To make the pancake batter,
whisk the eggs in a pan,
add milk and then the flour and blend using an electric
blender or food processor:
Or if a
blender is not available, sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
Add the egg and beat well. Then add the milk gradually
and beat well. When all the liquid has been added, use a
rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around
the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter
is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.
Then leave to stand for 15-30 minutes:
Add olive oil
into the batter and whisk it in:
Get the pan really hot,
pour 1 tbsp of olive oil and use a wodge of kitchen
paper to smear it round before you make each pancake,
then turn the heat down to medium:
To
start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct
amount of batter. It's also helpful if you spoon the
batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one
go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from
side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter:
It should
take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge
with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be.
Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife - the
other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it
out of the pan onto a plate:
Stack the pancakes as you
make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted
over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest.
Serving Suggestions
Bliny may be
served in two
basic ways:
They may be smeared with butter, sour cream,
jam, honey, or caviar (whitefish, salmon, or traditional
sturgeon caviar) and then they might be folded or rolled
into a tube. In that form they are similar to French crêpes.
The caviar filling is popular during Russian-style cocktail
parties.
A filling such as jam, fruit, potato, cottage
cheese or farmer cheese, cooked ground meat, cooked chicken, and
even chopped mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage and onions is
rolled or enveloped into a pre-fried blin and then the blin is
lightly re-fried, sautéed, or baked.
