I am currently working on a little crêpe project and I have been experimenting all kinds of batters and fillings…and this one has been one of my favorites. It’s so simple but a real delight.

Now I was wondering what the difference between dulce de leche and caramel was. Dulce de leche has this exotic sound to it, and is found in many South American households and is mainly condensed milk cooked and reduced to a brownish paste. In France, we call caramel two things, one thing being the sugar and water melted and reduced to a and golden brown color, the other thing being the mixture of sugar, butter and cream that has turned into a thick smooth and velvety texture. Dulche de leche is translated into French by “confiture de lait” or milk jam and it’s made by boiling whole milk and sugar for about 3 hours. The milk reduces and turns thick and golden brown.

you can spray it on crêpes, on buns, brioche, etc…like you would use jam, or just lose your finger in the jar and enjoy it. As you can imagine there are as many crêpes recipes as there are people, less flour, more milk, less eggs, more water, cider, no cider, beer, no beer…you have to find the batter recipe that fits your tastes. Whereas some people like crêpes to be crunchy, I like mine softer. If you want them crunchy, they need to cook at a low temperature for a longer time. If you like them soft, they need to cook rapidly at high temperature. So voila! find the crêpe recipe you like and play with it.

Now I have to admit that I cheated with this one. I did not make my own dulce de leche, but I bought a jar at the store…homemade or not, I loved it, and could hardly keep my finger off the jar. I will definitely write a post about making homemade dulce de leche when I have 2 or 3 hours to spare.

Ingredients for 12-16 crêpes

For the batter

• 40 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250 g flour
• 500 ml whole milk
• 3 tbs brown butter
• one pinch salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rum

For the filling

• 12 tbs dulce de leche
• 12 apples, peeled and sliced

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, mix eggs and sugar and beat until a smooth a white consistency. Add flour, mix well. Add milk and stir until the batter becomes smooth and homogeneous. Melt butter until it becomes brown and add to the batter. Add vanilla extract and rum. Mix well and let it rest for about one hour.

Grill apples on a skillet or grill pan. When the crepes are done, spread one tbs dulce de leche on each crêpe and garnish with apples. Fold and enjoy.

What I love most about those crêpes is the color, and no it’s not a corn pancake, the deep yellow color comes from turmeric. I ate something similar at a friend’s house from Cambodia a long time ago, except that pork and crab were replacing the shrimps. I also wanted to use the rice flour and wood ear mushrooms I had bought and that I never use. So I decided to give it a try…crêpes with an Asian twist. I think those crêpe have more than an Asian twist.

The crêpe batter tends to be on the soft side, so you need to cook each side really well, until almost crunchy. I used a combination of brown rice and Khorasan wheat flours which even though does contain gluten, is easier to digest than regular flour and has a higher protein content.

You can find fresh wood ear mushrooms at the Asian market, I used the dry kind. I would have used shitakee if I had some, but the wood ear mushrooms were perfectly fine, beside, since I cook with shiitake a lot, I figured those mushrooms would be a little more original. They’re firm with a thick skin and interesting texture resembling jelly. Their texture has a crunchy bite which I find very pleasant.

For the stuffing, you can certainly use what you like, the crepes have a subtle coconut flavor, so ground meat would also work.

Ingredients for about 5-6 small crêpes

For the batter

• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) brown rice flour
• 1.41 oz (or 40 g) khorasan wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup water
• salt
• 1/4 tsp turmeric

For the filling

• 1.5 cup wood ear mushrooms, soaked and finely cut
• 24 medium sized shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 cup cooked spinach
• 2 scallions, chopped

Preparation

For the batter

Mix flours together, then add egg, water, coconut milk, turmeric and salt. Mix well to obtain a smooth batter. If too thick add a little water. Let it rest for about 30 min.

For the filling

Soak mushrooms in hot water until they become soft, about 30-45 minutes. Cut in small strips. Set aside.

Marinate mushrooms strips with shrimps, fish sauce, sugar, garlic for about one hour.

Saute spinach in 1 garlic clove chopped and olive oil.

Heat olive oil in a wok, add mushrooms and shrimp mixture and saute until shrimps are cooked and liquid has evaporated.

Start making crêpes. Using a small pan of about 12 cm diameter, add some batter and proceed as you would make regular crêpes, spreading the batter all over the pan. Let it cook until one side of the crêpe, has become golden brown and crunchy. Add some of the filling on one half of the crêpe, add spinach and scallions. Fold the other half on top and let it cook for a few more minutes.

