Crepe Update: Spelt-Carrot Crepes

You remember when we did crepes way back when? It was kind of nonstop there for a while. Binge crepe-ing.

Then we took a year-long break, just to be safe, and today I have returned to the crepe party. Welcome.

Picked up a sweet book called 'Vegetarian Planet' at Lorem Ipsum and it does that thing that I always want cookbooks to do, but so often they don't: It has new, interesting, unique recipes at every turn. It's 564 pages long and I read the whole thing in one sitting.

Enter a recipe for carrot crepes (I know! Carrots in your crepe batter? Why haven't we been sneaking stuff into these puppies all along?). Carrot Crepes Florentine, to be exact, with a simple filling of spinach sauteed with onions and garlic. I used some greens I had in the freezer, and you're welcome to use whatever you want, but the real star was the crepes. So that's all we're going to worry about here. See here for crepe and filling tips.

So, since I was feeling a little granola today, I swapped the all purpose flour called for in the recipe for some spelt flour I had on hand. Worked like a charm. Feel free to just use white flour if that's what you have on hand.

Carrot Crepes

Makes 4 large crepes (enough for 1, or 2 if eating light); ready in 45ish minutes

2 medium carrots

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp honey

1/2 cup (scant) spelt flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1. First, cook your carrots. Peel and cut them into 1/2 inch segments. Either place them in a pot of water on the stove and simmer 20 minutes, or place them in a microwave-safe bowl with 1/2 cup water, cover in plastic, and cook 8 minutes. When they are tender, drain and run them under cold water. Transfer to a food processor.
2. For the batter, whisk together milk, egg, and honey in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and nutmeg, if using. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet mixture, whisking until smooth. Scoop out about 1/2 cup of batter and add to carrots in processor. Buzz until smooth. Whisk back into remaining batter.
3. Let batter rest 15 minutes.
4. Now, heat a large (9- or 10-inch) NONSTICK skillet over medium-high heat. Swirl with 1 tsp oil or coat with spray oil. Whisk batter before using; it should be the consistency of thin pancake batter. If it is too thick, add a TBSP or 2 of water. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter into the hot pan. Pick up by the handle and swirl so that it is thinly and evenly distributed across the bottom of the pan. Cook 1 minute. Flip, cook 15 seconds more. Remove to a plate and repeat until batter is gone. You can stack them on top of each other--no harm done.
5. Fill with your choice of delicacies. But enjoy the nice orangey hue while you eat.

Garlicky Shrimp and Fresh Spinach Pasta

I just about flipped my lid when I saw this lasagna recipe from Lynne Rosetto Kasper, via Zoe Bakes. If you are a normal human, you now want to dive into a swimming-pool sized vat of this and eat your way out. Not quite ready to commit to a full pan of lasagna, but (as you well know) still a big fan of fresh noodles, I took to scaling this spinach pasta recipe down for a regular, weeknight meal. I may have mangled it (sorry Lynne!) but it tasted just fine to me and my pasta-loving laborer, who always graciously and tirelessly does the rolling.

I don't know if it's the spinach or the whole wheat flour that I subbed in, but letting the dough sit for an hour or so before rolling helps with the consistency, so build that into your planning. You want the spinach really finely chopped, so a food processor is ideal, but some patient knife work will do just fine. Half of this recipe served us both well; I'm really excited about the other half that's still waiting in my fridge...

Secondly, the shrimp. This is a really simple, classic way of preparing shrimp that takes no time at all. Garlicky, lemony, and delicious, the only was we stretched this was by adding some additional chicken broth and lemon juice at the end to make enough sauce to toss the pasta in. It would be great with just a piece of crusty bread, no pasta necessary.


Fresh Spinach Pasta
3 oz frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeeeeeezed dry
1 1/2 cups flour (we used half all-purpose and half barley)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
water

If you're processing, toss spinach, flour, salt, and egg in the machine and turn on. Slowly stream in water just until a shaggy dough starts to come together. Turn dough out and knead it a couple of times to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and let rest at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

If you're not processing, make sure your spinach is finely, finely chopped. Place flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add egg and spinach and stir to combine. Gradually add water 1 Tbsp at a time until you get a shaggy dough. Turn dough out and knead to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and let rest at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

*The ball will moisten as it sits, ok, so don't add too much water during the mixing process. If you do, no problem, you'll just use lots and lots of flour as you're rolling to offset.

