When I lived in Paris, I had crepes often. Once back in the US I made them at home every once in a while. However, I am the first to admit, not often enough. It is such a simple meal to put together, and yes, it can be light if you don’t go overboard on cream sauces and cheese. Our version is quite austere, so feel free to change it to your liking.
SAVORY CREPES (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
1 cup milk 2 eggs 2 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper to taste dash of nutmeg 1 cup all-purpose flour
fillings: sauteed mushrooms ham cheese tomatoes
To a blender, add all ingredients for the crepes except the flour. Blend for a couple of minutes, then add the flour and blend again until smooth. Place it in the fridge for 2 hours if you have the chance.
Pour 1/3 cup batter on a non-stick crepe pan (or small skillet), and cook on both sides. I like to brush a little oil before the first crepe, and work carefully with the flame to cook them to a light brown without browning too much. Place the crepes over a plate separated by parchment paper until time to assemble them. They can sit in the fridge for hours or even overnight.
Place a crepe on a surface, add your fillings to half the area, fold the other half over, then fold again to form a sort of triangle. Bake in a 350F oven for 10 minutes.
Comments: With this meal, we’ve decided that crepes will be part of our regular rotation. The batter can actually sit in the fridge for a day or so, making it even simpler to get them going. The possibilities for fillings are endless, as you can imagine. Salmon with cream cheese and dill, sautéed shrimp, chicken breast in a cream sauce. We will quite likely stick with our versions, and serve a little something on the side. Like this delicious zucchini-sesame soup…
And of course, the icing on the cake…. my lunch next day!!!!
My cookie ravioli fiasco left me staring at the mold and wondering if that impulse buy was going to sit in a drawer neglected for eternity months. No, that could not possibly happen. To counteract the bad taste in my mouth, I jumped on another crazy adventure right away: making ravioli from scratch, but adding a little twist to the whole thing. The pasta dough would have two colors. I’ve made pasta from scratch a few times, it is a messy process but quite gratifying. I am overjoyed to report that my mental sanity was not badly affected and we had a very delicious dinner that Saturday night…
BICOLOR RAVIOLI WITH MUSHROOM-ALMOND FILLING (from The Bewitching Kitchen, filling inspired by this post)
white dough: 125g all-purpose flour 75g semolina flour 2 eggs pinch of salt
red dough: 125g all-purpose flour 75g semolina flour 50g cooked beets (I used canned, slivered) 2 tsp paprika 2 eggs
for the filling: 8 ounces (226g) mushrooms, finely chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup (142g) almonds ½ cup (112g) water 1 teaspoon (6g) sea salt 1 teaspoon lemon juice
The day before you want to make ravioli, prepare the filling.
Fill a medium sized saucepan with 1 cup (142g) of almonds and enough water to cover the almonds. Turn the heat to high. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down, boil the almonds for 15 minutes, then pour the almonds and water into a colander. Rinse them well. Sauté chopped mushrooms in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil until all the liquid has cooked out.
Blend the boiled almonds, salt, lemon juice and water in a blender or food processor until a paste forms. Add the mushrooms and blend a few more times so that they are in very small pieces. Transfer the filling to a colander sitting on a bowl and let it drain for several hours in the fridge, then cover and store it in the fridge until needed. You can do this a couple of days in advance.
Make the white pasta. Add both flours and salt to the food processor, mix for a few seconds. Add the 2 eggs and process until a dough ball forms. If too dry, add water. If too loose, add flour. Remove the dough from the processor, form into a disc, wrap in plastic and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
Make the red dough. Add the eggs, beets and paprika to the food processor and process until smooth. Add the flours and salt, process until a dough ball forms. You will probably need to add more flour to this dough. Reserve at room temperature like you did for the white dough.
Cut the pasta dough in three equal parts, and roll them several times in the widest setting of your roller. Try to go for a nice rectangle shape. Do the same for the colored dough. Cut stripes in both colors or just one if you prefer to use the second method. Carefully roll the bicolor dough to the desired level, I stopped at setting #3. Lay the pasta on the mold, add the filling and close the ravioli. Once they are made, sprinkle a little flour and freeze until cooking time.
Simmer them gently for about 4 minutes then add the sauce of your choice to serve. I used just a little olive oil, lemon, parsley and water from cooking the ravioli. Serve immediately.