Remove from the pan and serve with mint and lettuce leaves.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/09/coconut-crepes-stuffed-with-shrimps-wood-ear-mushrooms-and-spinach/feed/ 23 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/06/a-crepe-thats-not-really-a-crepe-traditional-savory-buckwheat-galette-with-smoked-salmon-grilled-tomatoes-caramelized-onions-and-tarragon-sauce/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-crepe-thats-not-really-a-crepe-traditional-savory-buckwheat-galette-with-smoked-salmon-grilled-tomatoes-caramelized-onions-and-tarragon-sauce http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/06/a-crepe-thats-not-really-a-crepe-traditional-savory-buckwheat-galette-with-smoked-salmon-grilled-tomatoes-caramelized-onions-and-tarragon-sauce/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:13:38 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=4693 Une crêpe qui n’est pas vraiment une crêpe – Galette au sarrasin, saumon, tomates grillées et oignons caramelisés, sauce estragon

I haven’t made those for so long, I usually make them when we have a “crêpe party”, and those haven’t occurred in a while!

Basically, the traditional savory crêpes are made with buckwheat flour, the sweet ones can be made with white flour.

A buckwheat crêpe is called “galette bretonne“, the batter is a little different from a regular crêpe in the fact that there is water in the batter but no eggs. The traditional galette Bretonne (or also called Buckwheat crêpe, crêpe au sarrasin) is mainly stuffed with ham, eggs and cheese and it’s called “la complète“…now you can make it with whatever item you like if you want to make it less traditional. I like the traditional one, but I think those three ingredients are a little too heavy for me. Other alternatives could be spinach and mushrooms, eggs and mushrooms, tomato and mozzarella, goat cheese and spinach, etc…or whatever you think would work.

If you have been to Brittany or Paris you must have encounter that delicious treat. There are many crêperies Bretonnes in Paris close to Quartier Montparnasse. The first one I ate was at the Jocelyn crêperie, it was a double crêpe, unlike this one that is simple, a double crêpe is comprised of one crêpe at the bottom, filled with whatever you like, and one other crêpe on top of the filling, then folded and topped with salted butter. You better be hungry for that one, but it’s so good with some dry cider (cidre brut).

Sometimes, I have a crêpe party at home and the crêpes go flying around…then everyone gets so excited when we reach dessert, sweet crêpes with nutella, banana, ice cream and whipped cream. How can you refuse one of those? Vive les crêpes!!

You don’t need necessarly need a crêpe maker and a spreader to make crêpes, a non-stick pan works well too. You can make a 100% buckwheat flour batter if you like it more hearty, I like to use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 buckwheat flour.

Ingredients for about 6-8 (depending on the size of the pan)

For the galettes batter

• buckwheat flour
• white flour
• 1/4 l water
• 1/4 l milk
• salt
  

For the stuffing

• 3-4 tomatoes, sliced
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 tbs capers, rinced
• 6-8 slices smoked salmon
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Fleur de sel
• pepper

For the tarragon sauce

• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fish fumet dehydrated
• water
• 3 tbs crème fraîche
• 2 tbs fresh tarragon, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the batter

Mix flours together in a large mixing bowl. Add water while stirring, then milk, add salt and keep stirring to obtain a smooth consistency. Let it rest for about 2 hours.

Caramelize onions in 1 tsp olive oil. Grill tomatoes on a grill pan and set aside.

For the tarragon sauce

Heat olive oil in a pan, and brown shallots. Dissolve dehydrated fumet in 1/3 cup water. Add to the shallots, reduce a little then add cream. Reduce for a few more minutes and add tarragon, salt and pepper.

Cook galettes as you would for regular crêpes. Using a non-stick pan, spread some batter in the pan covering the whole surface (you need to butter the pan prior to making the galettes). Flip the galette and let it cook on the other side. Add caramelized onions, tomatoes, capers and salmon. remove the galette from the pan and bring borders on the inside. Top with tarragon sauce and serve hot.

Crêpes are not necessarily boring, ok you’ll tell me they’re just crêpes, and everyone knows how to make them, so what’s the big deal? The bid deal is that the batter is flavored with chives and stuffed with marinated salmon topped with a smooth leek sauce.

No, you don’t have to wait for la chandeleur (candlemas) or mardi gras to eat crêpes which are the two main celebrations in France when we make a big deal making crêpes. La chandeleur takes place 40 days after Christmas which is February 2nd. and comes from the word candle, it’s basically a mixture of pagan, christians and jewish traditions. The origin of crêpes goes back to a Celtic belief of worshiping the God of crops, with its round shape that looks like the sun and refering to the solar wheel. Basically chandeleur opens the period of carnival which derives from the latin Carnelevare, and meaning “removing the meat” and goes back to the 40 days before Easter.

Mardi Gras was the last day Christians could eat “gras” meaning fat before Ashes Wednesday (les cendres) then Lent (carême)…and during this time, would indulge in beignets (some kind of doughnuts, crepes, bugnes, etc…)

Nowadays, its religious meaning has been lost, but we still eat crêpes even if most people don’t know exactly why, other than because they’re just delicious.

