Crêpes for dummies
Nov0
Whatever the occasion, crêpes are simply always popular. They can be made quickly, in large quantities and can serve as savory dish as well as dessert. The crêpes in the above picture are filled with ham, grated cheese and mushrooms.
Some people confuse crêpes with pancakes but they are actually very different. Crêpes are almost as thin as a sheet of paper and mostly they are way bigger in size than a pancake. They are almost always served with a filling.
Now I’m often told that making crêpes is very difficult and that the result varies a lot. Common issues are:
- Clumps in the batter
- Batter sticks to the pan easily
- To prevent this a lot of oil/butter is often used
- Using a laddle, it is very difficult to dispense the batter equally over the frying pan so the whole surface is covered
- Crêpe breaks when one tries to flip it
Luckily I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error (while eating a lot of crêpes :D) and I discovered an amazing method that will allow you to make perfect crêpes, easily, every time.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 400 ml milk (lukewarm)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 250g all purpose flour (perfect would be very fine flour which is made for liquid batters)
- 4-5 Tbsp vegetable oil
Preparation
- Mix eggs, milk and salt in a Blender. Gradually mix in flour and vegetable oil. Blend well until you see no clumps anymore. Now add some of the water until the batter has the consistency of thick pouring cream. Scoop off the foam if there is any. Keep the batter in the blending container.
- Use a paper towel to coat a flat skillet with vegetable oil (if you have a crêpière, even better). Heat up the skillet over medium-high heat. Wait until the pan is hot.
- Remove the pan from the heat by lifting it. With the blending container quickly pour in as much liquid as you need to cover the whole surface. Pour back excess batter into the blending container.
- Put the skillet back on the heat. As soon as you see that the crêpe is golden brown at the bottom, flip it. If your crêpe breaks easily, the batter was probably too liquid. Add a little more flour to the batter in that case.
- If you are preparing a savory crêpe, add cheese and other fillings now on one side of the crêpe. Fold it in a half and make sure it’s golden brown on both sides. Remove on a plate.
- Continue this way. Maybe you’ll need to reapply a little oil at some point but usually the oil in the batter is enough to keep them from sticking.
Useful Tips
- You can add a little butter too the batter to improve the taste.
- You can make the batter 2 days in advance and refrigerate it. Just bring it back to room temperature before cooking when you want to use it (and reblend a little).
- You can seperate crêpes with wax paper to keep them from sticking.
- Crêpes can be refrigerated in a plastic bag for 3 days.
- Crêpes can be frozen in a plastic bag for 3 months.
- To reheat crêpes, place them in an oven on a cookie sheet at 170°C.
- Ideas for fillings: Grated cheese, ham, mushrooms, all sort of vegetables, a fresh egg (yolk), Gorgonzola or Goat cheese. Sugar, cinnamon, chocolate, ice cream, nutella, fruit, marmelade, jam, peanut butter, maple syrup etc…
Crispy Sea-Bream on Rustic Ratatouille
Oct0
It’s the second day of my Gordon Ramsay test cooking. As I posted yesterday, I’m going to try out three recipes from the cookbook “Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy
I was particularly intrigued by this dish because of the Ratatouille. As you might have read already, I’m living and studying in Aix-en-Provence, a beautiful town in the heart of the Provence region, about 30 kilometers away from Marseille. If there is one dish from Provence that almost everyone knows, it’s Ratatouille. This vegetable stew originated in Nice but it is eaten almost everywhere in France.
(One of Cezanne’s paintings of Mont St. Victoire, the mountain that
reigns over Aix-en-Provence. The famous painter was born in Aix.)
About the dish itself: I loved the combination of Ratatouille and fish. The dish felt very light and it was relatively easy to make. The only criticism I have is for the Ratatouille itself. In the recipe the vegetables are cooked very shortly (about 5-7 minutes) which is good if you want to keep the vegetables a little crunchy, but which isn’t so great if you leave the skin on the aubergines. Of course it probably depends on what kind of aubergine (eggplant) you use, but the one I used had a quite thick skin and when the dish was done it was hard to chew the aubergine pieces. Apart from that I might add a little tomato purée the next time but that’s optional.
