For brunch, a cheese-filled blintz is bliss

Everybody likes blintzes, but who knew they had their own literature?

Not I, not until a children's book and a Sunday brunch at a late, lamented Seattle restaurant inspired me to take a look inside these cheese-filled bundles and even make them at home. It was a lot easier than I expected.

The book was Fran Manushkin's "How Mama Brought the Spring." On a winter day in Chicago, Rosy Levine is too cold to get out of bed until her mother tells the story of how Grandma's blintzes brought spring to their ancestral city of Minsk, Belarus. Rosy springs from her cocoon to help her mother do the same for Chicago, using Grandma's blue blintz-making tablecloth.

Like most stories, this one has a bit of autobiography and a bit of embellishment. "My mother would make blintzes," said Manushkin, "and she had this red-and-white-checked tablecloth that looked like the Italian tablecloth at Italian restaurants. And when she died, I took this tablecloth and I have it in my closet, and I keep it because it reminds me of my mother making blintzes."

Oh, and as for Minsk: "It's just a funny word," said Manushkin, who does have ancestors from Belarus, but not Minsk per se.

My daughter, Iris, loved the book and wanted to make blintzes right away. But we were already planning to go to brunch at the Capitol Hill restaurant Crave the next day. Iris found blintzes on the menu and ordered them. Good move. These were the best blintzes I'd ever had.

Sadly, Crave closed in October, but chef Robin Leventhal was happy to share the recipe.

"It's the Jewish pastry version of an éclair," she said. "I'm a huge cheese fan, so I'm sure that's why I fell in with blintzes early on as a child." These days, Leventhal is planning a line of frozen foods — macaroni and cheese, gnocchi, blintzes — and thinking about her next restaurant.

Meanwhile, I've been making homemade blintzes. Leventhal's recipe is not only great, it's easy. The filling is made with ricotta (cheap and ubiquitous) rather than farmer cheese (expensive and harder to find). The crepes are sturdy. It's totally doable for weekend breakfast. I made the filling and cooked the crepes and Iris helped fill and fold them. You can make them flatter (more browned surface area) or rounder (more cheesy filling per bite) as you prefer.

Oh, about that literature. I was surprised to find that Fran Manushkin was not the first person to write a picture book about blintzes. In "A Mountain of Blintzes" by Barbara Diamond Goldin, Sarah wants to make a mountain of blintzes for Shavuot. During this spring holiday, which marks Moses' receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, Jews celebrate with dairy foods. (The connection is explained in the book.)

I have not actually read "Blintzes for Blitzen" by Elise Okrend, but clearly Chrismukkah predated TV's "The O.C."

So, thanks to Manushkin and Leventhal, blintzes have become part of our regular breakfast repertoire — a tough lineup to crack, I have to say. We even have a blue tablecloth, just like Rosy's, and we eagerly lined up our first round of blintz crepes on it. Then we had to put the tablecloth in the laundry before breakfast. My recommendation: use a plate.

Matthew Amster-Burton is a Seattle freelance writer. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at studio@barrywongphoto.com.

Crave Blintzes

Makes 9 (about 4 servings)

To make these doable for breakfast, enlist help: a partner can fill and fold as each pancake is finished. You may reuse the skillet from step 2 in step 5, but switching to a larger skillet will allow for fewer batches and faster blintzes.

For the filling

1 pound ricotta

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the crepes

3 large eggs

6 tablespoons milk

6 tablespoons water

3/4 cup flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon canola oil, plus more for greasing the skillet

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1. To make the filling: Combine the ricotta, egg yolks, flour, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice in a mixing bowl and stir well. Set aside.

2. To make the crepes: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and water. Gradually add the flour, then sugar, vanilla, salt and oil. Beat well until there are no lumps in the batter. Place a nonstick skillet (10-inch is good) over medium heat, brush with oil, and heat until hot but not smoking.

3. Ladle a scant ¼ cup of batter into the skillet. Tilt pan to swirl the batter so it covers the bottom of the skillet. Fry on one side until small air bubbles form, and the top is set. Bottom should be golden brown. When done, carefully loosen edges of crepe and slip out of skillet onto a plate. Grease the skillet as needed and repeat until all the batter is used.

4. Turn each crepe so the golden-brown side is up. Place 3 tablespoons of filling in the middle, in a 3-inch-long by 2-inch-wide mound. Roll once to cover filling. Fold the sides into the center and continue rolling until completely closed. Repeat with remaining crepes. You may have leftover filling; don't overfill.

5. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat and add half the blintzes. Fry the blintzes until golden-brown, about 2 minutes per side. Place on a greased, rimmed baking sheet.

Repeat with remaining blintzes. Transfer to the oven and bake until the filling reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

— Adapted from Robin Leventhal