Comments: These are the tips I consider most important. First, make the filling one day before, so that it is super cold and you do take the time to cook most of the moisture out. That will avoid minimize risks of failure when you form and cook the ravioli. Second, be ready to either cook the ravioli right after you make it, or freeze them right away with a light coating of flour. Considering that making pasta from scratch it is a bit of a messy process, I rather make them earlier in the day, clean the kitchen, and cook them later.
There are two different ways to make the striped pattern. You can roll the pasta through the widest setting of your roller, then cut strips and join them side by side. That is shown in the photo below, to the left. The problem with that method, is that sometimes the strands will not join tightly enough and when you pass the sheet through the roller to make it thinner, they will separate. It is maddening. It worked well on the first set I made, but the second one was almost totally ruined. I had enough pasta dough to try one more time, and used the second method. In this case, one sheet of pasta is kept whole, and the other used to make stripes, that are laid on top of the first. It is shown below, on the right side of the panel.
I really favor the second method, which is also nice to make other patterns. Think polka dots, stars, squares… So many possibilities! Once you have the striped sheet ready, it will go through the thinner settings of the roller. You should end up with a beautiful concoction waiting for the filling… I was afraid to roll it too thin and have it burst with the filling, maybe next time I can take it through one more setting.
The mold worked super well to fill and form the ravioli…
The ravioli must be cooked in water that is brought to a full boil but kept simmering because fresh pasta is so delicate…
For my next adventure, my goal is to get a darker red pasta, so I will use more beets and maybe also add beet powder. Or maybe I will go for green with spinach, black with charcoal powder. Whatever color combination, I intend to make the strips thinner so that I will have more stripes per ravioli. Stay tuned!
The husband brought home a humongous lobster tail the other day (pictured in the end of this post), he grilled it for our dinner but we still had a substantial amount of lobster meat leftover. Next day, I brought it back in risotto form, and used one of my favorite methods to make it: the pressure cooker (for a flash back, click here). Not traditional, not authentic, but trust me, works like a charm!
LOBSTER RISOTTO WITH MUSHROOMS AND TARRAGON (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
8 ounces Cremini mushrooms, cleaned and cut in small pieces 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 1 large celery stick, diced 1 cup Arborio rice salt and pepper to taste fresh tarragon leaves, to taste 3 + 1/2 cups shrimp broth (made according to this recipe) 1/2 cup dry white wine lobster meat, fully cooked, cut in pieces lemon zest and juice to taste
Warm up the shrimp broth in a saucepan. If you don’t have enough shrimp stock, make the difference with water. In a pressure cooker, heat 4 tbs Olive oil and 1 Tbs Butter. Add the celery and mushrooms and saute until fragrant. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add the tarragon and rice, cook stirring until all grains are well coated with the oil/mushroom mixture (about 3 minutes). Pour all the warm stock and wine in the pan, close it, and bring to full pressure. Reduce the heat or use the specific instructions from your pan to keep the pressure constant for 7 minutes. Immediately take the pan to the sink, run some cold water over the lid to reduce the temperature, and when the pressure is down, open the pan. Add the lobster meat, lemon zest, a squirt of lemon juice, and simmer everything together, until the lobster is warmed through. Serve with fresh tarragon leaves, adjusting seasoning if needed.
Comments: Can you wrap your mind around the size of that baby? Since it is just the two of us, no way we could finish it that evening. Ideally lobster stock would be more appropriate for the risotto, but I had discarded the shell and remembered I had some shrimp stock in the freezer, so I put it to use. I have made risotto using green tea as the liquid and I almost went that route with this version. Most risotto recipes will have you add more butter before serving, but we never do that. Your kitchen, your rules, do it if you like. I debated whether to put the lobster meat in the beginning, but felt that since it was already fully cooked, the 7 minutes of intense heat could be too much. I just cut it in small pieces and simmered for 5 minutes. It turned out delicious. The tarragon flavor was quite strong, I used maybe one full sprig in the broth, and a few fresh leaves to serve. This was a delicious dinner, and super fast to bring to the table.
If you have only enjoyed cucumber in salads and cold preparations, don’t twist your nose and click away from this post. Give the poor cucumber a chance to shine in a slightly different way. This version was inspired by a recipe from Irene Kuo in “The Key to Chinese Cooking”, published in 1977. It is a huge compilation of recipes, but there are no photos. Back in those days, cookbooks for the most part had very few if any pictures. If that does not bother you, I highly recommend you buy it (click here for ordering info).
