Cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce (nalesniki z serem)

Berry up some Polish cheese blintzes with traditional blueberry sauce. The light cottage cheese filling makes them the perfect breakfast or light dessert, or even dinner… we won’t tell.

These Polish crepes (naleśniki) evoke strong family memories. Credit: Jason Loucas

• makes

  8

• prep

  35 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

Ingredients

• 50 g butter
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 125 ml (½ cup) milk
• 150 g (1 cup) plain flour
• icing sugar, to dust

Cheese filling

• 550 g quark (see Note) or cottage cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• 100 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Blueberry sauce

• 250 g fresh or frozen blueberries
• 55 g (¼ cup) sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

To make blueberry sauce, place blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and 60 ml water in a saucepan over high heat. Stir to dissolve sugar, then reduce heat to medium and cook for a further 5 minutes or until berries are soft and mixture has thickened. Set aside.

Melt 30 g butter, then whisk with eggs, milk and 125 ml water in a bowl until smooth. Place flour and ¼ tsp salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Whisk in half of the egg mixture until smooth. Repeat with the remaining egg mixture. Stand for 15 minutes.

To make cheese filling, combine all the ingredients in a bowl.

Heat a 15 cm crêpe pan over medium heat. Lightly grease. Pour ¼ cup batter into pan and swirl to coat. Cook for 3 minutes or until the batter dries on the surface and base starts to colour. Turn over and cook for a further minute or until starting to colour. Transfer to a clean tea towel and cover with another clean tea towel. Repeat with remaining batter. Reserve pan.

Working with one crêpe at a time, place ¼ cup cheese filling in a strip along the centre of each crêpe. Roll up to form a log. Repeat with remaining crêpes and filling.

Melt remaining 20 g butter in reserved pan over medium heat. Working with 4 blintzes at a time, cook for 2 minutes each side or until golden. Dust with icing sugar and top with blueberry sauce.

Note

Quark, available from selected delis, is a European-style cottage cheese that is soft and smooth.

As seen in Feast Magazine, Issue 14, pg94.

Photography by Jason Loucas

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.