Spinach fritters! (or "Savory spinach pancakes")

Adding vegetables to certain doughs, such as pizza, bread, savory muffins or crêpes, gives us a wide range of possibilities to tinker with classic recipes and turn them into something completely new, with much more striking and appetizing flavors and colors. And it also provides a solution to get the little ones at home to eat them more often and, sometimes, almost without noticing.

The recipe for savory spinach pancakes (also known as "spinach tortitas") is a clear example of this. As you already know, preparing the batter for pancakes, blinis or hotcakes (as is also the case with crêpe batter) is one of the simplest things there is. In today’s pancakes, the only difference isadding some baby spinach to the batter, which are perfect because they are so tender, and alight touch of cumin. That way, we’ll have pancakes with a beautiful, eye-catching green color that will delight everyone, especially the little ones, and we can enjoy them at any time of the day, either on their own or as an accompaniment.

To get them ready quickly while keeping that lovely green color, we’ll cook them ina cast-iron skillet which is perfect for its fantastic heat retention and distribution. For this we’ll use De Buyer's smallest model, theMineral B iron frying pan 12 cm one. We could make them in a skillet of any other size, but with this one we’ll achieve blinis of ideal dimensions without needing rings or molds.

Do you have everything ready? Then, let’s get to the recipe!

De Buyer Mineral B iron frying pan

Ingredients

For the pancake batter:

• 200 g flour
• 150 g tender spinach
• 1 egg
• 300 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40 g unsalted melted butter
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

For cooking and serving the pancakes:

• 20 cl crème fraîche*
• Grated lemon zest
• Oil or butter for greasing the skillet

*The crème fraîche is a type of cultured cream originating from Normandy, which you can find in the refrigerated section of most supermarkets. It is a fairly thick cream with a slight tang and a fat content that can reach 40%.If you can’t find it, you can use lightly whipped cream.

Preparation

1. Wash and dry the baby spinach.
2. Place all the ingredients in the blender jug and blend until you obtain a smooth batter. Pour the batter into a bowl and let it rest for 1 hour.
3. Add a drizzle of oil or a knob of butter to theDe Buyer Mineral B iron frying pan and when it’s hot pour a ladleful of the mixture.
4. When bubbles begin to appear, flip the pancake and continue cooking for a few seconds on the other side.
5. Serve the pancakes with a teaspoon of crème fraîche and sprinkle with grated lemon zest (they are also delicious served with burrata — dangerously good if it’s high quality thanks to its rich flavor that combines the notes of cream and mozzarella).

Notes

• These pancakes are perfect for any time of the day, but they make a luxurious accompaniment to a smoked fish and cheese board.
• As we mentioned, you can substitute crème fraîche with lightly whipped cream. It’s also wonderful with thick Greek yogurt or any cream cheese.
• To be a bit quicker, you can use the version for 3 pancakes, theMineral B iron frying pan for 3 blinis by De Buyer. Besides being more efficient, it’s ideal for the brave and large families!
• As with most of the recipes I share, you can adapt it to your taste. Swap the semi-skimmed milk for a plant-based drink, use another vegetable instead of spinach, add a little basil or mint, or season with your favorite spice to give it your personal touch. Don’t be afraid to try different ingredients — you’ll surely get it right!

Magimix blender jug