Then, one of my friends (she of the amazing Mocha Drops) brought us a container of spinach crepe batter to help out after Phoebe was born. My friend said her family starts out with savory fillings (tomato/mozzarella/basil, sauteed mushrooms/cheese) and then move to sweet ones like Nutella and berries. My family fell instantly, deeply in love with crepes. Everyone took turns making them.
I know one of the reasons I did not like my first try at crepes was that we didn't just throw some fillings in and eat them out of hand. Instead, I followed the directions to make crepes, make a filling, and then bake them. It was just too much work for me.
Now, we sort of stand around the pan and make and eat crepes and drink coffee and jiggle the baby all in one fell swoop.
Since summer is now too hot to find spinach at market, I've been making these excellent buckwheat crepes. One morning, I made a creamy stuff to go with the berries based on the pie filling of this recipe: I beat some cream cheese and sugar together, then added heavy cream and whipped it to soft peaks. Divine. My personal favorite filling is leftover sauteed greens with some ragged shreds of cheese.
Buckwheat Crepes, adapated from David Lebovitz
Whisk together or beat in a blender:
2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. neutral oil
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. buckwheat flour
3/4 cup whole wheat all-purpose flour
3 eggs
Refrigerate batter overnight. In morning, allow batter to sit out at room temperature for 1 hour if you have time. Then, whip briefly again and occasionally during the frying session as the flour will settle on the bottom. Fry in 1/4 cupfuls, tipped and swirled into a thin disc, in a 12" skillet, greasing occasionally by wiping with a paper towel dipped in shortening or butter.
Check Lebovitz' recipe for helpful cooking instructions - I do use my fingers to flip them as he suggests! I use my well-seasoned cast-iron skillet.
Also, note that all-purpose flour is a blend of hard and soft wheat flours, so you can use half regular (hard) wheat flour and half pastry (soft) wheat flour. Or use white all-purpose flour.
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing the Buckwheat Crepes recipient. Sounds nice, I have never had a savoury version before so will have to put on my to do list as a different meal idea.
**Recipe not recipient**
Heehee. Some of us are just slower than others..
I'M KIDDING!!!!
In NO way did you offend me (I don't even remember your naysaying post), and those buckwheat crepes sound lovely. Certain children have been begging for them recently. Perhaps it's time to comply.
I had no idea of the "hard" vs. "soft" flour types. And, to think pastry flour is considered soft - that's interesting; it seems drier to me, so I would have guessed "hard". (just rambling here)
I absolutely stink at making pancakes, so I never bothered much with crepes. Then I found myself teaching kids how to make them in the afterschoool cooking program I work for and realized how easy they are. They have become a new staple in our house - usually filled with whatever needs to get eaten up. The other night, I managed to scrounge up a dinner for my husband consisting of crepes filled with fresh pesto, tomatoes and fresh ricotta cheese a friend had shared. Delish.
My first taste of a crepe was in France, when visiting my sister, and I fell in love! Of course it didn't hurt that it had Nutella in it!! :) Now I love to go to a certain creperie nearby on special occasions. It doesn't happen nearly often enough. Jenna has actually made them too, and they were delicious!
I've always found crepes fussy, too - mostly because of the waiting time after the batter is made.
I first ate crepes as a dessert, while on a French exchange trip to Quebec - it was strawberry season and the filling was mashed strawberries/sugar, topped with whipped cream and maple syrup. Talk about tasty!
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