Spinach Pancakes - Pinaattiletuja

Spinach pancakes have a diameter of roughly 7-10 cm i.e. not like crepes. Use very finely chopped spinach for this (not the ones where you can still see the structure of the leaves). You can do this also with fresh spinach which you fry and cut very finely.

Many Finnish households have a pancake frying pan, which makes it easy to fry equal size small pancakes, but a normal frying pan is also doing the job. The pancakes might be slightly flatter and bigger, but still taste excellent. In old times, this was a typical spring dish with new eggs and nettles instead of spinach.

The original version of the recipe was for sure with nettles, as they are among the first greens to pop up in May, after a looooooooong winter. In old cookbooks I found many recipes that were using nettles instead of spinach.

Spinach pancakes are very popular with kids in Finland and are among the favorites of the school cantinas. There are special pans for this kind of pancakes, below one seen at the Hotel and Restaurant Museum in Helsinki. For home use there exist smaller ones.

Ingredients:

2 Eggs (if they are very small take three)

5 dl Milk

50 g Melted butter

3 dl Flour

½ - 1 teaspoon salt

150 g Frozen Finely Chopped Spinach

Some butter for frying (about 30-50 g)

Some people add a pinch of nutmeg, up to you, I like it.

Instructions:

Mix eggs and milk well. Add melted butter and add flour and salt and mix, so that are no lumps. Let the dough (it is quite liquid) rest for 20 minutes.

Fry in a pancake frying pan (medium heat), if you don’t have one use a normal pan and make about 3 pancakes at a time. Fry the pancakes on both sides.

Serve with lingonberry yam and mashed potatoes.