All-Occasion Crepes

Last week, seeing as we had the panini grill out (admittedly an odd graduation present but one which has proved extremely useful) S decided to make crepes for dinner.  Then, since there was batter left over, she went ahead and made crepes for dessert.  Then, since there was still some batter left over, I made crepes the following morning for breakfast.  There is certainly nothing like starting the day out with an asparagus and arugula crepe.

The batter recipe is from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.

So, for dinner we had this:

That is, finely chopped portobello mushrooms, cured and green garlic, chives, arugula, ramps, local rosemary-fig goat cheese, and a drizzle of heavy cream.

Then for dessert this:

Raspberry jam, nutella, heavy cream.

Then breakfast (sorry, at 7:45am  I don’t take pictures):

Asparagus, chives, green garlic, arugula, salt and plenty of pepper.

Recipe for Batter:

Whisk together a cup of all-purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, two eggs, and 1 and 1/4 cups milk, in a blender if you’ve got one (we don’t). If  it’s not pourable, mix in a little more milk.

Let it sit in the fridge for an hour. It can be used for up to 24 hours, if you are the kind of person who would prep a meal a day in advance (if you also iron your socks, seek help!)

When you’re all ready to crepe, put an 8-10 inch non-stick skillet on medium heat, and wait a few minutes before adding a pat of butter. Stir the batter and use a large spoon or ladle to pour a couple of tablespoons of batter onto the skillet. Swirl it around so it forms a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. When the top is dry, after about a minute, then flip it and cook the other side for about 15 to 30 seconds. It should be only very slightly brown and not crispy. Do not freak out if you screw up the first one or several, even pros mess up this fickle chemistry.  Just try again!

Put the filling in the bottom third, and use a spatula/your fingers (it only burns a little, totally worth it) to roll it up. Then slide it off and keep it in a warm oven. Put more butter on the pan, pat yourself on the back, and start the next one. You rock! Now go casually drop your crepe-making skills into conversation and watch your dates pile up.

 

Sunday Afternoon French Toast

While two of us laid around in sloth, the third cook in this apartment produced this amazing brunch.  With a little bit of crushed corn flakes and extra flour, we had wonderfully crispy French toast with maple syrup from the Kearsarge Gore Farm where one of us worked for a summer a few years ago. We were trying to recreate the cornflake encrusted toasty goodness we’d had at a nearby cafe. These came out great, even though we had chex-shaped cereal rather than flakes. These were crunchy on the outside and springy on the inside–perfection, and the perfect end to the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(on a homemade plate)

Sunday Morning Scones

The coolest person in the apartment got up early on Sunday morning and baked chocolate hazelnut scones for breakfast while the others slept.

Hazelnut-Chocolate Scones
Recipe from our friend Julia

Preheat the oven to 425F.
Combine the following in a bowl:
2 cups flour (For these particular scones we like 1 ¾ cup white, ¼ cup wheat; usually Julia says 1 cup white, ¾ cups wheat, and ¼ oat flour-which you can make with oats and a coffee grinder)
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Note: Leave out the salt if you’re using a salted butter-replacement like Earth Balance
2 tsps baking powder
¼ cup sugar

Rub in ¼ cup of soft butter or Earth Balance. Stir in ¾ cup of milk or soymilk.
Add stuff: We did ½ cup raw chopped hazelnuts and ½ cup chocolate chips.

Cut mixture into scone shapes. Put onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes – check often.

We cut the dough into 12 chunks and froze 6 for later, wrapped in waxed paper. Take them out to defrost the night before you want to bake them. Bake at 425F on a greased baking sheet.