Roll out the pasta and if you have the time, let it sit to dry out for a little while. [We did not do this.] Cut into noodles and boil 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.


Garlicky Lemon Shrimp
8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 cloves garlic, minced and divided
1 small onion, minced
1/2 cup white wine, plus 2 Tbsp
1/2-3/4 cup broth
1/4 cup lemon juice, divided
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 Tbsp butter
Parmesan or Asiago cheese to grate over

Film a medium skillet with oil. Saute onion with a little salt, 2-3 minutes. Add half of garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in 1/2 cup wine and let reduce until almost gone.

Salt and pepper both sides of shrimp and place in a single layer in the pan; let cook about 2 minutes, until pink about halfway through. Flip and cook 1 minute more. Remove to a plate and cover with foil.

To the now-empty skillet, add remaining minced garlic. Cook 1 minute. Introduce 1/2 cup broth, lemon juice, and remaining 2 Tbsp wine . Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer until reduced by about 1/2. [Keep extra broth on hand in case you need to add more liquid.] Taste and season with salt and pepper.

When you're happy with the sauce, return shrimp to pan and toss. Turn off heat and add parsley and butter. Layer shrimp and scrape sauce out over pasta. Cover with a healthy coating of cheese.

More than you ever wanted to know about crepes

David and I have been on what you might call a crepe binge of late. I've had a crepe recipe on a sticky note clinging to my kitchen cabinets for the last few weeks, so I decided to try it before it lost all hope and released itself onto the floor, and eventually the trash can. A week later, we've had crepes approximately 53 times (or at least 4), all with great success.

You should make crepes too! And here's why: (1) They're super easy. (2) You can make the batter in advance and just cook 'em up whenever you want. (3) They are like a blank canvas and take to whatever you stuff in them. (4) You can use the SAME batter for dinner AND dessert. Brilliance. (5) While they're best fresh, they're really not so bad on day 2, so fill and fold, stick in a tupperware, and break it out at lunch time the next day.

Below is a very basic recipe. We've also had success with beer-batter, and I've wanted to try buckwheat, maybe you can try some out and let me know how it goes... Heads up: the batter requires at least an hour of resting time, so plan accordingly, but it can also hang out up to 2 days in the fridge. So if you want them for dinner, stir together the batter in the morn' before you leave for work. It's pretty much instantaneous after that.

Basic Crepes

(c/o 1,001 recipes I researched online)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk (warm-ish)

3 Tbsp butter, melted

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl. Add eggs, milk and butter, whisking really well until no more lumps appear. This may take a few minutes. (The milk is warm-ish because you don't want the melted butter to immediately chill back into solid butter when it hits the bowl. 20 seconds in the micro should do it.)

Alternately, load everything in a blender and let 'er rip for a minute or so.

Cover in plastic and let sit at least an hour and up to 2 days.

When ready to use, stir batter (it may have separated) and break out your NONSTICK pan -- this is important -- and set it over medium-high heat. Using either butter or cooking spray, oil the pan and pour about 3 Tbsp of batter (just over half of your 1/4 cup measuring device). The amount will vary depending on the size of your pan. If all you have is a little guy, use only 2 Tbsp batter. If you have a mama-jama 12-incher, use a full 1/4 cup.

When the batter hits the pan, lift the handle and swirl to make a super-thin layer of crepey goodness. Cook 1 minute. Using a spatula, go around the entire perimeter of the crepe, releasing the edges. Carefully flip using the spatula or your hands. Cook another minute. Eat immediately.

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So we've had success with several different fillings, but the important part is to KEEP IT SIMPLE. The batter will take to almost anything, but don't load it down with a bunch of complicated, greasy stuff.

