Crepe Morning
I've been wanting crepes lately. You know how it is - suddenly it hits you that it's been positively months since you've had your last crepe. So, this morning I hauled out my handy Internet, and googled 'em up.
Well. Actually.
What I did was, I checked Cook's Illustrated to see if they had a recipe. They do, which is obviously awesome, because yay test kitchen people! As usual, however, it was membership-locked. So, I went Google-ing around, and discovered that some delightful, charming, brilliantly fabulous person had posted the recipe. Without the notes, of course, but there it is. So I made them. And they were delicious. I shall talk about the fillings (obviously of great importance) presently.
Here is the recipe:
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons water
1 cup bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted, plus extra for brushing pan
You beat your egg, milk, and water together. Then you add your melted butter, and your vanilla, if you remember it. Which I didn't, but it still tasted good, and probably went better with one of the fillings for the absence. You sieve your flour, sugar, and salt together, and then mix the lot up. And then you sieve it again, because, well, crepes. They don't mix up evenly, especially by hand. And then you make them in the usual crepe way, which is taking your pan and putting butter in it for the first one, then one ladle of mix and swirl the pan around till the bottom is coated. Edges are browned, flip it. Takes a little practice to not end up with a squished pile of crepe in the middle of the pan. Especially on the first one. It's a pretty good recipe - I'd like to try it full-size instead of half-size.
I do have one big issue with it, though - this melted butter into cold milk thing. How exactly is this supposed to work? Because what I ended up with was lots of little butter lumpkins in my crepe batter. Which, obviously, no good. I am thinking next time I will either use canola oil or heat the milk up first. If I heat the milk and the butter together, that'll keep it at the same number of dishes, with having to beat the egg in another dish. I'm getting really good at mixing beaten egg and hot milk with all the custard I've been making lately. Other than that, the recipe worked out fine, and for all I know they talked about the cold milk thing on Cook's Illustrated. They usually do talk about that sort of thing. Also, they say you should let it rest for two hours so the gluten can relax - good in theory, would be worth trying for dinner crepes. Breakfast crepes - hell no. Food. First thing. Do not have time for my batter to have beauty sleep.
In any case, I don't want to end up with a sieve full of butter chunks again. That was kind of gross.
And now for the good part - the fillings!
My first crepe, I decided, was going to be a black-sesame-spread one. Fabulous. I think I have an unhealthy attachment.
The second crepe was going to be bananas and plum compote. Because we had both, and because I possibly have a potassium deficiency. And so it was. And it was delicious, like, seriously delicious. I had reservations about the combination, but it's a definite winner.
What with this and last night's pizza (omg the chicken, I'm going to be fantasizing about that chicken pizza for weeks...)*, I am on a cooking roll, baby! We'll see how this week ends up - on Wednesday, I'm going on a quest with M to find unsweetened baking chocolate, and then it may be brownie time. Cannot believe I have lived since September without my mother's brownies. It will be an adventure making them, since I am quite sure we do not have an appropriately sized glass baking dish.
*the chicken was stir-fried in garlic and olive oil, and then coated with a reduction of soy sauce, honey, and ginger. And then it was put on tomato-basil sauce and covered in mushrooms and onions cooked in olive oil, sweet sake, vinegar, and plum compote (to make up for the lack of sweetness in the sake and the vinegar, I'm used to doing sherry and balsamic, which is much better), then cheese. It was so, so, so good.
EDIT: Yes, heat the milk. It works like a charm.
Well. Actually.
What I did was, I checked Cook's Illustrated to see if they had a recipe. They do, which is obviously awesome, because yay test kitchen people! As usual, however, it was membership-locked. So, I went Google-ing around, and discovered that some delightful, charming, brilliantly fabulous person had posted the recipe. Without the notes, of course, but there it is. So I made them. And they were delicious. I shall talk about the fillings (obviously of great importance) presently.
Here is the recipe:
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons water
1 cup bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted, plus extra for brushing pan
You beat your egg, milk, and water together. Then you add your melted butter, and your vanilla, if you remember it. Which I didn't, but it still tasted good, and probably went better with one of the fillings for the absence. You sieve your flour, sugar, and salt together, and then mix the lot up. And then you sieve it again, because, well, crepes. They don't mix up evenly, especially by hand. And then you make them in the usual crepe way, which is taking your pan and putting butter in it for the first one, then one ladle of mix and swirl the pan around till the bottom is coated. Edges are browned, flip it. Takes a little practice to not end up with a squished pile of crepe in the middle of the pan. Especially on the first one. It's a pretty good recipe - I'd like to try it full-size instead of half-size.
I do have one big issue with it, though - this melted butter into cold milk thing. How exactly is this supposed to work? Because what I ended up with was lots of little butter lumpkins in my crepe batter. Which, obviously, no good. I am thinking next time I will either use canola oil or heat the milk up first. If I heat the milk and the butter together, that'll keep it at the same number of dishes, with having to beat the egg in another dish. I'm getting really good at mixing beaten egg and hot milk with all the custard I've been making lately. Other than that, the recipe worked out fine, and for all I know they talked about the cold milk thing on Cook's Illustrated. They usually do talk about that sort of thing. Also, they say you should let it rest for two hours so the gluten can relax - good in theory, would be worth trying for dinner crepes. Breakfast crepes - hell no. Food. First thing. Do not have time for my batter to have beauty sleep.
In any case, I don't want to end up with a sieve full of butter chunks again. That was kind of gross.
And now for the good part - the fillings!
My first crepe, I decided, was going to be a black-sesame-spread one. Fabulous. I think I have an unhealthy attachment.
The second crepe was going to be bananas and plum compote. Because we had both, and because I possibly have a potassium deficiency. And so it was. And it was delicious, like, seriously delicious. I had reservations about the combination, but it's a definite winner.
What with this and last night's pizza (omg the chicken, I'm going to be fantasizing about that chicken pizza for weeks...)*, I am on a cooking roll, baby! We'll see how this week ends up - on Wednesday, I'm going on a quest with M to find unsweetened baking chocolate, and then it may be brownie time. Cannot believe I have lived since September without my mother's brownies. It will be an adventure making them, since I am quite sure we do not have an appropriately sized glass baking dish.
*the chicken was stir-fried in garlic and olive oil, and then coated with a reduction of soy sauce, honey, and ginger. And then it was put on tomato-basil sauce and covered in mushrooms and onions cooked in olive oil, sweet sake, vinegar, and plum compote (to make up for the lack of sweetness in the sake and the vinegar, I'm used to doing sherry and balsamic, which is much better), then cheese. It was so, so, so good.
EDIT: Yes, heat the milk. It works like a charm.