A twist on the classically sweet brunch dish, these savory blintzes take inspiration from caprese and are filled with creamy mozzarella cheese , savory sundried tomatoes and topped with a bright pesto sauce.
Savory Cheese Blintz
Cheese blintzes are typically made sweet and stuffed with a sweet cheese filling and garnished with a sweet blueberry topping.
But just like my savory rosemary challah and savory herb and cheese rugelach, I like to create savory twists of the otherwise sweet classics.
Allow me to introduce you to 2 of my delicious friends, blintz and caprese.
Classic Italian flavors rolled up into a favorite Jewish breakfast. Shredded mozzarella cheese and sundried tomatoes are stuffed inside homemade blintz and garnished with a bright pesto. This may be your new favorite brunch dish!
Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour: The base of the blintz batter. I like using King Arthur Organic All Purpose Flour.
- Eggs: Large whole eggs for the blintz batter.
- Whole Milk: You can use low. fat or non dairy milks such as unsweetened almond milk or oat milk, but I’ve found that whole milk gives a better blintz product.
- Melted Butter: Unsalted butter, melted is for the blintz batter
- Mozzarella Cheese: Whole milk low moisture mozzarella cheese will be drier and not weigh down the filling of the blintz.
- Sun Dried Tomatoes: Packed in oil sun dried tomatoes are more tender, roughly chopped for the filling and garnish.
- Pesto: You can use a store bought pesto or make homemade basil almond pesto.
How to Make Savory Blintzes
- To make blintz batter, add all blintz ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend for a few seconds until smooth. Then pour batter in bowl and set aside.
- Heat a small 8-9 inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and spray a bit of cooking spray to evenly coat pan.
- Pour a ladle sized amount of batter into skillet, making a thin, circular motion to evenly distribute the batter.
- Cook blintz on the first side for about 1-2 minutes until it can easily move around in the pan and is not sticking. Then carefully use a spatula and flip over and cook the other side for another minute.
- As you make the blintzes, remove them from pan and set aside on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, making sure not to overlap because the blintz can stick to each other.
- Once all the blintzes are done, fill each blintz with 1 ounce of shredded mozzarella and a bit of sundried tomatoes.
- Fold the blintz up like a burrito, tucking in the sides and then place the rolled blintz back in the non stick skillet, seam side down and lightly searing each side of the rolled blintz. Continue with the rest until they are all lightly seared.
- When ready to serve, top blintz with pesto, more sundried tomatoes and garnish with basil.
A Few Tips on Making Blintzes
- Use a non stick skillet when making blintzes so the batter doesn’t stick to the pan.
- As you are making the blintes, lay them out flat onto a parchment paper, if they touch or are piled up, they can stick together.
- Chose a low moisture mozzarella and not a fresh mozzarella in brine because the fresh mozzarella is much wetter and can create a soggy filling.
Other Brunch Recipes to Try:
- Stuffed Challah French Toast
- Matzo Brei Eggs Benedict
- Shakshuka with Kale, Mushrooms and Feta
- Sephardic Spinach Pie with Parmesan and Feta
- Raspberry Lemon Dutch Baby
Savory Blintzes with Mozzarella and Pesto
Ingredients
Blintz:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- Pinch of salt
- Oil spray for greasing pan
Filling
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ cup sundried tomatoes roughly chopped
Basil Pesto
- 1/4 cup toasted almonds
- 1 garlic clove
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To make blintz batter, add all blintz ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend for a few seconds until smooth. Then pour batter in bowl and set aside.
- Heat a small 8-9 inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and spray a bit of cooking spray to evenly coat pan.
- Pour a ladle sized amount of batter into skillet, making a thin, circular motion to evenly distribute the batter.
- Cook blintz on the first side for about 1-2 minutes until it can easily move around in the pan and is not sticking. Then carefully use a spatula and flip over and cook the other side for another minute.
- As you make the blintzes, remove them from pan and set aside on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, making sure not to overlap because the blintz can stick to each other.
- Once all the blintzes are done, fill each blintz with 1 ounce of shredded mozzarella and a bit of sundried tomatoes.
- Fold the blintz up like a burrito, tucking in the sides and then place the rolled blintz back in the non stick skillet, seam side down and lightly searing each side of the rolled blintz. Continue with the rest until they are all lightly seared.
- When ready to serve, top blintz with pesto, more sundried tomatoes and garnish with basil.
Basil Pesto
- If making homemade peso, add the almonds and garlic clove to a food processor and pulse until all are ground well.
- Add basil, parmesan cheese and olive oil and pulse together until well incorporated. Taste for seasoning and add additional olive oil if needed for desired consistency.
Notes
- Use a non stick skillet when making blintzes so the batter doesn’t stick to the pan.
- As you are making the blintes, lay them out flat onto a parchment paper, if they touch or are piled up, they can stick together.
- Chose a low moisture mozzarella and not a fresh mozzarella in brine because the fresh mozzarella is much wetter and can create a soggy filling.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on the Nosher in March, 2015 and recipe added back here in September, 2022.
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