(The recipe is adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook “G.R. Makes it Easy”)
Ingredients
For the rustic ratatouille:
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tomato
- 1 yellow pepper (or 1/2 red pepper and 1/2 yellow pepper)
- 1 courgette
- 1/2 aubergine
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
For the fish:
- 2 nice sea-bream fillets (buy them fresh with the skin on)
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
- salt and pepper
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Preparation
- Wash and cut the tomatoes in quarters. With a sharp knife slide along the flesh to deseed them. Finely chop the flesh.
- Wash and deseed the pepper(s). Cut them in 1cm dice.
- Wash and cut the courgette in 1 cm thick dice.
- Wash the aubergine and cut it into 1 cm dice. If the skin is very thick rather remove it.
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Wait until it’s hot.
- Cook the garlic and the onions (on medium heat) in the pan for approximately 2 minutes until they are soft.
- Add all the vegetables to the pan and cook everything for about 5 minutes while stirring every now and then.
- Add the basil and the vinegar, season to taste.
- Remove the ratatouille from the heat and keep it warm.
- Clean the bream fillets, be careful to remove all scales and with your finger drive along the line in the middle of the fillets. If you feel any bones, remove them with a pincher.
- Lay the fish on your cutting board, skin-side up. With your hand squeeze the fillet together a little so the skin gets stretched. Now cut into the skin leavin less than a cm of space between each cut. Salt the fish on the skin side and be careful to put salt inside every of the “lamelles” you created.
- Heat the olive oil in a non stick frying pan.
- Once hot (and really let it get piping hot first) put the fillets in the frying pan, skin side down.
- Let the fish cook like that on medium-high heat and don’t touch it. Give it time until 2/3rd of the fish is cooked. (3-4 minutes)
- Turn the fish once, letting it cook for about a minute on the other side (check if it’s done completely).
- When it’s done, turn it around on the skin side and remove the pan from the heat.
- Put half of the ratatouille on a plate and put the fish on top, skin-side up.
Serves 2, enjoy 
Tarte aux Tomates (Tomato Tart)
Oct1
When I moved here to France I started to get to know French cuisine. One thing I truly fell in love with are tarts and quiches of all sort. If you wonder what’s the difference… well quiches normally always contain a savory custard which is made of eggs, milk and cream. They are also often garnished with several different ingredients like leeks and crisp bacon for example. Furthermore there is no sweet version of quiche.
Tarts on the other hand can be both sweet and savory. They can be filled with a custard but don’t have to and it mostly only features one main ingredient like “Tarte au chocolat” or “Tarte au citron” (Lemon-tart).
Anyway both are equally tempting. If you find the idea strange of eating a savory tart/pie, just forget about it and try some, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
My mother in law, who has been a great inspiration for me, was so nice as to teach me her recipe for a tarte aux tomates. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.
Ingredients
- 1 roll/sheet of shortcrust pastry
- 4 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 little onion (optional)
- 2-3 tomatoes (depending on the size)
- 250g of grated cheese (I used emmental, you can use a different cheese though, Parmesan for example)
- thyme (best is fresh but dried works too)
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
——————-
Preparation
- Preheat the oven at 180 °C.
- Cover a tart/pie form with the sheet of shortcrust pastry.
- Pierce it with a fork a few times and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile wash the tomatoes and cut them in slices.
- Once the pastry is done, remove it from the oven and while being careful not to burn yourself spread the mustard on the bottom of the pastry.
- Cover the whole bottom with half of the cheese.
- Add the onions if you are using any.
- Lay out the tomato slices evenly to cover the whole tart. If you’ve got too many, just stack them a little. Don’t put too many though else there is going to be too much liquid.
- Cover with the rest of the cheese, add a little salt and pepper and sprinkle with the thyme.
- Drizzle a little olive oil on top then put the tart back into the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
Serves 8. Enjoy!
Shortcrust Pastry (Pâte Brisée)
Oct0
This easy to make pastry is often used as a base for tarts or pies. When baked, it does not rise up, but instead reaches a nice crunchy texture. Usually I just buy a roll of shortcrust pastry at the supermarket because I don’t have much time, but whenever I can I try to make it myself.
