Passover Herb Blintzes (Crêpes) or Noodles

Norene Gilletz

These are used for blintzes or manicotti, or cut into strips for soup noodles.

Food Editor's Notes:  This recipe comes from Norene's wonderful cookbook, Healthy Helpings: 800 Fast and Fabulous Recipes for the Kosher (or Not) Cook (Woodland Publishing).  These crêpes are easy and quick to make.  If you aren't using them right away, let them cool and keep in the refrigerator separated by waxed paper and covered with plastic wrap.  Bring to room temperature before rolling in another recipe.  These crêpes are the "pasta" in Norene's Passover Spinach & Cheese Manicotti – a delicious dairy entrée for Passover when you feel the need for something different or the urge for something Italian.  See below for Norene's suggested fillings and tips for freezing and for using this recipe to make cheese blintzes and soup noodles for Passover.

Ingredients

1/2 cup potato starch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 2 egg whites (or 2 eggs)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (generally cottonseed)
1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1.  Combine potato starch, salt, egg and egg whites.  Whisk together until no lumps remain.  Gradually whisk in water, oil and basil; mix until smooth.  (Can be done in a processor.)  Let batter stand for 15 minutes.  Batter can be refrigerated up to 24 hours in advance.

2.  Use a crêpe pan or non-stick skillet.  Grease pan lightly for the first blintz, or spray pan with non-stick spray.  Stir mixture well.  Pour about 3 tablespoons batter (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) into the skillet.  Cook about 1 minute, until edges are brown and top surface is dry.  Flip the blintz onto its second side and cook 10 seconds longer.  Turn out onto a clean tea towel.  Repeat with remaining batter, stirring occasionally to prevent potato starch from settling to the bottom.  If blintzes begin to stick to the pan, grease pan with a little oil on a paper towel. 

Yield: 12 crêpes/blintzes.  These freeze well.

37 calories per crêpe, 1.6 g fat (0.2 saturated), 18 mg cholesterol, 1 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 48 mg sodium, 14 mg potassium, trace iron, 0 g fiber, 4 mg calcium.

• Freezing and Heating Directions: Blintzes can be frozen either filled or unfilled for up to 1 month.  Place a double layer of waxed paper between unfilled blintz leaves to make it easy to separate them.  For filled blintzes, arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet, not touching.  Wrap well and freeze.  When needed, thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  Arrange filled blintzes in a lightly greased casserole; brush tops lightly with oil.  Bake uncovered at 400 degrees about 20 minutes, until golden.
• Suggested Fillings: Ratatouille; Potato, Mushroom & Onion Filling [see Norene's cookbook].  To minimize fat, "sauté" onions in a non-stick skillet in a little vegetable broth.
• Passover Cheese Blintzes: Make the filling for regular Cheese Blintzes, but use the above recipe to make the blintz leaves, omitting basil.
• Herbed Passover Noodles:  Follow recipe for Passover Herb Blintzes (above), but substitute 1 teaspoon freshly minced dill for basil.  Fry thin pancakes as if making blintzes.  Roll each pancake up like a jelly roll and cut into 1/4-inch strips.  At serving time, add to hot soup.  Makes enough for 8 to 10 servings.

Norene Gilletz is a good friend to ShalomBoston.com and a frequent contributor to our Food Page.  We hope this will continue as her newest cookbook is about to be published in May.  Entitled Norene's Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap Books, publisher), this book is a collection of 600 of Norene's best-loved recipes, old and new.  Norene is the leading kosher chef and cookbook author in Canada and she has been in the forefront of those cooking healthy and vegetarian dishes, including recipes compatible with special diets.  It is a pleasure to read Norene's cookbooks, as her accessible, friendly tone is evident on each page and she gives lots of useful tips throughout.