Tuesday, September 10, 2013

back in the swing

Erm - we were having a few technical difficulties over here, as in our hard drive packed up and left on holidays and we had to get a replacement. Still, we had a lovely, sunny summer with picnics at the beach and lots of fruit galettes. And crepes. Have you read Molly's ode to crepes? I love the way she makes everything she writes about seem so doable. So I have - made crepes several times this summer. Usually of a weekend morning, if fact, one morning, after hearing me putter around in the kitchen, my husband was most put out when it turned out, on that particular morning, that I hadn't been making crepes. So the crepe recipe is a hit. Also a hit has been Deb's burst tomato, corn and zucchini galette. We've had it most weeks since she posted the recipe, sometimes more than once. Hopefully, I'll remember this recipe next summer.

And one night, I had the galette filling and a stack of crepes in the fridge, so I combined the two. It was a lovely idea and made a delicious patio dinner outside, with the wasps. We didn't let them join in with us, though.

Molly's Crepes from remedial eating
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup flour, unbleached all-purpose or whole wheat
1 1/4 cup milk, ideally 2% or higher
3 tablespoons salted butter

Add the eggs to a mixing bowl, along with the salt and sugar. Whisk well, for about 30 seconds. Add half of the flour and half of the milk and whisk until no lumps remain. Then add the rest of the flour and milk and whisk again until no lumps remain. Melt the butter in your crepe pan. Pour 2 tbsp into your crepe batter and reserve the rest to grease your crepe pan. Use a 1/3 or 1/4 c measure to bring the crepe batter to the pan, swirl the batter until the bottom of the pan is covered and cook until the edges start to curl and brown. Flip and cook until slightly brown. Transfer to a plate and continue cooking until all the batter is gone. The crepes keep in the fridge for a few days, layered between sheets of wax paper and well wrapped in plastic wrap.You can also freeze them.

Filling - burst tomato, zucchini and corn from smitten kitchen
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon coarse Kosher
3 cups grape tomatoes
1 ear corn, cut from the cob (about 1 cup)
1 small zucchini, diced (or substitute 1 medium eggplant, diced and roasted)
1/2 bundle green onions, thinly sliced
10 basil leaves, sliced thinly
1/2 cup grated parmesan

In a saute pan, heat the oil. Add the tomatoes and salt and heat over medium high heat until the tomatoes have burst. Add the zucchini and cook for about 2 minutes, lowering the heat slightly. Add the corn and cook for another minute. Take the mixture off the heat and add the onions and basil.


To assemble the crepes, sprinkle a couple of pinches of parmesan over 1/4 of the crepe (triangle), add a couple of tablespoons of filling and then fold the crepe over the filling (in half, then in quarters). Continue until all the crepes or filling are used up. Place the filled crepes on a baking sheet and heat in a 350 deg F oven for about 10 minutes until the crepes are warmed through and the cheese is melted. Serve with a thin bechamel if desired.