(Originally published at Yahoo.Voices formerly Associated Content~May 19, 2008)
In Part One of my "Creative Idea For Leftover Chicken á La King or Beef Stew, I suggested the idea of making delicious, savory pot pies. In this Part Two article, I go a step further and suggest another way to stretch the food budget by using Chicken á La King or Beef Stew as a filling for crepes, and more important the art and skill of making crepes..
My love for cooking blossomed shortly before I graduated college. It wasn't that I hadn't been cooking previously, but I mainly did very simplistic meat and potatoes kind of meals, in other words, nothing exactly fancy or time consuming. That changed with two factors. During the very last term in college, I took French as a language course and I had the most inspiring professor who had actually come from France. From day one, hardly any English was spoken in the class, however, when she did discuss things in English, it was to give we, the students, insights into the French culture, including food.
To this day, some thirty years later, I remember her distinctly mentioning about one of France's favorite foods, the crepe, and what a versatile food item this was, as crepes could be used with fillings for entrées to desserts and everything in between. I also remember her telling us that for a crepe to be truly authentic, it had to be virtually paper thin, anything thicker than that was just a glorified pancake. Her descriptions of French food in general made my mouth literally drool, as I never had eaten this cuisine in my life and was dying to try it.
Then a second factor came that inspired me almost at the same time to get serious about cooking in general, and that was the arrival of the then newcomer to the cooking scene, chef Jacques Pepin. On several of her TV cooking shows the then popular chef, Julia Child introduced the world to this skilled French chef. Almost ironically, on one show, Jacques Pepin was demonstrating how to make crepes, and I thought to myself, I just had to try my own skill at with French cuinsine. I began collecting cookbooks by Pepin, the first was A French Chef Cooks At Home {Simon & Schuster, 1980} and I bought another book with the amusing name of French Cooking For People Who Can't by Julia Hayes {Atheneum, 1979}. Now I was ready to take my chances and try my hand at French cooking.
Thankfully, I must have innately inherited my great-grandmother's skill in cooking for she had been known as "the" cook in our family, for if I had instead developed either my grandmother's or mother's cooking skill my attempts in doing any fancy type of cooking would surely have been a disaster. My first attempt in cooking anything French was, as you can guess, crepes.
For some reason, most people practically shudder at the idea of making crepes. Yes, there is a skill involved that requires an awful lot of patience and can be quite time consuming to make just the right way. If you have never made crepes before, don't be discouraged with the first few tries. Even after all these years, whenever I do make crepes the first one or two I make will not come out exactly right.
The first step in making successful crepes is to invest in a good crepe or omelette pan, usually 8" to 9" in diameter. For the true beginner, get a non-stick pan that are usually made out of stainless steel (as opposed to aluminum) and can range from anywhere from a mere $9.99 all the way up to $40.00. One great place to find that perfect crepe pan, is none other than Amazon.com that has a large variety of crepes pans for the choosing. Another great manufacturer of pans is Cuisinart (http://www.cuisinart.com) and Sur La Table (http://www.surlatable.com/product/id/136902.do) both manufactured in France itself.
Once you have your crepe pan, it is important to "season" it, that is, break it in, and the best way to do this is to add about one or two tablespoons of cooking oil, and slightly heat the pan on top of the stove, do not allow the pan to heat for too long, as you don't want to burn the oil. Turn the heat off from top of the stove, let cool a bit, then wipe the pan of the oil with a paper towel...do not clean off the oil as this defeats the purpose of "seasoning" the pan. Set this pan aside for solely and only making crepes.
The next important step of course, is the crepe batter itself. There are a myriad of good recipes in cookbooks and of course, even on-line, from allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Basic-Crepes/Detail.aspx) to foodnetwork.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_17312,00.html).
Some crepe recipes, whether on-line or in cookbooks suggest mixing the batter in a blender, and yes this might be very convenient, but I still prefer the rather old-fashioned way of blending the ingredients in a stainless steel mixing bowl with a wire whisk.
