Holy Crepe!

If any of you have ever been to France, you will know the beauty of the crepe. There they are pronounced "crepe" (rhymes with schlep), but I guess that sounded too much like a Frenchman saying "crap," and we pronounce them "crape."

The problem with crepes in the U.S. is that they come in two varieties. First there are the IHOP breakfast-style crepes that taste like they've been refrigerated for a week and are filled with cream cheese and a filling that is berry-like only because it resembles the same color as berries.

The other variety are authentic and usually very good. The problem is, they are also expensive. The sweet crepes are traditional and have nutella or jam fillings. The savory crepes are often very gourmet and are filled with things like "goat cheese, sage, duck and fig." They are good, but don't seem authentic. From my experience in France, crepes are street food and are usually simple. The savory crepes are hardy and filled with ham and cheese.

The problem with the authentic crepes, is that they're usually expensive. You splurge and pay $4-5 per crepe (at a cheap place) and usually can't fill up on two.

I found this recipe in the joy of cooking. It seemed perfect for the hardy, savory crepes I remember from France. This was a total home run. We did ours with some ham we had frozen after Easter and Jarlsberg cheese. We couldn't believe how good these were and it was so nice to just keep eating them.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour (I bought this at Whole Foods in the bulk food section, it was surprisingly cheap)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

3/4 cup water

3 large eggs

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

Blend everything together, make sure it's mixed well. Let stand for an hour, according to the recipe, this is very important.

When you cook the crepes, butter the pan each time and pour 1/4 cup batter and spread around the pan. Even though these are thin, they cook longer than you think. When it starts to curl on the edges, it's ready to flip and it should be easy to flip if it's done.

Once it's flipped, put the ham and cheese inside. When the cheese is melted, fold it over.

This may be a little unorthodox, but we put it in the microwave for 10 seconds out of the pan. The crepe stayed crispy, but the ham and cheese were the perfect temperature.

Spices and Silks, the Likes of Which Ye've Never Seen

So, I've started going to a Chinese market in Salt Lake City called Super China or something like that. I've lived in Taiwan and when I walk into this place it smells just like Taiwan.

They have everything you need for asian cooking at about 1/4 of the price of the grocery store. The thing that blew my mind were the fresh herbs. At the grocery store you pay $4 for 4 basil leaves. Here, you can get a huge bunch of fresh basil or mint for $1.

You can also buy pounds of chicken feet if you need them.

One Night in Bangkok

Full disclosure, I have never been to Thailand, although it is a lifelong dream. Where else can you scuba dive, eat delicious food, ride an elephant and see a man wrestle an alligator?

I love Thai food and found a winner of a recipe. It's with a spicy Thai Basil Sauce.

Here's the recipe for the sauce:

1 cup chopped basil leaves, chopped course
3/4 c. low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp. fish sauce (I used oyster sauce)
1 tbsp. Asian chili sauce (I used half to make it less spicy)
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. corn starch

For the stir fry:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch chunks
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. penut or vegetable oil
spicy basil sauce (see above)
snow peas
1.5 cups julienned carrots
1 bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp. fresh grated ginger

Toss chicken in soy sauce and cook in oil until browned
Add more oil to pan and cook carrots and peppers until lightly browned, 5-6 minutes
Add snow peas and cook 1-2 minutes
Clear center of pan and add more oil and garlic and ginger, cook, mashing into pan with spatula about 30 seconds
Stir in chicken and thai basil sauce, cook until sauce thickens

Serve over rice

Having Naan of It

Let me apologize to you, dear readers, for not updating the blog in a long time. I wish I had an excuse, like I had traveled around Europe and the middle east trying to find the perfect kebab, but, alas, I have nothing that good.

For those not familiar with naan, it's a delicious Indian flat bread that is overpriced at restaurants. I keep thinking that there is not much to naan and that it can't be very hard to make.

I tried this recipe which had a great taste but did not exactly have the right texture. I want to give it another try, but I want to try to cook these on the bbq at a really high temperature. Even with the oven at 500 degrees, these took a little too long to cook. This is a bread that is best if it cooks really fast at a high temperature.

Some other pointers:

-The recipe has everything in ounces, 9 ounces of flour is 1 cup and 2 tbsp.

-I used 4 ounces of milk, it calls for 3.5 to 4.5, why do recipes do that?

-It did not rise much, but I think the kneading is more important, it's easy if you have a machine that will do the kneading for you.

Hibiscus Heaven

Those not familiar with hibiscus, it's a flower that people around the world make into herbal tea. It supposedly has a lot of health benefits, but I think that it tastes good.

I tried this recipe and was very impressed. It was a little too tart for me and I ended up adding another 1/4 cup of sugar. It tasted like a very good raspberry lemonade with a little twist. Give it a try, I was to try some more hibiscus ice tea recipes.

Super Skillet

Last Christmas, I got a cast iron skillet. This thing weighs more than my two-year-old son and could easily deflect heavy artillery. Oh yeah, and it was under $20. Hopefully this post won't yuppify the skillet and send the price through the roof.

So, people kept telling me that I needed to "season" the skillet and I had no idea what that meant. Well, it means that when you cook with it, you scrub it out (no soap) and then rub it down with oil and heat it on the stove until the oil smokes. Once you do this 8-10 times, the pan is amazing.

It gives things a great flavor. We cooked steaks in the skillet and I was amazed. You heat the oven to 500 degrees, and put the skillet in the oven while it heats. Get the steaks at room temperature, coat them with oil, salt and pepper. Turn the heat on high and take the skillet out and throw the steak on, while the stove is on high.

Cook the steaks for 3-4 minutes on each side, flip once. You will get a nice brown crust and unbelievable flavor that will compensate for the smokey mess in your kitchen. These were the best steaks I'd ever cooked at home.

The skillet is also great for frying onions, potatoes and chicken.

In Search of Falafel

I am a big fan of something called a falafel. For those of you unfamiliar with this food, when I explain it, it will sound disgusting. It's ground chick-peas fried and served in a pita with toppings and a garlic/yogurt sauce.

Trust me, it's delicious. When I lived in Washington, DC, there was an amazing falafel place in our neighborhood called Amsterdam Falafel. The falafels were great and you could put tons of toppings on them. They were a little pricey. I would love to find a falafel stand where you could get one to go, wrapped in paper for like $3. Alas, I may be living on the wrong continent, I may have to settle for good $6-10 falafels at sit-down restaurants.