Pancake Day

Possum is 5 years 9 months

Bandicoot is 3 years 7 months

Little Princess is 1 year 1 month (13 months)

 

Lent is fast approaching, but what do we need first?  Pancake Day!  And if you are around these parts, you will know why the French call it Fat Tuesday.

We started the day with blinis.  Yes, “blinis” not “blintzes”.  They are  similar but they are not the same.

A couple of years ago, DH and I backpacked through Russia (amongst some other wonderful places.)  Oh, alright, maybe not a couple of years ago, but we like to think that the years aren’t going that fast.  On that trip we stayed in homestay accommodation (quite a mixed bag of experiences, there!) and we got to taste quite a variety of blinis for breakfast.

The best blinis in the whole world were for the Homestay Wife in Krasnoyask (I have since forgotten her name, but I have not forgotten her blinis.  I also have not forgotten her husband telling us that she cooked them for him every single morning.  Wowsers!)

Well, this recipe tastes a lot like hers: ~tantalising link to blini recipe~

It is worth reading the comments and actually paying attention to the description of when to turn the blini (I forget to do that every time and about the first three end up in the bin until I remember those instructions are there…)

The wonderful Krasnoyask Blinis (needs capitalisation) were filled with smetna and rolled somewhat like a burrito.  She then fried them to re-warm and seal them.

I decided to make them like that this time, but to put them in a casserole dish and reheat them that way.

Now, these little fellows are fiddly to make, and knowing how crazy life can get around here, I decided to make the blinis the day before.  What a brilliant idea.  EXCEPT – well, as I explained to Sam-O, blinis purpose in life really seems to be the vehicle ferrying the melted butter to ones mouth.  Oops.

This is the second batch:

 

I would have to say that they were quite a success.

I even managed to keep a couple aside to use for the boys’ lunch the next day.  These ones I spread with nutella (I warmed it up so that it spread thinly and easily).  Then I folded it in halves and in halves again so that it was a quarter of a circle shape.  Win!!  (This idea is not my own.  We had some super yummy ones done just this way at the Peter and Paul Monument in St Petersberg.  MmmHmm.)

 

(Yes, alright, this isn’t one of our pics, but that’s where the blini man was.  This pic is from http://russianworldforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=713)

 

For lunch we had a German Pancake (more carbs…):

6 eggs / 1 cup flour / 1 cup milk / 1/2 cup sugar

Pop a hot dish in the oven with butter in it.  When the butter is all melted, pour in the batter and bake away until fluffy-ish.  Brush with a little butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  (Thank you to the Aldi Australian Cookbook for this one…)

 

Afternoon tea involved store bought pikelets.  Pikelets are not my forte and Possum had his first date over from big school, so I didn’t want to stuff up. (And let’s be honest, just how many hours can you stand over the stove flipping pancakes?)

And for dinner – well a nice chicken curry packed with veges really seemed to the anecdote required.

Tags: blini, German pancake, Lent, pancake, Pancake Day, pikelet, recipe