One great advantage of making crepes, especially in large quantities, is that this a make ahead type of recipe, meaning you can make the crepes, then freeze them for later use. Prior to making the crepes, take a regular sized-dinner plate and set nearby. Using waxed paper, cut the paper into strips of about 10" all around, which will be slightly oversized, but large enough to hold an 8" to 9" crepe. Place one waxed paper strip onto the plate, and as you make each crepe, turn the crepe pan with the crepe upside down over the plate with the waxed paper and tap a bit and the crepe will land on the paper...smooth out gently to make the crepe flat, then place another strip of the waxed paper on top of that crepe...keep doing this procedure until you have done all the crepes, lining the last one with another strip of waxed paper, then wrap the whole stack of crepes in aluminum foil, let cool in the refrigerator for awhile, then place in the freezer...and viola, you have ready-made crepes to use anytime. When you do wish to use the crepes, simply unwrap the foil, and carefully lifting the edges of the waxed paper for as many crepes you wish to use at that time and once again, place that stack onto a plate and allow to thaw out slightly to allow easier handling of the crepe.
I include two recipes here for the crepe batter itself. The first recipe is the one featured in Jacques Pepin's A French Chef Cooks At Home (page 329-330)--this is the crepe batter to make dessert crepes which has the addition of sugar in it, but for here the sugar is omitted.
Batter Ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ cups milk
½ stick sweet butter, melted
½ cup cold water
Place the flour and salt and approximately half the milk in a mixing bowl and whisk until completely blended. Add the melted butter and whisk again until blended. Then add the remaining milk and also water, and once again blend completely. Place crepe pan on top of stove and light flame to medium heat. Allow the pan to heat up for a minute or two, to test if it's heated enough, add a drop of water into the pan...if it sizzles, it's ready. Pour approximately 3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan, slightly tilting the pan in a circular fashion so the batter completely coats the bottom of the pan equally. Allow the crepe to cook for slightly less than a minute, then if you're skilled enough to do this (I never was) simply flip the crepe or for those less skilled using a spatula turn the crepe to the other side and allow to cook for about 30 seconds. Once down, move the pan off the stove to the waxed paper-lined plate and turning the pan upside down, gently tap the crepe onto the waxed paper. As mentioned before don't be discouraged if that first crepe doesn't turn out perfectly or sticks...for as Jacques Pepin says in his cookbook, A French Chef Cooks At Home, the pan has to "get in the mood." (page 330)
Makes 22 to 24 crepes
The second recipe for crepes, is the faithful one I've been using for some twenty-eight years and it is from a clipping I have attached to a index card and was from an old magazine of whose origins I confess I no longer know.
Batter Ingredients:
2 cups milk
4 eggs
2 heaping tbsp, flour
¼ stick melted butter
1 tsp salt
dash of white pepper
Combine eggs and milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth, slowly add flour, salt and pepper and whisk again. Add and whisk in the butter. Pour 2 tablespoons of the batter into a heated, seasoned crepe or omelette pan. I find instead of using the tablespoon measurement, using an 1⁄8 cup easier to handle for the batter. Cook the crepes the same way as suggested in the Jacques Pepin recipe above.
Makes approximately 12 crepes.
Now you have the crepes, which are very versatile for just about any filling you wish. And for this "creative idea" I give the suggestion that two perfect fillings are leftover Chicken á La King or Beef Stew.
Prior to filling the crepes, as an added touch, one can also make a very basic white sauce that one can spoon just a little over onto the filled crepe. This will also "seal" the crepe so it does comes apart during the heating process in the oven.
Any basic with sauce recipe will do, but here is the one I use.
White Sauce Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk (or less, depending how thick you want the sauce)
Melt butter or margarine in a saucepan, add flour and blend with a whisk. Slowly add milk blending constantly until smooth. Set aside.
To fill the crepes:
Take a 10" square cake pan or baking dish and place one crepe toward the left side of the pan or baking dish. Take a few spoonfuls of the Chicken á La King or Beef Stew and place aligned into the center of the crepe, fold over one end of the crepe over the filling, then fold the other end over that. Next place another crepe fairly next to the first crepe and repeat the process each time. If you made the white sauce, add just a tablespoon on top of each crepe to "seal" the crepe better, as it may separate during the heating process in the over. One basic sized cake pan or dish will hold about four crepes...for larger portions simply use a larger baking dish...similar to a lasagna baking dish. Heat the crepes in a 350-degree oven for fifteen to twenty minutes.
Serve two crepes per person.
As a perfect side dish, one can have Green Bean Almandine. A real shortcut method for this is to cook up frozen French Cut Green Beans, and add an 1⁄8 to a ¼ cup of either slithered or sliced almonds until done.
Besides the Chicken á La King or Beef Stew, the fillings one can add to crepes is virtually unlimited and actually great for any leftover meals.