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined 2 quarts water + 1/4 cup salt + 1/4 cup sugar, fully dissolved 1 large or 2 small cucumbers shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon dry sherry 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1/4 cup water 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water 2 tablespoons peanut or other vegetable oil drizzle of sesame oil fresh cilantro
Brine the shrimp by covering it with the salt-sugar water for 30 minutes. Drain, rinse briefly, set on paper towels to dry.
Cut the ends of the cucumber, peel it leaving some peel to form a stripped pattern. Slice in half lengthwise, remove seeds, and slice each half in pieces, not too thin, around 1/4 inch thick. Reserve.
Make the sauce combining soy, sherry, salt, and sugar. Reserve.
Heat the oil in a wok or large non-stick frying pan. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt, sauce for a couple of minutes, then add the cucumbers and saute everything together for a couple of minutes more. Transfer to a bowl. If needed, add a little more oil to the pan, when very hot add the brined shrimp, cook until they turn pink. Add the prepared sauce, coat well the pieces of shrimp with it, add the reserved mushroom-cucumber mixture. The shrimp should be fully cooked by now, pour the 1/4 cup water in, then the dissolved cornstarch, and cook on high heat until the sauce thickens. Add a drizzle of sesame oil, the fresh cilantro, and serve over white rice.
Comments: We will definitely be adding cucumber to stir-fries with other proteins, like chicken and beef. It adds a refreshing note, and the texture is perfect. I see chicken, cucumber and mint in our future. If you need a quick and flavorful option for a weeknight dinner, try this stir-fry and you won’t be disappointed!
Disclaimer: these are not meatballs, they are actually vegetarian. But it’s hard to avoid the association. Eggplant Balls? Eggplant Morsels? Nah, neither one works for me. Plus, “meatballs” is the way Katie Lee referred to them in the FoodTV show The Kitchen, so I can always lay blame on her. Having said that, these are pretty awesome. A bit more work than you might expect, but worth it. What makes them a bit more involved is the fact that you must (according to Katie) process each component separately. Other than that, a very straightforward method, for a tasty alternative to meatballs.
ASIAN-STYLE EGGPLANT MEATBALLS (slightly modified from Katie Lee)
6 cups small cubed eggplant, peel left on (from 1 large eggplant)
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup unsalted raw cashews
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
1 large egg, lightly whisked
Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place eggplant in a large mixing bowl and slowly drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Stir and drizzle in an additional tablespoon of oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Spread on a prepared baking sheet. Combine mushrooms and remaining teaspoon oil and spread on remaining baking sheet.
Bake eggplant and mushrooms 10 minutes, then stir and bake an additional 10 minutes.
Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees F. Pulse eggplant a few times in a food processor until coarse in texture. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Pulse mushrooms until coarse and add to the same bowl. Pulse cashews until coarse and transfer to bowl. Add panko, ginger, basil, egg, salt and pepper to the mixture and stir to combine.
Use a small ice cream scoop or yours hands to scoop eggplant mixture into 12 balls and arrange on reserved lined baking sheet. Bake until crispy and browned, about 20 minutes.
Comments: This was our dinner on a Monday, so I prepared everything up to the final roasting on the day before. It would be too hard to make it after work, but if you can spread the preparation in two days, it is perfect. Less than 30 minutes and a nice dinner is ready for you. I took them into a more Italian territory by warming up some tomato sauce and serving with them. These are quite delicate, so don’t try to simmer them covered in the sauce, they might fall apart. Mine were probably more fragile even, because since my eggplant was a bit small, I included one zucchini in the mixture. Zucchini has quite a bit more moisture, and I should have adjusted the amount of panko to account for that. I am giving you the original recipe, and advise you to stick with eggplant and mushrooms only.
Making them the day before also helps them retain the shape during baking, but you could stick them in the fridge for an hour or so and proceed with roasting. It is nice to reduce the amount of meat we consume, so these are quite likely going into our regular rotation. They could work well also as appetizers, making them smaller and serving with a dipping sauce, perhaps a tahini-yogurt to keep with the Asian flavor, if so desired. Two thumbs up from both of us, omnivores at heart…
Bewitching Kitchen 