Since ancient times, pancakes were baked on Shrovetide, because the pancake personified the spring sun, which heralded the end of winter. It was believed that the more pancakes the hostess baked for Maslenitsa, the more joy there would be in the house. And the more satisfying the festive pancakes are, the richer the harvest will be in the fall.
Each housewife has her own recipe for wonderful pancakes, which she prepares during the festive Maslenitsa week. Pancakes are eaten with sour cream, jam, caviar, fish, and very often special fillings are prepared to make them even tastier and more satisfying. No special culinary skills are required to prepare the fillings. Anyone, even a novice hostess, can make them.
Pancakes with meat were rarely made on Shrovetide, because it precedes Lent, for which they began to prepare in advance. Therefore, most often they used: fish, mushrooms, berries, fruits, jam, as well as red, black, squash, eggplant, vegetable, herring caviar, which was served with pancakes.
Mushroom filling
It will require dry or fresh mushrooms (you can use champignons). Dry mushrooms should be washed in advance and soaked in hot water. Then they are boiled for several minutes, allowed to cool and cut into small pieces. Rinse fresh mushrooms and chop finely too.
Put finely chopped onion in a preheated pan and fry until golden brown, then add mushrooms to the onion and fry everything together for several minutes. Then add a spoonful of flour and a spoonful of sour cream or mayonnaise to the mushrooms and simmer for several minutes so that the sauce does not evaporate and becomes thick. Put the filling in ready-made pancakes, wrap and fry for a couple of minutes on both sides.
Fish and egg filling
We take the chilled fish, remove the scales, if any, cut into small pieces and boil it in a little water until tender. Add black pepper, onion and bay leaf. Cook several eggs at the same time, depending on the amount of fish. You need to boil 5-6 eggs per kilogram of fish. When the eggs are boiled, cool them and chop finely. Put in a bowl, fill with fish broth and let it simmer for a few minutes. When the fish is cooked, cut it up, separate it from the bones, chop it finely and add it to the egg mixture. Mix everything and let it boil a little more so that the broth practically evaporates. Then put the finished filling in pancakes, wrap and fry in a pan on both sides.
Egg filling
Cook a dozen eggs, cool, chop finely and mix with melted butter. The filling can be wrapped in pancakes or served separately as an egg sauce.
Cabbage filling
Finely chop the fresh cabbage with a knife or chop, put it in a saucepan, add a little salt and put it on the stove. Boil the cabbage, stirring constantly, until the juice evaporates and it becomes soft (about 20 minutes). Then cool the cabbage and add the boiled egg (2-3 pieces per 2 kg of cabbage). Put the finished filling in pancakes, wrap and fry in a frying pan.
Pancakes with banana-apple filling
We take a few apples, remove the core, cut, cover with sand, put in a saucepan and bring to a boil. If you know how to make five-label jam, then the principle is the same. Then remove the pan from the stove, let the apples cool slightly and add finely chopped bananas. Mix everything and wrap it in pancakes. You can additionally add a spoonful of honey, this will give the pancakes a special flavor.
