this batch and whipped up another. Turned up fine this time. I must credit Adrian for being so supportive while I was sulking over a few bad crepes. And he cooked a killer omelet with sun-dried tomatoes, parsley and basil, too! Best he'd ever made, said the he-cook.

Ingredients
(make 6 8.5" crepes)
Raspberry and strawberry jam

• 1/2 cup frozen raspberry
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberry
• 1 tablespoon real maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• lemon juice to taste

Heat berries with maple syrup and sugar to melt. Adjust taste with lemon juice and sugar if needed.

Crepe

• 1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• small pinch of sea salt
• 1 small egg, lightly beaten
  
• 2/3 cup whole milk
  
• 1/3 tablespoon virgin coconut oil

1. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet ingredients in another. Fold wet ingredients over dry mixture to mix. Add more milk to desired consistency if needed.
   
2. When ready to cook, strain and remove clumps if necessary.
   
3. Coat and heat a 8.5" pan with butter. Pour just enough batter over pan, swirling to coat evenly. Return the excess to the bowl.
   
4. Fry until the top is bubbly. Remove from heat and place over a plate with the fried site up.
5. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Filling

• 1/3 cup Homemade mascarpone
• 1/3 cup fresh whipping cream
  
• 1 - 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• lemon zest
  
• 1 Tablespoons powdered sugar
  

1. Freeze whisk attachment and bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes. Beat the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. Add sugar, lemon juice and zest to beat to stiff peaks.
   
2. Gently fold the cream mixture into mascarpone to mix. Be careful not to over mix.
   

Assembly

1. Take a few spoonful of mascarpone filling and place it to the center, leaving the edges. Fold the edges as if making a package.
2. Coat and heat a pan with butter. Place blintzes seam site down to fry till browned. Flip and fry the other side.
3. Serve with Raspberry Strawberry Sauce and mint leaves.
   

Baked Herbed Blintz

I tried a blintz recipe few days ago and somehow managed to turn it into a crepe: I poured all the batter into one big frying pan - the crepe was too thick to be folded into envelope. This time I used a 8.5" pan and was patient enough to divide the batter into 4 portions. Instead of frying the blintz again, I baked them until the top was nicely browned.

We were both very happy with this. There's so much possibilities with the filling, and sauce to serve. I may make it a sweet blintz next.

Ingredients:
(serve 2)

Filling

For some reason I roasted two bell peppers for no reason a few days ago, not to mention the left over Ricotta. This cut down the preparation time considerably. I prepared the filling the night before knowing that Adrian was leaving home early the next morning. It always helps to have plan.

• Red and yellow bell pepper
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• Homemade ricotta cheese
• Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Rub bell pepper with olive oil and sea salt. Bake at 180C until bell peppers collapsed. Peel the skin, remove seeds and juices. Sliced into wedges. Take just enough of what you need and chopped into cubes.
2. Mix roasted bell peppers with the rest of the ingredients. Taste and adjust with sea salt if necessary.
3. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready for use.

Crepes

The crepe batter too was prepared the night before. It's quick an easy. Besides basil and parsley, coriander and tarragon would be a good mix too. You may want to add the chopped herbs just before frying: some of the basil leaves were browned the next morning.

• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup miso soup
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon pure sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley and basil, chopped

Whisk the ingredients together to mix. Taste and adjust with sea salt if necessary.

The Assembly

Here's another ingredient good to have handy: pesto. Alternately a herby tomato sauce may do the trick.

• Parmesan cheese, grated
• Rocket pesto
  

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Brush a 8.5" skillet with just enough butter to coat the pan. When the pan is well heated, remove from heat and pour about half of 1/4 cup of batter into pan. Tilt and swirl the pan to coat the bottom with a thin even layer of batter. Return to heat.
3. Fry the bottom till browned and the top set. Remove to a plate with cooked site up. Repeat to make 4 more crepes.
4. Lightly coat a baking tray with butter. Take 3 - 4 spoonful of ricotta filling and place it to the center of each crepes. Fold the edges into the middle to make blintzes. Place blintzes seam site down, in one layer, onto the prepared tray. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Drizzle with pesto and garnish with basil leaves to serve.