Cheese

Buckwheat Ricotta Blintzes with Figgy Relish

by:
March 13, 2011
4.7
3 Ratings
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

I can't claim to have my own buckwheat crepe recipe - I always just use David Leibovitz's, which is perfect. But, sometimes I doctor up a box of buckwheat pancake mix if I don't have plain buckwheat flour. Letting the batter sit overnight gets rid of the bubbles that lead to tears, but I've let it sit for as little as 4 hours and it was ok. The amount of batter makes more crepes than you need, which is fine because my first few sometimes end up in the mistake pile. - VanessaS —VanessaS

Test Kitchen Notes

VanessaS was so right about loosing a few crepes to the mistake pile. Unlike regular flour crepes, these are very tender while they are warm, so make sure you handle them carefully and quickly. I made mine a few hours before dinner so I tucked a sheet of wax paper between them and reheated them briefly like you would a tortilla and they folded like a charm. The relish was easy to make and would be great on anything with cheese, so it was the perfect compliment to the blintzes. If you want your ricotta softened and creamy, eat them hot off the press, but I let mine sit for 15 minutes and the firmer consistency was fine for me. I would definitely make these again! - Stockout —Stockout

Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
  • Buckwheat Crepes
  • 1 1/2 cups buckwheat pancake mix (I use Hodgson Mill)
  • 2 egg
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 3/4 cups milk
  • Filling and Relish
  • 1 1/2 cups ricotta
  • 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 8 dried calmyrna figs, cut into eighths
  • 3 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
Directions
  1. Buckwheat Crepes
  2. In a blender, combine pancake mix, egg, oil and milk. Blend until mixed and let sit in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. Heat 1 teaspoon of butter in a 10 inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Pour in 1/3 cup of batter, swirl pan, and let cook for 4 minutes. You’ll know when its time to flip when the flaky bits on the very edge of the pan where the batter just barely covered the pan start to lift up and peel away – this is what you can grab with your fingers for flipping. Gently pick up the crepe, flip over, and cook for 1 more minute. Set aside. If crepes start to stick to the pan as you go on, add a little pencil eraser size piece of butter and smush it around the pan with a rubber spatula. - Filling and Relish
  1. Filling and Relish
  2. In a small covered saucepan, gently simmer the figs, orange juice, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, and thyme for 20 minutes.
  3. While figs are cooking, mix ricotta, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.
  4. Lay one crepe on a work surface. Place two tablespoons of ricotta filling in a long rectangle shape in the middle of the crepe. Fold top and bottom over, then fold sides in. Do this with all crepes, and set them aside.
  5. Heat 1 teaspoon of butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. In batches, add blintzes and cook about 2 or 3 minutes on each side, until a little brown and warm, adding more butter if necessary.
  6. While blintzes are frying, add honey to fig pan, bring to a boil and boil until starts to get very bubbly. Turn off heat and stir in walnuts. Serve blintzes with a little bit of fig relish on top.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

6 Reviews

I tested this wonderful recipe and here are our thoughts:

It's a terrific fusion of earthy, aromatic tastes and textures. The ricotta filling is lightly sweet and flavorful, reminiscent of cannolli filling.The crispy edges of the blintzes are a buttery delight, while the pancake itself has a nutty essence and toothsome texture, for being so delicate. The fig, walnut relish (which I put inside some of our blintzes, and chopped a bit more finely than the recipe called for, really seals the deal. The combination of these three distinct flavors, aromas and textures is quite a treat.

Truth be told I am the worst crepe maker. My initial batter was watery (will use smaller eggs next time, and possibly a bit less whole milk). After many tasty mistakes and some nicer looking crepes, I finally took the blini route with a dollop of ricotta and fig on each, and they were awesome, too - just deconstructed.
VanessaS May 1, 2012
Thanks! Good idea to put some of the filling in the crepes. I'm going to give that a try next time!
bethmichelle March 14, 2011
The filling in this sounds really wonderful. It is almost fig season here in Israel and I may just have to try this out!
VanessaS March 14, 2011
Appreciate it, bethmichelle! If you get a chance to try it, let me know how it turns out for you!
VanessaS March 13, 2011
Thanks, Kitchen Butterfly - sounds like a fun week!
Kitchen B. March 13, 2011
Had a week of blintzes just past, loved the creamy sweet filling. Yummy