Last night, I came home and decided I wanted something different from dinner. Eating a full meal at lunch, I haven’t felt like eating the same thing for dinner. Two eggs and a piece of toast have been “what’s for dinner” so far this week. I flipped through my notes of recipes I want to try from Bittman’s book and hit upon crepes. I’ve never eaten a crepe before, much less made one. I know crepes are supposed to have all sorts of fun fillings. I knew I had blueberries and Asian pears in my freezer and fridge. So making crepes was the agenda last night.
For dinner, I basically had dessert. Two crepes, one filled with blueberries, one with Asian pear. Both sprinled with grated chocolate on the top. These were AWESOME, except the crepe problem. The crepes were a bit rubbery. And even though I’ve never had one, I couldn’t imagine any one eating that all the time.
A little Internet research revealed that most likely my issue was how hot I had heated my skillet. I had placed just a wee bit of batter into the pan, swirled it around, let it cook and bubble just as I was suppsed to. But, the pan wasn’t hot enough, leaving the cooked batter a bit rubbery in the end. I didn’t save the rest of the crepes that I had made.
This morning, I felt vindication was in order. I mixed up a half batch of the crepe batter, this time substituting 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flour. Then I made a savory filling for the crepe: red peppers, corn, edamame, and brussel sprouts. The filling was cooked on high heat and constantly moved around, much like a stir fry. About half way through, I threw in an ice cube of vegetable stock. At the very end, I added a tablespoon of green onion and a wee bit of a soy sauce/mirin/rice vinegar mixture I’d made up for the dumplings. I tasted this after it was finished cooking. Not bad. How it will taste by lunch time in this crepe? No clue. I’ll have to report back to you on that one.
Today’s lunch includes an edamame hash crepe (that’s what I’m calling it, LOL!), green beans, and vegetarian dumplings.
Be the bento everyone! Wish me luck with today’s lunch! (Fingers crossed).
I am DYING to hear how this went!!
It was okay. The inside was tasty, but I wasn’t wild about the crepe. No matter. It was a fun experiment.
Crepe making is certainly an acquired technique. Plus, some would say you need a certain type of pan to cook them. They look great though Jenn and they can include savory fillings too so try them again with something like that.
Definitely an acquired technique. Batch 2 was better than batch 1. But I feel I’ve sorta tried it out…for now. LOL!
I’ve watched many many people make crepes (it’s a cool process, and for some reason… where was I… I think in Toronto? there were a lot of places that made just crepes, so they had entire stations and would make them so expertly… on flat griddles with these push-sticks to spread the batter thin. Kind of cool.).. nice that you tried it
Lunch looks good!
Thanks! Lunch was pretty tasty. Though I have to admit. I’d love to go and try a really good crepe somewhere now. Just to see what they are supposed to taste like when made really well.
That looks so tasty! I’ve done some really ridiculous things trying to make good crepes; they can be really difficult. The one in your bento looks perfect. Enjoy!
Thanks Sarah. I saw a dude on Chopped make a crepe on the back of a pan the other day. Or try to at least. I kept thinking it was going to fall in the flame of the stove.
Crepes are SO good when you get them right! I used to babysit for this family and the dad was originally from France, so he knew his crepes. They were heavenly! Savory, sweet, everything is good.
This makes me want to hunt down a recipe and try myself. I “made” a crepe in high school French once, but I didn’t make the batter and I had help
I guess it doesn’t count so much, haha
OOOhhhh, crepes from the heartland so to speak. Envy!
Crepes and hazelnut chocolate spread, need I say any more! My mouth is watering and it’s almost 10pm here so too late for me to go off and cook some up *boo*
Awwwww. Though truthfully, and I nearly hate to admit this, but I tried Nutella only once. Wasn’t wild about it. (I know right. What is wrong with me?) Maybe I’ll try it again one day.
And I think it totally odd I wasn’t wowed by it. B/c hazelnuts are my favorite nut too!