• Super thin sliced potatoes sauteed briefly with thin slices of red onion, added a few leaves of wilted spinach with preserved (or just plain) lemons. Sprinkled with feta.
• Sauteed shredded sprouts + leeks + garlic. Combined with cream and a touch of goat cheese = creamy filling.
• For dessert, nothing is better than strawberries and whipped cream, except maybe strawberries, whipped cream, and nutella
• Another winner? Any jam you have in your fridge, preferably warmed

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The Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg (or) Eat Your Vegetables! ... for Breakfast

It's high time I let the secret out...David pretty much makes the best soft-boiled egg you've ever nestled your fork into. What I love about his eggs are that you get the experience of a poached egg without all the fuss of chasing little tails of egg white through a pot of just-simmering water using a spoon that's slotted but not-too-slotted and gauging exactly when to take it out so it's runny but not raw... I'm getting worn out just thinking about it. David's eggs are perfect every time. Get your pencils, people, he's agreed to share his method.

The Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg

1. Start with a small pot of water. You want to bring it to a nice rolling boil with enough water to cover the egg.

2. Once you hit the "roll" (his term--for translation, insert "ing boil"), turn off the heat, wait for the big bubbles to settle, and carefully set your egg in the water using a spoon. Cover with lid.

3. Set a timer for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath with cold water and a couple of ice cubes in a small bowl. When the timer goes off, scoop your egg out and carefully place it in the bath for less than a minute--just to shock it to stop cooking. (David says you can run cold water over it, though the bath works better. The idea is that the shock of cold shrinks the egg, separating it from the shell.

4. Take the now-boiled egg and turn it fat-side-up. Gently tap in a circle around the fat end, then pry the shell off. Using either a knife or a spoon, slip your utensil between the shell and the white, gently loosening the shell. Once a decent bit of the shell is off, you can slip a spoon in there and scoop the egg out.

5. Voila! A sprinkle of salt, a piece of toast, and you've got breakfast!

Part 2: Eat your vegetables FOR BREAKFAST

As you'll notice, there's a hefty dose of spinach in my breakfast, pictured above. We've been trying to incorporate veggies into more of our meals lately, and I discovered this 5-minute breakfast technique that I genuinely look forward to. It's great with David's soft-boiled eggs, but if you've only got 5 minutes and one pan, this will do ya:

1. Take a generous handful of raw spinach and wash it. With the rinsing water still clinging to the leaves, toss them in a hot pan. Cover with a lid and allow to steam 1-2 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Once spinach is sufficiently wilted, take it out and put it on a plate.

2. With a wet paper towel, swipe the pan and spray it with pam or drop a small pad of butter in it. Crack and fry an egg to your liking. Place on top of spinach, season with salt and pepper--and my personal favorite--grate parmesan cheese over top.

Cheesy Rice and Whatever-Veggers-You-Have Casserole

This strategy is great for whatever vegetables you have lying around that are about to go bad or maybe you don't know what to do with. Individual vegetables can be sooooo boring sometimes, but when put together ... what a creamy delight!

There are basically three ingredients to this simple meal: (1) vegetables, (2) grain: rice, quinoa, pearled barley, wheat berries, or some other whole grain of your choice, and (3) a creamy sauce. The key is portioning. When you're assembling the vegetables, just think about how many people you're cooking for (1 or 2), a handful of cauli, a couple of mushrooms, a few slices of onion will do it. You'll want to pre-cook your veggies. Here's what I did:

Veggies: 8 mushrooms, 1 cup cauliflower florets, 1 small leek, and a large wad of fresh spinach which wilted considerably.

Grain: 1/2 cup cooked wild grain rice

Creamy sauce: 1/4c sour cream, 1/4c milk, 1/2c grated cheddar

[extra--salt, pepper, and thyme]

First, cook the vegetables. Saute things like mushrooms, onions, leeks, garlic, summer squashes, peppers, spinach, and other quick-cookers. Steam or roast winter squash, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, celery root, carrots, and other dense, starchy veggies. Frozen vegetables, defrosted, will work wonders here. So will a trip through the supermarket salad bar. Add the spices of your choice to the vegetables while they're cooking.

Second, stir together the components of your sauce. Basically what we're doing is avoiding the introduction of Campbell's can-of-chemically-preserved-shelf-life. Ooh, you know what would be good? Cottage cheese or ricotta!

Third, throw it all together 1+2+3, slop it into a mini baking dish, and for a little crunch, top it with bread crumbs and a little more grated cheese (if you like).

Bake it at 350º for about 30 minutes, or until warmed through and a little bubbly. We sliced up an apple for a sweet, cool crunch, and called it dinner.