Arlene’s Aunt Lee visited us in Maine this weekend (Sept 9-10). Arlene’s brother Ira and his wife Greta, and Greta’s dog, were also with us.
That’s a dog under that blanket, a little carefully groomed Shi-Tzu named Shanie Tikva. I sort of thought that pet photos are obligatory on blogs and since we don’t have a pet, Greta’s would have to do. Here’s Shanie (that’s the same Yiddish word as in “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”, bei the way) in a more alert moment. How about those eyelashes! Well, they don’t show up so well in that photo; you’ll have to take my word for them.
Lee went to work cooking blintzes for Sunday breakfast and apple crisp for dessert for afternoon tea (beccause it was almost noon by the time we all finished the blintzes, so we had an afternoon meal around 4:30).
Blintzes are folded-up, refried pancakes, mostly with cheese or sometimes fruit filling. Here’s the recipe:
Cheese Blintzes
Batter:
3/4 C sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Filling:
1/2 lb thick curd cottage cheese or Farmer cheese or ricotta
1/2 tsp salt
small amount beaten egg
(suggestion: add little cinnamon & sugar also)
Mix flour, sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt in small bowl. Add milk & eggs, saving a little egg to be mixed into cheese.
Mix well to make thin batter. Combine filling ingredients in a separate bowl.
Fry batter on one side in small buttered frying pan to make blettlach (“leaves”), basically like somewhat undercooked crepes. You get just one blettle at a time in a pan. They should be about six or seven inches in diameter.
When all batter is used, fold blintzes individually: with uncooked side down, put a tablespoon or two of filling in the middle of each, fold opposite sides over, then fold ends over. Fry, overlapping side down first and then on other side, in buttered saucepan. You can fry as many blintzes at a time as will fit in the pan. I don’t seem to have a picture of the folded-up blintzes; this is still the blettlach cooking phase.
Serve hot, with cut strawberries or sour cream for topping.
And the apple crisp recipe. Nicole is Lee’s granddaughter. She learned this recipe in home ec class in high school:
Nicole’s Apple Crisp
Preheat oven to 375. Grease 8 x 8 inch pan
4 medium apples (about 4 cups sliced)
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C flour
1/2 C rolled oats
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 C margarine, softened
Put sliced apples into baking pan. Combine remaining ingredients. Mix until dry & crumbly. Sprinkle over sliced apples. Bake 25-30 minutes. Serve warm. Good with ice cream.
Optional: 1/2 C chopped nuts and/or 1/4 C raisins may be added.
We used Cortland apples, fresh off the tree. It was very satisfactory!