Pâte brisée is used a lot in french cuisine for both savory and sweet tarts. Possible fillings are tomatoes, zucchini, ham and cheese, apples, figs etc. Some people make a sweet alternative called sweetcrust pastry by adding sugar to the original recipe. Personally I use the basic shortcrust pastry for sweet tarts as well because I love the contrast between sweet and salty.
The pastry itself is very easy to make, however the tricky part is to prevent it from getting soggy once you add the filling (which mostly doesn’t need to cook as long as the pastry itself). This is why it’s very important to lay out a pie/tart-form with the finished dough and prebake it for approximately 10 minutes without the filling. This will ensure that the pastry is baked properly at the end and that it doesn’t absorb the liquid from the filling before the latter solidifies.
Ingredients
- 200g flour
- 100g soft but still cold butter (unsalted)
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 cl water
- 1 teaspoon salt
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Preparation
- Pass the flour through a sieve and make a little pile with it.
- Form a hole with your fingers in the middle of the pile and add the butter.
- Work the flour and the butter a little until you have a pile of crumbs (you can do this with a food processor as well).
- Form another hole and add the egg yolk, the water and the salt.
- Knead everything well with your hands until your pastry has a smooth but firm texture. If it feels wet still and if it sticks to your hand, gradually add flour until it reaches the desired texture. Do not work it too long or it will start to fall apart.
- You can wrap the pastry in a piece of clingfilm and refrigerate it for later use. Actually it is recommended to let it rest for approximately 2 hours in the fridge. If you don’t have the time you can still use it right away.
- Roll out the pastry so it becomes a round, 5-7 mm thick sheet.
- Lay out a tart/pie form and pierce the pastry a few times with a fork.
- If you want to make a tart or a pie, remember to prebake the pastry for approximately 10 minutes before adding the filling.
A Perfect Sauce Béchamel (White Sauce)
Oct0
VideoJug: How To Make Bechamel Sauce
Yesterday I decided to use up the Cauliflower/Broccoli I had left in my fridge and of course my first thought was to make a gratin with a nice Béchamel Sauce. Although I didn’t get time to make the actual gratin, I’d still like to post about how to make a perfect Sauce Béchamel. I’m using this quite often (in moderate quantities) as a base for gratins, to make lasagna or to cook other sauces.
This sauce can still be considered part of the basics of traditional French Cuisine; unfortunately it’s not being used much anymore by accomplished/modern chefs, due to the thick and rich texture of the sauce.
Personally I like to use this sauce in small quantities because:
- It’s made quickly
- You always got the ingredients at home
- Can accompany many dishes
- Can be seasoned and adapted almost infinitely
I found a video on videojug which reproduces almost exactly the recipe I usually follow to make my white sauce. I adapted the quantities to those mentioned in the video to make it easier. You can either follow the video or my description below. Anyway props to the people who made this video
Ingredients
- 25g butter (you can substitute oil for this)
- 25g flour
- 300ml milk
- 1/4 peeled onion (optional)
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- 4 cloves (optional)
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper
____________
Preparation
- With the cloves, stick the bay leaves to the onions (if you use any, I don’t).
- Place the milk in a small pan and add the onion with the bay leaves.
- On low-medium heat, let the milk cook until it’s almost boiling.
- Turn off the heat and leave for five minutes to infuse.
- Remove the onion/bay leaves/cloves.
- Put the butter into a medium sized sauce pan and let it melt at low heat.
- When the butter is melted (be careful not to burn it) add the flour and stir well with a wooden spoon at low heat for about 1-2 minutes (you just made a “white roux”).
- Remove the pan from the heat and gradually ad the hot milk while whisking. You must beat constantly so the roux blends with the milk.
- Put the sauce back on the stove and bring to a boil while continuing to whisk constantly. This is very important, don’t stop to beat or the sauce will burn. When it starts to boil, lower the temperature and let simmer until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. Again, do not stop to whisk at any moment.
- Remove the sauce from the heat, season it with the nutmeg and the salt/pepper.
- Strain the sauce through a sieve to remove any possible lumps.
- If you are going to use the sauce at a later point, always cover it with a clingfilm, else it will develop a skin.
Enjoy!
