Crêpes Bolognaise

Mandi:  When Deidre suggested Crêpes Bolognaise, I knew what was coming.  Pancakes!!  I have never been successful with pancakes, although it is one of the top favourite traditional foods in South Africa.  Every South African woman should be able to at least make Pancakes!  I can never get the consistency right and turning it in the pan is an art.  It’s one of those recipes where someone eventually scrapes me off the ceiling with a spatula because it never turns out right.  However, with the help of my wonderful husband James, we mastered it today. J

Saturday evenings in our home were pretty laid back and mom always looked for something easy, yet interesting to make. This was one of those dishes that was quick and very delicious.  I remember it well.  A pleasant twist to the traditional pancakes with cinnamon and sugar.  Don’t know how Deidre is going to pimp this one ;)

The Recipe says to use Toppers.  Toppers was a Soya combination pack containing Soya and the Bolognaise spice mix.  This brand is no longer made so I replaced it with a “Royco So Easy Classic Bolognaise”.  It includes noodles but I did not add them to the mix.  I also used lean beef mince instead of the Soya.  The recipe also doesn’t give you a pancake recipe so I have added my mom’s favourite pancake recipe in her cookbook.

Oil Pancake Recipe:

3.5 cups of flour

5 cups water

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup oil

6 eggs (or 3 eggs and 2 tablespoons vinegar)

Pinch of salt

Mix water, eggs and oil in a mixing bowl.  Mix well.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.  Make a hollow in the centre of the flour and gradually add liquid ingredients, stir well.

Half a mixture makes 9 pancakes.

Note 1:  Add baking powder last for best results

Note 2:  Place ½ teaspoon margarine in centre of pancake before rolling up.

Crepes Bolognaise:

8 thin pancakes

1 (120g) pkt Toppers. Bolognaise Flavour (I used Royco So Easy Classic Bolognaise)

125ml dry white wine (Use instead of the water directed on the pack)

Sauce:

30g butter

30 g flour

250ml milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of nutmeg

60 g grated cheese (save for pouring over the crepes before placing in oven)

100 g grated cheese

25ml tomato sauce

Make the packet of your choice of Mince Bolognaise according to the directions on the packet, using the wine instead of water.

Use this mixture to fill the pancakes, rolling each one with sauce inside. 

Place the rolled pancakes in a casserole dish and spoon any remaining mince in between.

Sauce:

Melt butter, stir in flour and gradually stir in the milk and cook, stirring until thickened.  Season to taste and add 100g grated cheese to melt.  Pour the cheese sauce over the rolled pancakes.  Dot with tomato sauce and sprinkle with the 60g grated cheese. 

Place in oven at 200◦C  for about 20 – 25 minutes.  Serves 4 – 6. 

You can experiment with any other flavours, should be very tasty.

Deidrè:

Well, to be honest, even though this might have been the easiest recipe in the book – for me it was the most difficult to pimp.  My first idea failed dismally…  I wanted to make savoury cones and fill them with the bolognaise filling….  But my cone recipe needs some work.  My Plan B, however, was a success and apart from Dylan’s remarks that my salad lacks imagination (Masterchef Australia fan), my sons thoroughly enjoyed their meal. As with Mandi, I am not a pro at baking pancakes, so this was doubly challenging. 

So, where to begin….

I am a very ordered and organised person, so I’m going to go through the steps of compiling this dish exactly as it happened:

I have a ‘go to’ pancake recipe which Dennis (yes, I don’t bake pancakes in my home, my husband does J) always uses:

Pancakes:

30g butter

150g flour

3 eggs

500 ml milk

Vegetable oil (I usually don’t need oil – Spray and Cook is enough, but it depends on your pan)

A pinch of salt

In a small pan, melt the butter and continue cooking until it is frothy and nut-brown in colour.

Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.

Crack in the eggs and use a whisk to gradually stir the flour into them to make a paste.

Whisk in the nut-brown butter. This will give a nutty flavour to the batter and will help prevent sticking when the pancakes are being cooked.

Slowly whisk the milk into the flour, being careful to work out any lumps.  When all the milk is added the batter should be as thin as cold oil.

Pass the batter through a fine sieve and leave it to rest for 30 minutes before cooking.

During this time you can carry on with the bolognaise:

Bolognaise:

1 kg lean mince

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 tblsp butter

1 tsp dried Oregano

1 tsp coriander

Salt and Pepper to taste (Recipes don’t specify exactly how much seasoning you should put in your food.  Ideally you should taste your food often while cooking so that you can season to taste)

150 ml dry white wine

2 ripe tomatoes, skins removed and roughly chopped

2 tblsp Mrs. Balls Chutney (Can’t go wrong with Mrs. Balls)

Fry the onion and the garlic in the butter until translucent

Add the mince and brown

Add the spices, tomato and chutney

Add the wine

Reduce the heat and simmer until all the wine has boiled away.

Leave to rest

Sauce:

30 g butter

30 g flour

250 ml milk

Dash of nutmeg

Salt & pepper

100 g cheese (grated)

Heat the butter until melted. Add the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until it forms a roux.  You may want to take the pot off the stove whilst doing the next steps.  Add the milk a little at a time, mixing thoroughly to ensure that there are no lumps.  Place back onto the stove and stir continuously until the mixture thickens.  Add the cheese and stir.

Put to one side.

Now you can start frying the pancakes.  My secret weapon is a single egg frying pan which I bought for Divan when he went to university.  It is about 150 mm in diameter.

Wipe out the pan with vegetable oil.

Pour a little dough into the pan and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan.  Your pancakes should be quite thin.

Turn over when you see bubbling on the surface.

I used 5 pancakes for the stack.  Place a pancake on your serving dish, spread mince filling over the top.  Add another pancake and continue until you have a 5 pancake stack.  Pour the cheese sauce over the top and serve.  Voila!!

Tips and Challenges:

1.  It is important to leave your pancake dough to rest for 30 minutes.  This allows for the starch in the flour to swell which ensures a nice light texture to the pancakes.

2.  The sauce is a bit harder to make than it looks.  It burns easily when you are adding the flour to the butter.  This is why it is best to remove the pot from the stove while mixing the roux and adding the milk. You can return it to the plate once this is done.

3.  When placing your filling on your pancakes, spread the filling to the edges of the pancake.  By doing this you avoid the ‘dome’ effect I had on mine and the filling doesn’t roll off the edges.

4.  Get yourself a small one egg frying pan – can use it in a multitude of ways.

Special mention goes to James and Dennis – our life savers.  These two men baked our pancakes to perfection.  Thanks guys!!