Crêpes can be simple and ordinary such as crêpes au sucre, sprinkled with sugar, or sophisticated filled with delicate seafood stuffing and flavored batter…and so many variations in between those two.

I always remember frozen crêpes we eat in France you buy at the supermarket, that mostly kids love, they’re stuffed with a creamy mixture of ham and mushrooms, and or gruyère cheese, you just place them in a pan until they turn golden brown! I loved those when I was a child…Good memories…

Ingredients for about 6 crêpes

For the crêpe batter

• 2 eggs
• 8.45 fl oz (or 250 ml) milk
• 4.4 oz (or 125 g) flour
• a pinch salt
• 2 tbs chives, chopped finely
• 1.5 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbs beer (optional)

For the filling

• 1 lb (or 500 gr) salmon
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs dill, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the mustard-leek sauce

• 2 leeks, using only the white part, chopped
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp mustard
• vegetable broth
• 2 tbs cream
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the crêpes

In a mixing container, place flour and eggs, then add milk gradually mixing well. Add salt, olive oil and chives. Mix well to obtain an homogenous mixture. (You can add beer at this time, it will make the batter lighter).  Let it rest for about one hour.

Make crêpes as you would for regular crêpes using a non-stick pan or a crêpe maker. Proceed until all the batter has been used. Keep aside.

For the salmon

Cut salmon in small cubes, place in a container, add soy sauce, lemon juice, dill, a little salt and pepper. Let it marinate for a few hours (overnight would be best).

Place salmon mixture in the middle of each crêpe and fold each side toward the middle in a square shape parcel.

Cook in a 370F pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes or until the salmon is cooked but still slightly pink in the middle or well cooked according to your tastes. The top of the crêpes should be a little crispy.

Serve hot with sauce on top.

For the mustard-leek sauce

Cut the white part of leeks, wash well. Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and brown them. Add leeks and let them sweat at low temperature until they become tender, add salt and pepper. Add broth and let it simmer for a few minutes. Add cream. Cook fo another minute or so, then blend in a mixer to obtain a smooth sauce. You might need to add broth if the sauce is too thick. Add mustard and mix for a few more seconds.

Don’t we all love crêpes? They’ re so easy to make and always a great pleasure to share with friends or just when you have a crêpe craving. You can flavor the dough and enhance them with fruits, jams, sugar, etc… I was stopped at the traffic light this morning just in front of Ti’Couz which is a popular crêperie Bretonne where they serve traditional galettes bretonnes made with buckwheat flour. This restaurant is packed from Monday through Sunday and most of the time, there is a line out the door since they don’t take reservations. If you ever end up in San Francisco one of those days, you might want to check it out, besides it’s not an expensive place.

So here we go again, I stop in front of this restaurant for 3 minutes, and I started to have a craving for crêpes…those days anything gives me a craving, I don’t know if this is a condition, but there should be a name for it.

Usually crêpes are served with cider. We drink some lightly alcoholic dry cider that is different from what you get in the US and not as sweet. It’s the perfect drink combination with crêpes and you can just smell the wonderful scents of Normandy and Britanny.

In France, everyone knows how to make crêpes but everyone has its own trick on how to make a perfect and light batter. Some people add beer to make them “airy”. I never quite managed to make them jump out of the pan, up in the air, and back in the pan…lacking practice.

What is better than pears and chocolate? maybe banana and chocolate…well if you want you can substitute pears with banana, it should work as well.

I caramelized the pears and flamed them with rum…chocolate, pears and rum go wonderfully together. Then the final touch is the whipped cream flavored with almond extract that gives this crêpe dessert a little twist. You can serve it with vanilla ice cream as well.

Ingredients for about 5-6 crêpes

For the crêpes

• 2.47 oz (or 70 g) flour
• 0.52 oz (or 15 g) sugar
• 1 egg
• 5 fl oz (or 15 cl) milk
• 1 tbs unsweetened cocoa

For the pear filling

• 3 bartlett pears
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs butter
• vanilla powder
• 1.5 tbs dark rum

For the almond whipped cream

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

For the crêpes

In a mixing container, mix flour with egg and sugar then gradually add milk. Mix well to obtain a smooth consistency. Add cocoa powder. Mix well to obtain a smooth batter. Let it rest for one hour.

In the meantime, prepare the whipped cream. Add sugar and almond extract to the cream and whip it. Place in the refrigerator while the crêpes get ready.

Make crepes using a non stick pan. Slightly butter the surface of the pan and pour evenly batter to make a thin crêpe. Turn on the other side.

For the filling

Peel the pears and slice them into thin slices (about 5 mm slices). Melt butter in a non-stick pan, add pear slices and brown them on all sides, then sprinkle with sugar. Let them caramelized. Pour rum and flame.

Fill half of each crêpe with pears, fold the other half on top. Then fold in quarters. Place some whipped cream on top and serve.