Cookbook Challenge, Week 2 (sort of)
So remember how I didn't so much do the assignment last week? Tonight, doctorconquest and I put together two sauces to go on crêpes. The first was the Asparagus-Mushroom Sauce on page 77 of the New Moosewood Cookbook.
Asparagus-Mushroom Sauce
1½ lbs. asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces (the book says 2-inch spears, but that seems a little unwieldy)
2 Tbsp. butter
1½ cups minced onion (I used two sliced leeks)
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced (I had a 10-oz. bag of pre-sliced criminis on hand, and added to that the mushrooms I bought this morning: a handful of each fresh shiitakes, morels, and not-quite-enokis)
½ tsp. tarragon (I don't actually own tarragon, so I used herbes de Provence, probably closer to a full teaspoon)
black pepper, to taste
1½ cups dry white wine
1 cup water (I knew I was going for a thicker sauce, so I only used half a cup)
1 to 2 Tbsp. flour (I ended up needing a couple handsful of whole wheat flour before it was a consistency I liked for crêpe filling)
6 to 8 cloves garlic (I don't know how many cloves doctorconquest chopped up for me - I told him to do extra, because leeks are much milder than onions)
The second sauce we made was a spinach-Gruyère sauce.
Sauté some chopped garlic and salt in butter for a few minutes. Add chopped fresh spinach by the handful, adding more as it wilts enough for there to be room in the pan. Once you've added as much spinach as you're going to use, add a generous sploosh of white wine, and once it's back up to a bubbling temperature, add a generous splash of cream (a sploosh is more than a splash). Add shredded Gruyère by the small handful, stirring till it melts fully between handsful. About now is also when you want to add a generous amount of white pepper. The sauce will still be runnier than you want for crêpe filling, so sprinkle in some flour (I used whole wheat) until you like the consistency. I was also going to add some nutmeg, but I forgot.
At this point, doctorconquest and I had been cooking for a really long time, and dinner still wasn't done. I don't know about him, but I was getting tired. Fortunately, making the crêpes themselves was beyond easy. It helped that I recently bought a proper crêpe pan.
Crêpe recipe
1 large egg
1¼ cups milk (lowfat is ok)
1 cup flour (I used half whole wheat, half unbleached all-purpose white)
1/4 tsp. salt
a few drops oil for the pan
Dump all ingredients except oil in a blender. Whir until smooth. Heat pan, add a wee bit of oil. Drop batter in the pan ¼ cupful at a time (it really does help to measure this amount), and tilt the pan in all directions till coated. Let cook about 20 seconds (just long enough to become kind of solid), flip, and cook just a couple seconds on the other side before sliding onto a plate. As long as you keep the pan hot, no additional oil should be necessary between crêpes.
I doubled the crêpe recipe, and have quite a few crêpes left over (there were five of us eating). The book says crêpes will keep several days.
Spoon some filling into each crêpe and fold it over. Bask in the praise as people tell you how amazing it is.
(Cross-posted to rebeccafrog and quietfrogblog.)
Asparagus-Mushroom Sauce
1½ lbs. asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces (the book says 2-inch spears, but that seems a little unwieldy)
2 Tbsp. butter
1½ cups minced onion (I used two sliced leeks)
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced (I had a 10-oz. bag of pre-sliced criminis on hand, and added to that the mushrooms I bought this morning: a handful of each fresh shiitakes, morels, and not-quite-enokis)
½ tsp. tarragon (I don't actually own tarragon, so I used herbes de Provence, probably closer to a full teaspoon)
black pepper, to taste
1½ cups dry white wine
1 cup water (I knew I was going for a thicker sauce, so I only used half a cup)
1 to 2 Tbsp. flour (I ended up needing a couple handsful of whole wheat flour before it was a consistency I liked for crêpe filling)
6 to 8 cloves garlic (I don't know how many cloves doctorconquest chopped up for me - I told him to do extra, because leeks are much milder than onions)
- Steam the asparagus a couple minutes, till tender. Rinse in cold water to stop it cooking, and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onion and salt, sauté about five minutes. I let it cook till the leeks had lost some of their volume. Add mushrooms, herbs and pepper. It says to cover it and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, but we didn't so much notice that part of the instructions, so we had it open, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms and leeks had notably decreased in volume. This is also when we added the garlic, but the recipe says to add it at the end of step 3.
- Add wine and water. Increase heat until liquid boils, then start adding flour, mixing rapidly (or whisking) to fully dissolve it, till you like the consistency. Lower heat, cover and simmer for about 10 more minutes.
The second sauce we made was a spinach-Gruyère sauce.
Sauté some chopped garlic and salt in butter for a few minutes. Add chopped fresh spinach by the handful, adding more as it wilts enough for there to be room in the pan. Once you've added as much spinach as you're going to use, add a generous sploosh of white wine, and once it's back up to a bubbling temperature, add a generous splash of cream (a sploosh is more than a splash). Add shredded Gruyère by the small handful, stirring till it melts fully between handsful. About now is also when you want to add a generous amount of white pepper. The sauce will still be runnier than you want for crêpe filling, so sprinkle in some flour (I used whole wheat) until you like the consistency. I was also going to add some nutmeg, but I forgot.
At this point, doctorconquest and I had been cooking for a really long time, and dinner still wasn't done. I don't know about him, but I was getting tired. Fortunately, making the crêpes themselves was beyond easy. It helped that I recently bought a proper crêpe pan.
Crêpe recipe
1 large egg
1¼ cups milk (lowfat is ok)
1 cup flour (I used half whole wheat, half unbleached all-purpose white)
1/4 tsp. salt
a few drops oil for the pan
Dump all ingredients except oil in a blender. Whir until smooth. Heat pan, add a wee bit of oil. Drop batter in the pan ¼ cupful at a time (it really does help to measure this amount), and tilt the pan in all directions till coated. Let cook about 20 seconds (just long enough to become kind of solid), flip, and cook just a couple seconds on the other side before sliding onto a plate. As long as you keep the pan hot, no additional oil should be necessary between crêpes.
I doubled the crêpe recipe, and have quite a few crêpes left over (there were five of us eating). The book says crêpes will keep several days.
Spoon some filling into each crêpe and fold it over. Bask in the praise as people tell you how amazing it is.
(Cross-posted to rebeccafrog and quietfrogblog.)