Strawberry Rhubarb Blintzes

Blintzes are most often described in relation to other foods. They are “like pancakes” but thinner, “like Russian blini” except without the yeast, or “like crepes,” just folded a little differently. Still, blintzes are a delicacy all their own. Originally from the Ukraine, fillings like cheese, potato, and kasha were folded inside the blintz wrappers (or bletlach, “leaves” in Yiddish) and fried until golden brown.

In The World of Jewish Cooking, Rabbi Gil Marks writes that, “As with other filled foods, blintzes provided a great way of transforming leftovers into a special dish or stretching scarce resources.”In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish immigrants transported and popularized the dish in America. It quickly became a staple offering at milchig (dairy) meals in New York City, and a tall pile of blintzes came to signify bounty and comfort to vacationers in the Catskills. In the The Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Joan Nathan describes a typical lunch menu at the famous Grossinger’s resort: “cold borscht with boiled potato; their famous pickled herring in cream; marinated carp and, of course, Grossinger’s famous blintzes with blueberries and sour cream.”

When made without meat, as they most often are, blintzes are a dairy lover’s dream–filled with sweet farmer cheese, browned in butter, and topped with sour cream. As the edible embodiment of “a land flowing with milk and honey,” blintzes are commonly served on Shavuot — the Jewish calendar’s most unabashedly milchig-friendly holiday.

The recipe below, while still full of milk and butter, substitutes a sweet and sour fruit filling for the traditional cheese. Regardless of what’s inside, however, Rabbi Marks suggests that all blintzes are appropriate for the Shavuot table: “Two blintzes placed side by side, resemble the two tablets that Moses received on Mount Sinai.” Amen, Rabbi.