Daring Cooks April 2014: Palatschinken

The April Daring Cooks Challenge was brought to us by Joanna from What’s On The List. She taught us all about Pathiri and challenged us to create our own version of this inspirational Indian dish!

Ok, so, mine's not Indian. I decided that cooking for one and making what looked like a cake might be a bit difficult. What I really wanted to make is a blintz dish that I have eaten in an Israeli restaurant close to where I work but I couldn't find a recipe that even came close to that. So I rang my Mum and she had a look in her old Cordon Bleu cookery course and came up with this. The beginning of the recipe says of this dish "This recipe given to Cordon Bleu many years ago by a Czechoslovakian us a marvellous way of presenting small quantities of leftover meat and vegetables. It is a good lunch or supper dish." There are also other suggested fillings; lamb, carrot, cabbage and tomato. Recipes available on request!

I made a few adaptations to the recipe as this one also had layers of pancakes with filling in between and I wanted them rolled up! But the rest of the recipe is the same. I made 4 pancakes and 4 fillings. so far I've eaten the mushrooms and the ham and both were really really tasty, so I look forward to trying the chicken and spinach at a later date.

Palatschinken (from Cordon Bleu Cookery Course)
(Serves 4-6)

For the pancake batter
110g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
200ml semi-skimmed milk mixed with 75ml water
50g butter

For the white sauce
45g butter
30g plain flour
315ml milk

2 eggs separated
60g cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper

For the fillings

Ham
100g cooked ham, diced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp chutney

Chicken
100g cooked chicken, shredded
1 hard-boiled egg
1 tbsp stock or cream

Mushroom
30g butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
120g mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp flour
2-3 tbsp stock or milk
1 tbsp mixed herbs, chopped

Spinach
50g spinach
1 tbsp butter or cream

Prepare the pancake batter by sifting the flour into a bowl and whisking in the eggs. Then slowly add milk and water until the batter is smooth and the consistency of single cream. Leave to stand in a cool place for 30 mins. Melt the butter a little at a time and fry the pancakes, you should have about 8. When done, set aside to cool whilst you prepare the fillings.

For the ham filling: Mix the ham with the mustard and chutney, stir well to combine.

For the chicken filling: Mix the chicken and egg together. Season well and bind with a little stock or cream.

For the mushroom filling: Melt the butter and cook the shallot until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until all the water has evaporated. Mix together the flour and stock or water. Season and bring the mixture to the boil. Add the mixed herbs and stir well.

For the spinach filling: Either melt the butter and stir in the spinach, or put the spinach into a pan and add the cream and heat gently. Then add a little nutmeg.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Grease a large oven-proof dish.

Place half of each filling down the centre of one pancake, role up and place into the casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining filling and pancakes.

Make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and mix in the flour. Stir continuously for a few mins to cook out the flour. Add the milk a little at a time stirring in between each addition until the mixture becomes thickened.

Take the pan off the heat and leave for a couple of mins. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the white sauce with 1 tbsp of the cheese.

Spoon the sauce over the pancakes, making sure that the sauce runs down the sides of the pancakes. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 20-30 mins until golden and puffed up. Serve.