In food news today, Nestle is going to remove food coloring from all of its chocolate candy products – like Butterfinger’s red 40 and yellow 5 – by the end of this year due to consumer requests.[1] Parents feel there is enough evidence that dyes contribute to ADD symptoms and behavior problems. Of course, these aren’t healthy foods even without the dye; the sugar contributes to the same problems. But on the bright side, the largest food processing company in the world is understanding that people don’t need dye in their food, and that’s a couple of baby steps in the right direction.
Now, back to real food. My grandma referred to palacsinta (pa-la-chin’-ta) as pancakes, but Hungarian pancakes are like French crepes, not American pancakes. Usually she made them sweet, although we usually ate them for lunch, not dessert. She either rolled strawberry jam in them, or a lemony cottage cheese filling. At palacsinta restaurants in Budapest, you can get them filled with everything from apples to stew, and an order of crepes at a nice restaurant only costs about a dollar. They usually fold them in quarters but for some reason my grandma taught me to roll them; they really are better rolled because you get an even mix of crepe and filling in each bite.
The recipe for palacsinta is easy to remember because it’s one of each ingredient. The first one might not turn out because the pan isn’t the perfect heat, so let it get hot. I have a video below that shows how to cook one. You can keep them warm in a 275 degree oven. This recipe makes 10 pancakes so it’s good to double the recipe and make a bunch of dinner pancakes and a handful for dessert. For my dinner ones today, I’m going Greek with a twist on Spanakopita; you can replace the ricotta with feta if you like it better (I avoid feta). This gives us the healthiest type of onions and a good dose of spinach.
Palacsinta (~10)
1 C flour
1 t sugar
1 pinch salt
1 egg
1 C milk
1 t vanilla
Put the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and beat until smooth.
Heat a small frying pan over medium. Lightly butter pan and add 2 1/2 tablespoons of batter and tilt the pan to cover the bottom. Batter and pancake should be very thin. Fry until lightly browned and loose in the pan. Turn and brown other side. Repeat to use up the batter.
Spread 2 tablespoons of filling on each pancake and roll. Transfer to a warm platter.
Cottage Cheese Filling (Turos Toltelek)
1 egg yolk
1 T organic sugar
1/8 t salt
1 C small curd cottage cheese, drained
1/4 t vanilla
1/4 t grated lemon peel
Blend the egg yolk, sugar, and salt until thick. Mix in the cottage cheese. Mix in vanilla and lemon peel.
(Spread 2 tablespoons of filling on each pancake and roll.)
Spinach Pie Filling
1 bunch of chopped green onions (scallions – 1/2 cup)
2 crushed cloves garlic
1 T coconut oil
2 bags of fresh spinach
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 C ricotta cheese
1/2 C shredded parmesan cheese
Put the onion, garlic, and oil in a pan over medium heat and cook about 5 minutes, stirring. Mix in the parsley. Add the spinach and stir occasionally until it’s all wilted. Transfer the spinach mixture to a mixing bowl and stir in the two cheeses.
(Spread 2 tablespoons of filling on each pancake and roll.)
[1] “Chocolate Makeover: Nestle Dumps Artificial Colorings,” by Allison Aubrey, NPR, Feb. 19, 2015.
