February Holidays
There have been lots of holidays over the past few days – Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Fastelavn – so whatever you celebrate, we hope it was a good one! In our opinion, the best part of any holiday is definitely the food, much of it nostalgic and reminiscent of childhood. Although it can sometimes be time-consuming and difficult to cook and bake for every holiday we celebrate, as life is just super busy, it’s always worth it. As people, making food for our various cultural and religious holidays is what keeps us connected to our family and culture. So, I (Emma, that is) made fastelavnsboller this year and they turned out absolutely amazing! Would highly recommend making them if you’re looking for a new recipe to try out.
Winter Comfort Foods
The weather has been pretty cold recently where we live in the northeastern US, and we’ve found ourselves craving lots of comforting, warm, and hearty meals. There’s just something about a filling meal that makes up for the wintery cold and seemingly constant darkness! Although we’re not in Scandinavia at the moment, so we can’t really complain about darkness. We are also always fans of a recipe that makes leftovers (obviously, this depends on how big your family is and how much you eat!), so anything in a big pot or a big oven dish is always a good sign. It just takes the pressure off of cooking at least one more meal, and that’s always a bit of a relief! We obviously love baking and cooking, but everyone needs a break sometimes 🙂
Today’s Dinner Recipe: Danish Filled Pancakes
Anyway, these fyldte pandekager (Danish filled pancakes) are perfect for dinner, and they’re one of those recipes that you’ll keep coming back to. They’re basic, savory crepe pancakes that are stuffed with a well-seasoned tomato meat-sauce, sprinkled with cheese, and baked. You can adapt the recipe to what you have on hand as well, which makes it super convenient as a weeknight dinner. So easy to make, and so delicious! It brings you all the comfort you need, whether it’s a cold winter day and you need to warm up or you’ve had a long day and work or school and you need something yummy.
Ingredients
Like a lot of our savory recipes, the ingredients list is fairly flexible; besides what you’ll need for the pancake batter, you can adjust the filling to what you have in the fridge! Swap out the beef for another ground meat or even shredded chicken, add in more vegetables or sub out for what you’re trying to use up (zucchini, celery, eggplant, leeks, peas, you name it). You can even use store-bought wraps if you don’t want to make the pancakes, but that’s one thing we wouldn’t necessarily recommend as much because the pancakes are a pretty integral part of this recipe.
We add corn to ours for a little sweetness but you can add some beans (like black beans or garbanzos/chickpeas) instead for just a little more filler. You could add rice or potatoes too, just make sure that they’re cooked through before you fill the pancakes! It also doesn’t have to be a tomato-based sauce if you can’t eat tomatoes – you can make it a creamy or a green base instead. It’s easily adaptable, and that’s one of the many reasons why we love this dish!
Instructions
The recipe is simple, as the hardest part is making the pancakes. Once the batter is combined, we cook them in a nonstick pan, and they cook very quickly. Set the pancakes aside while the filling is cooking – which just means cooking the veggies until soft, adding the ground beef (or protein of choice), and cooking it down with some tomato paste and crushed tomatoes and adding canned or frozen corn at the end. We season with cumin, chili powder, and paprika, but you can add other spices and seasonings if you want! Once the filling is ready, we let it cool slightly while the oven preheats. Then, it’s assembly time – see the more detailed steps below on filling the pancakes. Top with cheese, bake, and serve! We hope you try it – please leave a comment and review below if you do.
Fyldte Pandekager (Savory Filled Pancakes)
Ingredients
PANCAKE BATTER
- 200 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 500 ml milk
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- Butter/spray for cooking (if needed!)
FILLING
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 carrots
- 1 bell pepper
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 454 grams ground beef (you can use ground turkey for a healthier option)
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika (you can use smoked paprika if you would like!)
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 85 g tomato paste (corresponds to half of a 6oz/170g can of tomato paste – we reserve the other half to use for something else!)
- ~400 g can crushed tomatoes
- ~200 g can corn (optional, can also add beans! Also, we usually get a 14oz can of corn and just use half of it, saving the half for something else!)
- Salt and pepper to taste
TOPPING
- 110 grams grated mozzarella cheese
- Fresh parsley (for garnish, optional)
- Green onion (for garnish, optional)
Instructions
PANCAKES
- To make the pancakes, mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Add half of the milk (250 ml) and whisk together really well so that there are no lumps – it will look like a pale paste at this point.
- Whisk together the rest of the milk (250 ml), oil, and eggs in a separate bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour and milk mixture and whisk until combined. The pancake batter should be thin and smooth.
- Use a pan (non-stick is best) to cook the pancakes – our pan is a 9 inch/23cm pan on the bottom cooking surface. You can use butter or a spray to coat the pan if you have problems with sticking – we usually don't add this as the pancakes release easily from our pan! After placing your pan over low/medium heat, scoop up some of the batter (between 1/3 cup scoop and 1/2 cup scoop) and add to the center of the pan. Simultaneously, pick up the pan and use your wrist to move it in a circle. This should cause the batter to coat the entire pan and look like a Danish pancake (or a crepe). Add more batter in any spots you may have missed.
- Flip after a minute or two (they cook very quickly!) and remove from heat after another 30 seconds on the second side. Repeat until you run out of batter! You should have enough for at least 12 pancakes, but you may have a few extra (for snacking or dessert!). Set the pancakes to the side while you make your filling.
BEEF FILLING
- Make the filling. First, prep your vegetables. Chop the onion, carrots, and bell peppers. You can also use up other vegetables you may have on hand, such as zucchini, celery, etc!
- Mince the garlic finely.
- Start by sautéing the onions, carrots, and bell pepper in the olive oil in a large pan. Once the onions are translucent, add the garlic and sauté for one more minute.
- Add the ground beef, breaking it up with a spoon or fork, and cook until no pink spots remain.
- Then, add the spices – cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt, and pepper – and stir.
- Add the tomato paste and stir until it's evenly distributed. Cook this for about a minute.
- Add the crushed tomatoes.
- Let this mixture simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes, so that some of the liquid evaporates and you get a thicker filling. Keep an eye on it – if it gets too thick, it may burn on the bottom!
- Once some of the liquid has evaporated, season to taste with salt and pepper, and more spices if you want, and remove from the heat. Add the corn/beans (optional) and stir.
- Let the filling cool for 10 minutes before filling the pancakes.
ASSEMBLY
- Preheat your oven to 390 F (200 C).
- Prepare your baking dish (we use a dish that's around 9in x 13in (~23cm x 33 cm)) by adding a little bit of filling across the bottom, to help prevent the pancakes from sticking.
- Fill the pancakes. Place a small amount of filling towards the bottom edge of the pancake.
- Fold the bottom edge of the pancake (closest to the filling) about halfway over the filling.
- Fold in both the left and right edges of the pancake towards the center.
- Then, roll it up to enclose the filling.
- Place into a baking dish. Repeat this until you either run out of pancakes or filling. The amount of filling corresponds well to 12 pancakes for us!
- Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the pancakes.
- Bake for 10-15 mins or until the cheese is bubbly and golden. Garnish with a little fresh parsley and some green onion (optional). Serve with a side salad for a delicious and hearty meal!
