Cheese Blintzes
Blintz is a Yiddish term meaning small pancake. These have been eaten in Jewish homes for hundreds of years. This version is very basic and served plain. Some people like to serve blintzes with different fruit toppings and you may want to experiment.
Cheese Blintz Recipe
Yield: 6-8 blintzes
Batter
3 eggs
1 cup of milk
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of salad oil
1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour
Butter for frying
Filling
1 lb. farmer’s cheese*
1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 eggs
Dash of salt
Sugar to taste
Mix the eggs, milk and salt in a bowl using a hand mixer. Add the oil and mix for one minute. Add flour and mix until smooth.
Heat some butter in an 8 inch sauté pan and drop 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan. Spread the batter evenly over the bottom of the pan cooking until the underside turns slightly brown. Flip the cake and cook 30 seconds more. Take the blintz and pat dry on a paper towel.
*Farmer’s cheese is most often used, but you may substitute ricotta cheese, if farmer’s cheese cannot to be found.
Mix all the ingredients until smooth. Place 1 tablespoon of the mixture in the middle of a blintz. Fold 1 side over 1/3 and then the other side over 1/3. Take the whole blintz and fold in half from the bottom. Heat some butter in a sauté pan and sauté the blintz for 1 minute or until it is golden brown.
Place the blintzes in a shallow baking dish and bake in a 375°F oven for 20 minutes to cook the middle. Place one blintz on a plate and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and some fresh blueberries or strawberries.
Meet the Chef
Mitch was raised in a traditional Reform Jewish home near Boston. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Massachusetts and focused on a culinary career. Mitch worked at some of the finest kitchens in Boston including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Parker House and Le Meridien, achieving his goal of cooking with the best chefs in the world. In 1982 Mitch moved to San Francisco and cooked at some of the top restaurants on the West Coast as well. Mitch had a chance to work with other top chefs who introduced a new and lighter style of cooking to America, which became known throughout the United States as New American Cooking.
His destructive lifestyle, however, was detrimental to his career and he could no longer keep up with the high demands and pressures of cooking at the top. He was eventually fired from his job at Stars, once a top restaurant and one of the most creative kitchens in the country. He realized that his life was a wreck and prayed to God for the first time in years. The next day, he quit smoking and drinking. As Mitch began to trust God for the first time in his life, he talked with a Christian co-worker about the Bible and finally began to grasp the Gospel message. Mitch accepted Yeshua (Jesus) into his life in 1987.
Mitch now serves as Vice President of U.S. Ministries for Chosen People Ministries and oversees all recruitment, training, mentoring and leadership of the entire U.S.-based missionary staff. Mitch is married to Kina, a second-generation Jewish believer, and they have two daughters, Kaelee and Alana, and a son, Joshua.
