Spinach and cheese crepes

 
Time for another gorgeous retro flashback. This meal was another end-of-the-fortnight classic, courtesy of my mother in the 80s. But I thought it was the most delicious treat of a meal. Crepes! For mains! And rolled up and everything. I imagine my mother thought of this as a cunning way to get a heap of spinach into small children.

I have also trotted this out as a 'fancy' entree in times gone by, as you can easily prepare this dish and reheat when you want to serve.  In the 90s, when I was 19 years old, I served this to five friends at a How To Host a Murder Party. Remember those! Hee! Anyway, I was pretty sure it was the height of glamour.

So I heartily recommend this if you need a cheap filling meal, some wonderful comfort food, or just the desire to travel back in time gastronomically. Obviously, this can be made vegetarian by leaving out the bacon, in which case I'd suggest adding mushrooms and some extra salt.

And of course the bonus perk is that if you have any spare crepes (which I strongly suggest you should do), a little lemon and sugar and you have dessert as well. Brilliant.

Ingredients - Crepes:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• butter to cook

Filling:

• 1/2 bunch fresh spinach
• 2 rashers bacon
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 80g butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg

Start by preparing your crepe batter.  If you haven't made crepes before, the batter is really just a loose version of pancakes. Mix all the ingredients, blend with a whisk until there are no lumps, and leave to sit while you prepare the filling.

The filling is just a white sauce with extras bits. First prepare your extra bits. Chop your spinach, bacon and grate your cheese. Fry up your bacon in a non-stick pan, then once crunchy, remove to cool.

Start your roux, melting the butter in a saucepan and scatter the flour through it, rubbing it in with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth.

Then add the milk and cheese, then the salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir through.  If the mixture feels too thick add more milk; if too thin then add cheese. Finally, toss through your spinach and bacon. Remove from the heat and cover to keep the heat.

Now cook your crepes. Heat a non-stick saucepan to medium-hot. For each crepe, start by dropping in a small (half a teaspoons worth) dollop of butter, and disperse over the pan. Pour in a saucer size amount of batter and swirl around the pan until it covers roughly double the original surface. You want to spread it thinly to create the lovely laced, crispy edges that make crepes so lovely. Stand watch over the crepes as you go, they'll cook fast. Keep your crepes under a tea towel to reserve the warmth until the whole batch is ready.

Once you've cooked all your crepes, fill them with a line of spinach mix down the centre, and roll them up. Yummo!

Three onion and taleggio tart

I love this tart.  You don't have to be hugely into onions to love this tart.  Like my friend Ange says: "If onions were cocoa, then this tart would be chocolate".  Essentially, this tart is onions as good as they can get.  And it has creamy, stinky taleggio cheese in it. Need I say more?


Ingredients:

• Basic shortcrust pastry for the base

• Two medium to large leeks, finely chopped (just the white stalks, not the green leafy bits)
• One large spanish onion, finely chopped
• Five or six spring onions, finely chopped
• olive oil
• One egg, beaten
• about 200g of taleggio cheese, cut into smallish chunks
• 50g grated parmesan cheese 
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.  Take you're shortcrust pastry and tip it into your greased pie tin.  Press it down with your fingers and palms to form a thin yet solid crust.  Keep pushing from the middle out until it goes all the way to the edges.  Then put the case in the oven for 10 minutes and remove while you prepare your tart ingredients.

Put a big ole slug of olive oil in a hot non-stick pan.  Add the leeks and stir for about 5 minutes on a medium heat until softened.  Then cover, and reduce the heat to low, and simmer for a further 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the leeks are not burning.

Once the leeks are softened to almost a mush, add the rest of the onions and stir vigorously, and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.  Then remove from the heat, add the egg, salt and pepper and mix through.  Then add the taleggio and mix until evenly dispersed.

Fill your pastry case with the onion mixture and place in the oven for 20 minutes.  Then remove the pie, and sprinkle the grated parmesan evenly over the surface, and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.  Remove, slice and serve!

Poutine for cheats

The Friday wearies have hit me hard. I had an intense meeting today that was supposed to end with no further work, but actually ended with considerable further work. I was too tired to go out, though I was supposed to, and left the office late again. Then I couldn't ride or walk home because of my suit and heels gettup.

I had grand plans on the tram of getting home and immediately going for a long run, returning the dvds that were due back on Wednesday, hire some more, and then doing something constructive. However on getting home I immediately thought: fukkit, I'll just open a bottle of wine, make poutine and watch Masterchef.

My poutine is not nutritionally sound, nor particularly authentic. It is basically poutine made with potato gems. If you know me, you will already know how much my emotional stability and my hips owe to potato gems. It is also made with instant gravy, because I thought I had an onion, but I do not, and I am not leaving the house again. Not with all this Winter going on.

So here it is:

Ingredients

• Potato gems
• Grated cheddar
• Instant gravy powder
• mustard
• onion if you have one

Put the potato gems in the oven just as the bag instructs. When they're crispy and golden brown scatter the cheddar over them and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Make the gravy. If you have an onion, slice it thinly and sautee it in butter. Then add your instant gravy powder and hot water. If you don't have an onion, skip straight to the instant bizzo. (Obviously if you have a superior gravy method, go with that. I didn't have an onion or stock, and instant gravy seems utterly fitting for this Friday night). Bring to the boil and let it thicken, add a spoonful of mustard. I use French - after all, this is poutine. Add some black pepper if you fancy it.

Then pour your gravy into a bowl and scatter your cheesy gems on top. You could do it the other way round, but I am loathe to soggify the crispy gems by dousing them in the gravy. Instead I like them to rise above it. I feel the same way about ice-cream and waffles, but that is an anecdote for another time.

Consume with a Pinot Noir. After all people, it is Friday.

Potato and Leek Tart

Ingredients:

• potatoes - 5 small or 3 large
• 2 leeks
• mustard (your preference, I use French or Dijon)
• 1 egg
• 1 block of gruyere, grated
• a small amount of parmasen cheese, grated
• shortcrust pastry (make your own, or if in a hurry, use frozen sheets)

Boil the potatoes until just cooked and still firm (the same consistency you might use for a potato salad). Thaw the pastry sheets and line a greased, fluted pie or tart dish with the pastry, and trim the edges. Line with dry rice or beans and blind bake for 10 minutes or so, the packet will specify the time.  If I don't have beans I sometimes line with foil and blind bake at about 200 degrees - it's not perfect but it's pretty good. While the pastry is in the oven and the potatoes are boiling, thinly slice the leeks and and sautee in butter or olive oil until soft.


Once the potatoes are cooked, run under some cold water to cool them quickly, then slice in half longways, then in half centimeter slices (half moon shaped). 


Mix together the leeks, potatoes, raw egg and half the gruyere cheese with some salt and pepper. Be careful to mix carefully so the potatoes do not turn to mash. 


Spread a generous layer of mustard over the floor of the pastry, then spoon over the potato and leek mixture and spread it to the edges. Cover with the remaining gruyere and the parmasen and bake for a further 15 or 20 minutes, until the top is browning. 


Devour.